SEPTEMBER 2017

NEWSLETTER

NO 34

PPS news News

Membership Fee; The PPS management committee decided on a modest membership fee increase at the Febru-ary planning meeting to keep in line with increases in administration costs. The 2018 membership fee will increase to $60 + GST; this fee will still cover all members of the agricultural business and include quarterly newsletters and con-ference proceedings. Newsletter by Email; The PPS management committee has also decided that from December 2017, the quarterly PPS newsletter will be sent to members by email unless a posted version is requested. This will reduce administration costs and also ensure that members receive the newsletter in a timely fashion without postal delays. See enclosed note for details. Please have a look at the enclosed note for more details. Annual Conference; The 9th annual conference is set for Wednesday September 20th with a great line up of present-ers. A flier is included with the newsletter as well as information on booking your conference place on trybooking if you wish; you can still pay at the door (EFTPOS available). Events; As well as the annual conference there are several other PPS events planned for spring; see page 4 for infor-mation. Full details will be emailed to members closer to the events. Winter Farm Tour; Thirty members attended the winter farm tour in the Balmoral—Harrow area, a report is on pg 3. Gibberillic Acid Demonstration; the year demonstrations have been implemented on eight member’s properties meas-uring the response to GA on productive phalaris pastures as well as a second demonstration looking at the effect of GA on an-nual grasses. Measurements have been carried out by the project manager Rob, Rachael Campbell from Ag Vic, who is assist-ing with the project and Meridian Ag; the results are currently being complied. A report will be produced after the spring pasture counts. 9th Annual Study Tour; The study tour to Kangaroo Island headed off in late August with 27 members participating. Check the PPS facebook page for updates. A study tour report will be produced for members who were unable to attend.

Girls & Grass Events

Farm Safety Walk; on Thursday 27th July; the farm safety session was held in conjunction with Worksafe. Twenty five members attended this very worthwhile day. The Worksafe inspectors were able to answer many varied queries regarding how and what you can do to have a safe workplace. Thanks to the event hosts—Ken, Cheryl and Justin Hall. Sheepvention: Tuesday 8th August saw 18 members take the opportunity to travel by bus for a day at Sheepvention, Hamilton. Members took full advantage of the day exploring many of the stands and talking with available experts. It was an enjoyable and positive learning experience. The event was supported by the Glenelg Hopkins CMA through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Programme.

Girls & Grass Advisory Group; Leila McDougall from Tatyoon has resigned from the AG to concentrate on family matters

with the birth of their second child. PPS congratulates Sean & Leila on their new arrival. Kaye Price from Crowlands has joined the AG in Leila’s place. Thanks to Leila for her contribution in helping set up the Girls & Grass group. PPS Girls & Grass group is supported by Rural Bank

PPS Winter Farm Tour; June Left; “Greenwood” Englefield - Right; “Cobbitty” Pigeon Ponds. A tour report is on page 3

PPS recipe recommendation During the 2016 study tour to central NSW, PPS members visited the farm of Ross Yelland; prior to the farm tour, members were treated to a scrumptious morning tea by Ross’s mother, Carmel. A particular highlight were Carmel’s scones which saw most members head back for seconds (or thirds in a couple of cases). The recipe was passed on to PPS members but seemed to have disappeared until Jodie Greene was preparing their vehicle for an outback trip recently and found a copy of the ingredi-ents. 4 cups Self Raising flour, 300 ml cream, 300 ml water, 1 teaspoon of icing sugar & 1 teaspoon of baking powder. Ross has been booked to be a presenter at the annual conference and is planning to bring a few farmers from NSW with him to attend the conference and visit some PPS member farms. Maybe he could bring some of his mother’s scones as well.

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Eversley Repilcates Survival 2017

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Tottington Survival Estimates

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PPS Pasture Variety Trials Plant survival assessments were made at the three sites in early winter and are shown in the graphs below.

Eversley and Dobie sites were established in 2012, Tottington was established in 2014.

The PPS Pasture Variety Trials are supported by

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New Project: High Production Annual Forage in Perennial Systems PPS was successful in gaining funding for a new project in the last round of the MLA PDS program to look at the use of annuals in perennial pasture based systems. The project aims to demonstrate the production, financial and grazing management bene-fits of high production annual forage systems in perennial grazing systems in the low rainfall regions of Victoria. Perennial pasture establishment is an important part of the productive systems in the region but it is an expensive process ($450/ha estimate) and carries significant risk of failure due to the possibility of lower than average annual rainfall with late autumn breaks. Many producers are complimenting their perennial pastures by sowing a small percentage of their farms to high producing an-nual forage. This is evident in the PPS pasture survey from 2016 which showed a large increase in the establishment of short term ryegrass based pastures in the region; this trend has continued since the first survey in 2012. This reflects producers attempting to fill a feed deficit during winter and early spring when high quality pasture is required for pregnant or lactating ewes. This process also gives producers the ability to protect their long term perennial pastures from over-grazing early in the season. While a number of PPS members are using high production annual forages and grazing cereals, the observation was that they are often achieving sub optimal results due to sub optimal soil fertility and sowing rates of the annual forages. Significant production opportunities are being missed in the pursuit of reducing establishment costs. An economic analysis will be conducted on the project demonstration sites which have been selected for 2017; the project man-ager had to find paddocks that had already been sown due to the timing of the project. Other PPS members will be invited to par-ticipate in 2018 & 2019. A project advisory group consisting of Charlie de Fegely, Lachie Green and Duncan Thomas has been appointed and consultant Lisa Miller has been engaged to assist with the project.

PPS Winter Farm Tour Thirty members ventured to the Balmoral area on Sunday June 18th for the PPS Winter Farm Tour, there were also several apologies from members who couldn’t get there. The first farm was “Greenwood” at Englefield, the property of Geoff & Aira Kemister. Set in magnificent red gum country, the farm is a testament to the vision and planning undertaken when the property was purchased seventeen years ago. The Kemister’s have implemented smaller paddocks, laneways, central watering points enhancing the rotational grazing systems and a productive phalaris system which has seen the stocking rate rise by 60%; in-terestingly all this was done without sowing any new pastures but by improving the management of old phalaris. The group then travelled to Pigeon Ponds to see another showpiece of farm planning at the “Cobbitty” property of Tim & Geor-gie Leeming. Lunch was provided with funding support through the GHCMA and the Leeming’s cooked up a BBQ, donating all the proceeds to the Balmoral Bush Nursing Centre and their daughter Sophie’s “jump for heart” fundraising. Tim then outlined the progress made in the five years since purchase which transformed “Cobbitty” from a cropping farm into a high production lamb operation. Tim explained their intricate split lambing system designed to make use of the sheltered valleys on the farm to maximise lamb survival, he also spoke at length about the importance for “privacy” for ewes at lambing time; especially for mul-tiple births. A farm tour followed which combined the picturesque Dundas Tableland landscape with productive pastures, land-class fencing and annual forage systems. The Leeming’s have completed 100 km of fencing since purchase; further sub divi-sion with temporary electric fences set up the farm for lambing the 10,000 plus lambs expected this year; Tim estimates that the additional fencing can add 5% to their already impressive lamb survival rates. The end of an inspirational tour came late in the afternoon and members started on the journey home, some members trav-elled for over two and a half hours each way for the tour. The Winter Farm Tour was supported by the Glenelg Hopkins CMA through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Programme.

STAWELL COCKSFOOT COMPARISON The cocksfoot project is monitoring three adjacent cocksfoot pastures sown on the Kindred family’s property at Lake Lonsdale. Paddocks sown were Porto in 2006, Yarck in 2008 and Uplands in 2009. The 2017 pasture counts show that the decline of Porto plants has steadied, while there were losses in the Uplands pasture. Funding for the continuation of the Cocksfoot Com-parison has been provided by the Wimmera CMA, through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Pro-gramme.

PERENNIAL PASTURE SYSTEMS CONTACT— PROJECT MANAGER— ROB SHEA ph 0438521357 www.perennialpasturesystems.com.au yadin@netconnect.com.au

~ PPS DIARY DATES ~ Wednesday September 20th: 9th Annual Conference; Gum San Heritage Centre, Ararat

Wednesday September 20th: 9th Annual Dinner; Chalambar Golf Club, Ararat Conference flier enclosed/attached with the newsletter.

Please have a look at the enclosed/attached note for more details on how to book

Wednesday September 13th Girls & Grass High Tea focusing on farm woman’s health with guest speaker and skin

health checks; Ararat Racecourse Function Centre, 1 - 4.30 pm; see enclosed flier for details. Supported by GPPCP.

Friday September 29th Lucerne Masterclass II with Dr Derrick Moot & Lincoln University NZ presentations. Chalambar Golf Club; Ararat 7.45 AM - $30 includes breakfast. More information will be sent to members prior to the event.

Tuesday October 10th Girls & Grass Introduction to succession planning; open dinner and guest speaker, Laurie Cogger:

Cogger Gurry, Accountants and Advisors Hamilton. Event will be in Stawell, venue TBA PPS Girls & Grass group is supported by Rural Bank

October TBA: – PPS Spring Field Day

Friday November 24th – End of year paddock walk & BBQ; Matt & Lydia Kindred’s, Lake Lonsdale; supported by Rabobank

Non PPS Event September 6 & 7: Grassland Society of Southern Australia Annual Conference, Nagambie

PPS Face book Page The PPS Face book page is up and running with project updates, event information and photos from member farms. It is operating as a closed group, so if you wish to be involved; contact Rob for information.

Vegetation ring formation in Poa bulsoa Poa bulbosa is becoming an increasingly problematic weed in the region’s pastures, an interesting observation was made in June at a property near Pomonal where the Poa bulbosa appeared to be dying. Had PPS discovered a previously unknown control measure? Alas no, PPS management committee member, Duncan Thomas found an article on the internet published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology 273 (2011) pgs; 138—146 from Israel, the ab-stract below may shed some light on the phenonom.

Mechanisms of vegetation-ring formation in water-limited systems Efrat Sheffer a,n,1, HeziYizhaq a, MosheShachak a, EhudMeron a,b a Institute forDrylandEnvironmentalResearch,BIDR,Ben-GurionUniversityoftheNegev,SedeBoqerCampus84990,Israel b Physics department,Ben Gurion University of the Negev, BeerSheva84105,Israel A common patch form in dryland landscapes is the vegetation ring. Vegetation patch formation has recently been attributed to self-organization processes that act to increase the availability of water to vegetation patches under conditions of water scarcity. The view of ring formation as a water-limited process, however, has remained largely unexplored. Using laboratory experiments and model studies we identify two distinct mechanisms of ring formation. The first mechanism pertains to conditions of high infiltration contrast between vegetated and bare soil, under which overland water flow is intercepted at the patch periphery. The decreasing amount of water that the patch core receives as the patch ex-pands, leads to central dieback and ring formation. The second mechanism pertains to plants with large lateral root zones, and involves central dieback and ring formation due to increasing water uptake by the newly recruited individuals at the patch periphery. In general the two mechanisms act in concert, but the relative importance of each mechanism depends on environmental conditions. We found that strong seasonal rainfall variability favours ring formation by the overland-flow mechanism, while a uniform rainfall regime favours ring formation by the water-uptake mechanism. Our results explain the formation of rings by fast-growing species with confined root zones in a dry-Mediterranean climate, such as Poa bulbosa. They also explain the formation of rings by slowly growing species with highly ex-tended root zones, such as Larrea tridentata (Creosotebush).

Vegetation patch formation in Poa bulbosa near Pomonal. Have any members seen it elsewhere?