IT was a heart-warming turn out on a cool morning for the WA Pasture and Livestock Update in Kellerberrin recently.
About 60 people attended the on-farm segment hosted by Shackleton farmer Todd Anderson, Toolangi Park.
Mr Anderson said he didn’t know what to expect in terms of numbers but was surprised with the turnout.
He started the day by giving an overview of on-farm practices before taking the group through some paddocks to highlight what worked and what other possibilities he could consider going forward.
The Andersons have been on Toolangi Park since 1948 and have 5200 hectares of arable land.
Mr Anderson said while they have always had a mixture of cropping and sheep, they have changed over the years to suit their lifestyle and focus.
“We usually have 75 per cent to 90pc in crop,” Mr Anderson said.
“This year we have 85pc in crop on the back of the early summer rains.”
The first paddock reviewed was Scope barley which was prone to frost in winter.
Mr Anderson said he ran 350 ewes on the 200ha of pasture for about six weeks in June and July.
“We put the sheep in there early to ensure they got the most out of it in case the bad weather hits,” he said.
“We push the sheep down into the barley to clean away the weeds and chew off barley which is prone to frosting.
“They normally graze the paddock flat.”
Mr Anderson said he had been planting barley on barley for 10 years in the same paddock.
“It stacks up pretty well year-in, year-out,” he said.
“We spray the ryegrass when it shows.
“If I knew the frosts were coming I would graze it in mid-April and maybe get a couple of grazings out of the Scope.”
Despite the encouragement from industry to increase livestock numbers to cash in on the red meat prices, the Andersons would continue with their stocking rate.
“We run 1800 ewes,” he said.
While the pastures are growing, the sheep are located in what could be described as a feedlot.
“We have about a dozen confined areas scattered around the farm, ranging in size from 1ha to 15ha,” he said.
“They are all within two kilometres of the sheepyards for convenience in shearing and feeding.”
They would rotate the sheep about every two weeks from one paddock to the next, feeding them a mixture of hay, lupins, and barley straw – keeping about 600 square bales of hay fodder on hand.
In the second paddock reviewed they “always cropped 30ha of wheat”, but it was also used for Dalkeith and Nungarin sub clovers for pasture feeding.
“It’s not a great paddock for the boomspray but it is a good, convenient paddock,” he said.
“There’s not a lot of grass, so we’ll just graze it.
“I doubt we will spring crop – we’ll just graze it and put up with the odd weeds.”
On this paddock Alosca Technologies general manager Chris Poole and Maldi-ID chief executive Sofie De Meyer conducted a demonstration of how to check plants for bacteria on the nodules.
To finish off, Mr Anderson showed the group a 90ha paddock with light soil types, where he had March-sown French Serradella – Cadiz, which he had been using for livestock feed.
His usual rotation on the paddock was wheat/wheat/canola/cereal and then wheat.
“Later in the year, about October, we get a lot of feed off it,” he said.
After lunch growers attended workshops at the Kellerberrin Recreation Centre.
Mr Anderson said he enjoyed hearing from other farmers about their ideas and said it was important to be open to ideas because there might be something he could try for better results.
AgVivo Events director Erin Gorter said: “the day ended with a powerful and highly-relevant summary of the technology available, or on the horizon, for livestock producers.”
She said Department of Agriculture and Food WA research officer Beth Paganoni and Kojonup producer Emily Stretch, jointly shared their knowledge and experiences on a series of topics.
“It was really encouraging to get feedback from other farmers in this region about the sorts of things we do on our farm, that they could see value in for their farms in a completely different geographical location and rainfall zone,” Ms Stretch said.
Ms Gorter said the organisers were “delighted with the turnout of such a big, keen crowd of livestock enthusiasts to Kellerberrin, along with similar numbers in Wagin earlier in the week”.
“It was really encouraging to see so many people who continue to see livestock as an integral part of their mixed farming businesses, come out and learn more about how to improve or fine tune pastures and manage their livestock operations.”
The WA Pasture and Livestock Update was sponsored by Meat and Livestock Australia in conjunction with Evergreen Farming, with drinks supplied by Alosca Technologies.
