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Programmed Approach to Pasture Renewal

The Programmed Approach™ to Pasture Renewal

Get the most out of your pastures with homegrown feed and the DLF Seeds Programmed Approach™

Improving your pastures allows you to capture the best value and return from your land. The DLF Seeds Programmed Approach™ is an easy to follow step-by-step process to help you improve your pasture and increase the supply and quality of your homegrown feed, all year round.

The Programmed Approach™ to Pasture Renewal:

  • assists to cover feed shortages
  • aims to provide higher quality feed
  • breaks the perennial weed cycle
  • addresses drainage and fertility issues
  • assists in breaking wild endophyte cycles
  • provides a foundation for improving direct drilling

Background

The DLF Seeds Programmed Approach™ to pasture renewal allows a farmer to capture the full value of improved pasture genetics in today’s new grasses and legumes. It encourages the view that by treating pastures as a crop, farmers ensure they have a good supply of quality, homegrown feed all year round.

A paddock with sparse productive growth
Poor performing paddock

Brassicas

Brassica crops are an integral part of a systematic approach to pasture renewal. As excellent sources of high-quality feed, brassicas improve animal productivity due to the high quantities of forage available for grazing. Brassicas also allow the use of selective chemistry, which is an essential part of cleaning paddocks up before perennial pastures are sown.

Grasses

Annual and Italian ryegrasses can also be used in conjunction with brassicas (refer to: Step 3 - Spray out existing pasture and Step 8 - Spray out germinating weeds).

By starting the Programmed approach in autumn, the autumn application of glyphosate offers a better long-term control option for hard to kill perennial grasses and weeds due to important translocation during autumn.

Benefits of the Programmed Approach™

  • Improved supply of high energy feed all year round.
  • Opportunity to break the perennial weed cycle using glyphosate, leading to pastures free of Couch, Californian Thistle, Kikuyu, Paspalum.
  • Introduce improved chemistry within cycle (brassica crop herbicides).
  • Opportunity to break the wild endophyte cycle to allow summer-safe grazing and the introduction of novel endophytes.
  • Encourages forward planning and the opportunity to address fertility and drainage issues earlier, resulting in more productive pastures and crops.
  • Increases the success of establishing a new perennial pasture.
  • Reduces the requirement for more expensive or bought in supplementary feed.

How to implement the Programmed Approach™

STEP 1   Identify poor performing paddocks before soil testing (sparse plant population).

STEP 2   Soil test before starting the Programmed Approach™ and six months before planting a brassica.

STEP 3   Spray out existing pasture with glyphosate + Dicamba® to control all pasture species, including clover.

STEP 4   Direct drill an Ultrastrike® treated winter active ryegrass such as Ascend or Astro®.

STEP 5   Spray out annual ryegrass with glyphosate + insecticide in spring.

STEP 6   Sow a brassica or chicory crop e.g. Titan, Goliath, Barkant, Pasja II, Pallaton* or Rocket Fuel™.

STEP 7   Manage brassica crop effectively.

STEP 8   After autumn rains, spray out germinating weeds with glyphosate when full germination has occurred.

STEP 9   Prepare paddock and sow an elite perennial pasture variety such as Base AR37, Reward Endo 5, #Platform AR37, Confederate, Quantica MaxP® or Quantum II MaxP® mixed with DLF Seeds proprietary clovers.

STEP 10 Introduce new pasture management.
 

* Pallaton Raphno® is available through accredited retailers only.

# Platform has been bred, selected and successfully tested as a perennial and will function as a perennial ryegrass. Due to small number of tip awns, Platform is certified as Lolium boucheanum.

For more information on AR37 see DLF Seeds Product Guide or visit ar37endophyte.com