RESEARCHERS in Western Australia have come up with an answer to one of the most vexed questions in Australia’s cropping industry.
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Ken Flower, of the University of Western Australia (UWA) led a team that found that livestock can be successfully incorporated in no-till cropping systems.
Previously, many hard-line no-till advocates said issues with livestock, especially cattle, compacting soils meant farmers needed to focus exclusively on crop production, however many growers like the risk management provided by having livestock in the farm business.
Dr Flower’s work found that light grazing on dry crop stubbles over summer has little impact on the following crop in a no-till system.
There were 13 farm trial sites used across the country on a range of different soil and rainfall types.
The results showed that light grazing of sheep on crop residues had no significant effect on the amount of residue, soil properties, soil water, weeds or yield in the following crop.
It found the main effect of grazing was to knock down and scatter the standing crop residues, potentially a problem at sowing time with certain types of seeding rig, but generally not a major problem.
Dr Flower said there were a range of perceptions of the negative effects of grazing in no-till systems, such as compaction and reduced water infiltration, weed seed burial and transport and erosion.
However, he said the trial work showed livestock could be incorporated into no-till programs, a finding he said would please many farmers.
“Most farmers still consider it important to maintain livestock to reduce economic risk and create greater flexibility in weed control with the use of pastures,” Dr Flower said.
Meanwhile, there has also been work released showing the value of dual purpose grain and graze crops in high rainfall zones.
Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) funded research has found there is a wide range of cereal and canola varieties can be successfully grazed during the early winter feed drought and later harvested to produce combined livestock and crop gross margins that exceed those for grain-only crops.
CSIRO Agriculture research scientist Dr Susie Sprague says grazed crops also produce other farming system benefits, such as widening of sowing windows, reducing crop height, filling critical feed gaps and spelling of pastures.
However, Dr Sprague said the higher profits on offer from dual-purpose crops relied on attention to detail with both crop and livestock management.
“The opportunities are significant, but the crop and livestock requirements to capitalise on dual-purpose crops are considerable,” she said.
Dr Sprague said a range of winter and spring cereal and canola varieties can be used for dual purposes, depending on the region and seasonal sowing opportunities.
“Early sowing with a suitable maturity type for the site and sowing date will maximise forage and yield potential.”
