20 November 2006

Farmers are growing lucerne on raised beds to eliminate waterlogging problems in the Corangamite/Glenelg Hopkins region of Victoria while on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia another Grain &Graze project is identifying the ideal mix of cropping and livestock.

In the south, a team from Victoria's Department of Primary Industries has investigated the production responses of sheep and pastures at different stocking rates and, to the north, Grain & Graze researchers are working with farmers to assess the potential of short or long term grazing phases in cropping systems on mixed farms in the Border Rivers Region that straddles the Queensland/New South Wales border.

All up, Grain & Graze - a collaborative partnership between Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and Land & Water Australia (LWA) - supports 57 projects on over 130 mixed farm sites in nine regions round the country as well as four national projects.

Grain & Graze National Coordinator, Dr Richard Price, says the four-year program's target is a 10 percent increase in livestock profitability and a 5 percent increase in cropping profitability on 6800 of Australia's 40,000 mixed farms, along with significant improvements to the well-being of natural resources.

"More profit for mixed farmers - particularly in the pasture phase in rotations - is the first key objective of the program," Dr Price said.

"Two others are better resource quality - especially reduced recharge through the incorporation of deep-rooted pastures - and improved health and diversity of plants and wildlife, both on farms and across the wider catchment areas.

"All Grain & Graze projects have direct links with, and are guided by farmers already involved in livestock and grains research and development programs around Australia and also generally linked with producer, Landcare and catchment management groups."

Dr Price said the Grain & Graze program had been developed around three core components - regional research and innovation, communication and on-farm change, and information management and analysis - which would come together in a 'whole farm' approach.

Regional projects currently operating across Australia differed dramatically in their farming systems and catchment management challenges but all shared the common goal of improving the financial and environmental performance of mixed livestock and cropping farmers.

One example of Grain & Graze research benefiting producers occurred in the Murrumbidgee region of NSW, where early results in replicated trials in grazing wheats in 2005 showed significant liveweight responses to magnesium supplementation.

This suggested magnesium might be contributing to an observed variability in liveweights gains in lambs grazing the dual purpose wheats.

Lambs fed the magnesium supplement had 54 per cent higher liveweight gains than those grazing wheat alone, with the extra weight valued at around 15c/head/day, at a cost of 1c/head/day.

"In Western Australia's Northern Agricultural Region, a farm family collaborating with a regional Grain & Graze project achieved excellent results from steers grazing tropical, perennial grasses planted to fill seasonal feed gaps," Dr Price said

"The Gillam family's 55 steers grazed 81 hectares of Rhodes and Gatton Panic grasses after 50 mm of rain fell in January and February of this year, and they achieved 44 kilograms more weight gain than the Gillams would have expected from similar stock running under the traditional grazing system at their property Irwin House.

"The steers were sold for live export at $1.60 per kilogram liveweight, for $47.80 per hectare (44 kilograms per $70.40) additional gross margin."

Dr Price said other examples of Grain & Graze research projects looking to improve profitability for producers were, among many others:
� saltbush trials in Central West NSW to determine the native plant's value as a summer fodder alternative; trial blocks have been stocked and weight gains and other results will be gathered next February, and
� studies in the Avon region of Western Australia of the balance between work and family to determine whether "smarter" farm management can improve farmer confidence and quality of life; specifically, whether increased efficiency of management leads to improved profitability and social outcomes.

For more information about the National Grain & Graze Program, contact Dr Richard Price, National Coordinator, on 02 6295 6300, mobile 0409 624 297; Gillian Stewart on 02 6263 6042; Lynne Sealie on 02 6263 6021, or visit www.grainandgraze.com.au.

Grain & Graze Regional Coordinators
Northern Agricultural Region - Philip Barrett-Lennard - 08 94750753
Avon Region - Linda Leonard - 08 9690 2191
Border Rivers Region - Rachel Charles - 07 4671 7900
Central West/Lachlan Region - Jodie Dean - 02 6895 1015
Corangamite/Glenelg-Hopkins Region - Cam Nicholson - 03 5258 3860
Eyre Peninsula Region - Alison Frischke - 08 8680 6223
Mallee Region - Zubair Shahzad - 03 50 219 103
Murrumbidgee Region - Katrina Sait - 02 6924 4633
Maranoa/Balonne Region - Stephen Ginns - 07 4620 8122

ENDS