Track 2-5-1: Traditional Grassland Management, Animal Husbandry, and Nomadism
Description
Australian native pastures in the high rainfall zone (> 600 mm AAR) in northern Victoria and southern NSW are usually dominated by annual species, and occupy a considerable proportion of the landscape (Pearson et al., 1997; Hill et al., 1999). Productivity of native pastures can potentially be increased by using fertiliser (Lodge 1979; Garden and Bolger, 2001) but this nearly always comes at the expense of the native perennial grasses (Garden et al., 2000; Garden and Bolger, 2001). However, using a combination of fertiliser inputs and rotational grazing can provide increased productivity while maintaining the native perennial pasture base (Garden et al., 2003). Maintaining and improving the current native perennial pasture base in this hilly landscape is essential for maintaining ground cover and meeting natural resource management targets (Virgona et al., 2003).
This experiment was conducted as part of the Ever Graze project (Avery et al., 2009), which had the aim of demonstrating that substantial increases in profitability can be achieved while improving environmental management by putting the Ever Graze Principle of ‘Right Plant, Right Place, Right Purpose, Right Management’ into action. The hypothesis for this research was that it is possible to maintain the persistence of native perennial grasses by appropriately combining fertiliser (superphosphate) application with appropriate grazing management.
Included in
Basal Cover of Perennial Native Grasses Increases Due to Seasonal Conditions
Australian native pastures in the high rainfall zone (> 600 mm AAR) in northern Victoria and southern NSW are usually dominated by annual species, and occupy a considerable proportion of the landscape (Pearson et al., 1997; Hill et al., 1999). Productivity of native pastures can potentially be increased by using fertiliser (Lodge 1979; Garden and Bolger, 2001) but this nearly always comes at the expense of the native perennial grasses (Garden et al., 2000; Garden and Bolger, 2001). However, using a combination of fertiliser inputs and rotational grazing can provide increased productivity while maintaining the native perennial pasture base (Garden et al., 2003). Maintaining and improving the current native perennial pasture base in this hilly landscape is essential for maintaining ground cover and meeting natural resource management targets (Virgona et al., 2003).
This experiment was conducted as part of the Ever Graze project (Avery et al., 2009), which had the aim of demonstrating that substantial increases in profitability can be achieved while improving environmental management by putting the Ever Graze Principle of ‘Right Plant, Right Place, Right Purpose, Right Management’ into action. The hypothesis for this research was that it is possible to maintain the persistence of native perennial grasses by appropriately combining fertiliser (superphosphate) application with appropriate grazing management.
