Pasture Management

Good Pasture Management is essential for land owners that are wanting to house any grazing animals on their properties. It does not matter if you have 5 or 500 acres. A good pasture management system will save money in feeding the animals. For those of you that have a large property and would like the grass to stay as green as possible, most of this advice will apply to you as well.

We all know what impact grazing animals can have with erosion in a paddock. It is hard at the best of times to keep the grass growing well, especially in our arid climate and with recent lack of rain fall. With the correct pasture management you can help your grass grow. It is good practice to always spell your paddocks to let the grass grow without the interference of the animals in the paddock.

Aeration

During this period it is a perfect time to aerate your pasture and give it the best chance of rejuvenation. With Aeration the machine will break up the soil, fracturing it so that water and nutrience can reach greater levels encouraging deeper root growth.

Have your soil tested before hand to see what is lacking. With this analysis, we can design specific amendments to be added right back into your soil profile.

While the soil is displaced now is a great time to over seed the pasture. This allows for sparse or barren areas to become productive grass areas.

Fertilising

Maintaining a productive grazing pasture can be tricky but with the correct quantity and disbursement method it can be achieved. Ensure adequate rain or irrigation, ideally 12-15mm with the correct quick release (grazing type fertilizer) is used.  Depending on brand used, there is approximately 2 weeks minimum withholding periods, before reintroduction of grazing animals.

With correct management of your paddocks during the spelling period it will help cut down on your feed cost during the year and that is something that we would all want.

Weed Control

An important aspect of pasture care and management is to control and eradicate undesired weeds. Selective weed control is a must and our commercial spray equipment can make this task more effective. Identification and control is an ongoing requirement. Wick wiping can provide the required total kill herbicides to some targeted weeds.

For further information on Pasture Management please find this useful link www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/farms-fishing-forestry/agriculture/grazing-pasture/sustainable-grazing