New Saltland Grazing Options in Major Trial at Dunkeld

This project is complete. Click on the following links for the respective documents. Victoria-[Productive and sustainable salt-tolerant pastures for Victoria](http://landwaterwool.gov.au/index.php?q=node/20), or South Australia- [Productive and sustainable salt-tolerant pastures for South Australia ](http://landwaterwool.gov.au/index.php?q=node/21).

RESULTS from a trial in Victoria’s Western District are showing that saline-affected ground can be productive and profitable for woolgrowers.

The project, ‘Productive and Sustainable Salt-tolerant Pastures for South Australia and Victoria’, is located on Peter Hayes’ property ‘Balintore’, near Dunkeld. It is lead by Dr Malcolm McCaskill, Senior Research Scientist, Department of Primary Industries Victoria in Hamilton.

Dr McCaskill said the SGSL project will assess the impact of saline grazing systems on water, salinity, and biodiversity, pasture and animal production, profitability and the weediness of the perennial grasses under study.

“The SGSL research looks at the high rainfall, tall wheat grass-based system used on moderately saline land in Victoria” he said.

“Each site is being partitioned to allow replicated comparisons between unimproved land and current best practice. Existing commercially available species will be assessed, as well as new pasture options.

“Specifically on Peter’s property, we’ll examine how summer production from salt-affected land contributes to summer weight gains at a time when little other high-quality feed is available.”

Peter, wife Lindy and their three children, James, Sarah and Abby, run a self-replacing flock of 6000 Merinos, averaging 17.5 microns, on their property. The current stocking rate is about 18 dry sheep equivalents (DSE) per hectare.

Peter said salinity has basically always been on the property in some form. “Out of 426 hectares, around 13 per cent of our land is salt-affected. It is quite a substantial amount on a property of that size and we can’t afford not to have it productive,” he said.

“Even though ours is a relatively small farm by district standards, in the past decade or so we have changed the emphasis of our management to not only to make the farm more productive, but to look at the whole farm and how it can be better managed for sustainability.

“For example, our land has been fenced into land class types, taking note of water catchment areas. There is also a great deal of tree planting for shelter and fencing out of saline areas.”

Peter uses a rotational grazing system for his sheep, but the rotation is not to a set duration, there is some flexibility depending on the season and the state of pastures. The property averages 620 mm rainfall each year, and he has moved away from the original pasture base of ryegrass and sub clover.

“We are working to completely change the pasture base, looking at phalaris, fescues, Trikkala and strawberry clovers on non-salt affected areas, and tall wheat grass on salt-affected areas, depending on trial results.”

Dr McCaskill said part of the 16 ha trial plot was sown down in autumn 2003 and the latest variety of tall wheat grass is being trialled. “This variety is called Dundas, bred at Hamilton, and it offers better digestibility than the other major variety, Tyrell,” he said. “We are also looking at Balansa clover (cultivar Bolta) and Persian clover (cultivar Nitro Plus).

“The plots are grazed with sheep from November to March as saline land is too difficult to graze continuously under puggy conditions in winter. Grazing is at rates of up to 45 sheep per hectare (maiden Merino ewes).”

Dr McCaskill noted the conditions in the Dunkeld area make plant growth difficult. “The choice of plants becomes harder to make as not only do we need something that tolerates salt, it has to be able to cope with waterlogging and inundation.”

Peter said while it is early days in the trial, the first season’s results have been very promising.

“Last season was very wet, and much of the trial area quite literally spent the winter underwater. But despite it being one of the wettest winters in about 10 years, some clovers have shown production of almost 10 tonnes of dry matter per ha, which is equivalent to district standards from pasture on non-saline ground,” he said.

“We are excited by the results so far. We’ve already been able to get some economic benefit from ground that would otherwise be unproductive and there is a lot of scope for further work. We are learning more about the soil, salinity and pastures all the time.”

Dr McCaskill said the trial runs until June 2006 and the ultimate aim is to find out which commercial species will do well, and be of economic benefit to farmers.

“On Victorian properties affected by salinity, saline land typically accounts for 5-10 per cent of the farm. This is not enough to manage separately unless there is some benefit to the whole operation,' he said.

“So we are looking at the research from a whole-of-farm perspective, which we hope will ultimately result in both increased production and profitability for growers.

“And the beauty of this project is that the Victorian findings can be readily disseminated and applied elsewhere. This local project has the potential to impact on growers nationally.”

First published April 2004. For more information go to the Sustainable Grazing on Saline Lands Sub-program.