Dual purpose crops mitigate drought load

During the 2006 drought on his family’s Mandurama, NSW, property, Stuart Tait realised they were running a business that lacked flexibility – unable to capitalise on good seasons, and significantly challenged in dry ones. The Tait’s operation runs 600 breeding cows, trades between 200 and 800 steers a year and plants 450 hectares of winter crop.

Mr Tait said when he looked at what was driving profit in the business, the cost of producing every kilogram of beef was key.

“If you as a farmer take one kilogram of grass that is out in your field – depending on your management system – that 1kg of grass will cost between eight to 14 cents a kilogram to grow,” he said.  

“You have an option to what you do with that grass – you can take an animal to that kilo of grass and graze it.

“Alternatively you can use your machinery or a contract machine to come mow it, rake it, bale it, wrap it in string, transport it to a shed or another part of the farm and then feed it out – you still only have one kilo of grass but it is costing you from 20-50c/kg…and in most cases it has lost nutritional value.

“Don’t take the mountain to the man, take the man to the mountain, animals have legs for a reason.”

Dual purpose crops are already being used across Australia, Mr Tait said, but producers need to have a solid grasp on the costs of producing each hectare of feed for it to be efficient – and they often don’t.

Finding the right plant to be the centrepiece of your forage system is critical, and Mr Tait hopes that plant for their property could be Sainfoin. The plant is similar to lucerne, but is no bloating, a big risk for livestock producers grazing lucerne, and Mr Tait is planting a trial plot of the plant this week.

Subdivision and rotation is also critical, both from crop and animal perspectives, Mr Tait said, and virtual fencing could revolutionise this practice in Australia when used in conjunction with broadacre cropping. And finally, Mr Tait said it is about measuring pasture and then using that data to plan grazing system.