New Saline Lands Grazing Options for Upper South-East

_This project is now complete. For further information go to the [Sustainable Grazing on Saline Lands](http://landwaterwool.gov.au/index.php?q=subprogram/6) section_.

BOOSTING wool growing profits from saline land in the State’s Upper South-East is the aim of a series of new on-farm research projects being undertaken in the region.

Strategic grazing, nitrogen fertiliser applications, and use of Balansa clover are just some of the management techniques being examined by the five-year Land, Water & Wool Sustainable Grazing on Saline Lands (SGSL) project, which is being conducted on two separate sites in the Mount Charles area, west of Keith.

Project leader Nick Edwards, a sheep production specialist employed by SARDI at Struan Agricultural Centre, said the research was already showing great promise for the revival of profits from saline country.

“While the research project is only in its early stages, we can already see substantial improvements in the pastures and are confident of achieving good animal production benefits,” Nick said.

“The performance of both the livestock and the pastures is being measured in many ways to enable us to determine the financial benefits of the treatments.”

With 75 per cent of his property affected by salt, Mt Charles district farmer Denis Sanders is watching the SGSL project very closely and hopes it produces leadership in terms of salt land management.

Denis said that like most Upper South-East farmers, he has long held a desire to boost productivity on his saline land.

“Plenty of us farmers have gut feelings and of course experience, but we haven’t got the time or expertise to conduct an appropriate trial to answer the questions that need to be answered,” Denis said.

“A lot of data is being collected and collated from this trial and is being applied in an economic sense, so we should get some pretty accurate indicators.”

Nick Edwards indicated already it was clear that with improved management, stocking rates could be lifted.

“We’ve been running two dry sheep equivalents (DSE) per hectare on the unimproved pasture and 5 DSE/ha on the improved pasture,” he said. “On the pasture with nitrogen applied in winter, the feed is getting away from the sheep, so we’re looking at increasing the stocking rate up to 7 or 8 DSE/ha next year.”

Nick said the research was particularly significant in the Upper South-East, which was home to some 200,000 to 300,000 ha of saline country. The project will have relevance for other livestock producers and woolgrowers using puccinellia on their farms.

In the saline areas of the Upper South-East, puccinellia is widely used and has proven itself as the best grass option with the ability to cope with the salinity and water logging. However, this project aims to improve management of puccinellia pasture to improve the quality of the pasture and persistence of the legume component.

The experiment compares five saline pasture options, ranging from unimproved saline pasture through to a fertilised puccinellia/Balansa clover mix.

Nick explained the grazing trials involved mobs of 12-18 month-old Merino wethers running on 24 paddocks over a 60 ha area. Liveweight and condition score are being measured monthly, while wool growth and quality are also being measured.

Continuous grazing is being compared to strategic grazing. In this case, strategic grazing involves grazing from late summer/autumn through the break of the season and winter, but moving the animals to other areas of the farm in spring and early summer, to enable good growth and seed-set in the Balansa clover.

Measurements of pasture quality; quantity and composition are being made regularly, as are soil salinity measurements. Nick commented the SGSL research project was also examining the response of pastures and livestock to different rates of nitrogen fertiliser applied in winter and/or spring.

“An area of the research site is also dedicated to demonstration of commercially available grass, legume and saltbush options considered to be salt and/or waterlogging tolerant, to show how well they cope with these twin stressors,” he said.

Nick said a flora and fauna survey was also being conducted on the trial area, as part of a biodiversity component of the project.

Denis Sanders said the use of phosphorus fertilisers on saline country was well established, but use of nitrogen was not well known.

“The country, being grass dominant, is nitrogen deficient, but we’ll be watching the project with interest to see if use of bagged nitrogen is economically worthwhile," Dennis said.

“My thoughts are that bagged nitrogen can only be economic if we can promote extra growth in the winter when we have feed shortage.”

First published November 2003. For more information go to the Sustainable Grazing on Saline Lands Sub-program.