Pastures

Pastures play a major role in agricultural enterprises and contribute over $3 billion annually in Western Australia through animal production, improvements to crop rotations and conserved fodder. In a typical year pastures occupy up to half the land in low to medium rainfall areas and over two thirds of the land in high rainfall areas. Improved pastures are increasingly being used to play a more comprehensive role in farming systems to address emerging challenges for environment protection and food production.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development is a world leader in pasture breeding and selection, grazing systems design and agronomic management of pastures. The department provides information, tools and resources to support the success of the agriculture sector in improving the productivity and profitability of pasture systems under both dryland and irrigated conditions. 

Articles

  • The Northern Beef Development program aims to support the Western Australian northern beef industry to become more profitable, resilient, and sustainable.

  • Cultivars of French serradella (Eliza, Cadiz, Erica and Margurita) and yellow serradella (Charano, Santorini and Yelbini) have been developed with the aim of reducing the cost of seed production.

  • The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) is a research partner in the national collaborative Dryland Pasture Legume Systems Project to develop pasture legumes that can

  • Traditionally, agriculture in the Western Australian rangelands has predominantly relied on grazing stock on native vegetation, with some irrigation precincts around Carnarvon and on the Ord River

  • Biserrula is a persistent pasture legumes for Mediterranean farming systems. Biserrula has hard seed, a deep root system and a high level of grazing tolerance.

  • Cadiz, Eliza, Margurita and Erica have different characteristics allowing them to be used in different agricultural systems.

  • Signal grass is a warm season (C4) sub-tropical grass but it is not recommended for sowing either alone or as a component of species mixtures in Western Australia due to a high risk of causing seco

  • Setaria is a a palatable bunch grass with moderate drought tolerance.

  • Perennial pastures have transformed large areas of the agricultural area in south-western Australia.

  • Lucerne or alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is a deep-rooted, temperate, perennial pasture legume which is well adapted to mixed farming systems in southern Western Australia.