Top genetics is a key part of a profitable prime lamb enterprise but maximising the potential of those genetics comes down to pastures.

Nicole Frost is the co-principal of Peak Pasture and Livestock, and is convinced there is much that can be done to make sure the investment in top-quality genetics is realised.

Based in Ensay, Victoria, Ms Frost graduated with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science from Charles Sturt University at Wagga Wagga and has teamed that with a graduate certificate in business to work with clients in her role as a dedicated pasture agronomist.

And living on a sheep and beef farm, Ms Frost uses her backyard to practice what she preaches.

She said grazing businesses needed to understand that they are in the business of growing grass.

“All graziers should consider themselves grass-farmers first, and sheep are the tools that convert that grass into dollars,” Ms Frost said.

“This is an important distinction because how much pasture we can produce sets the ceiling on our stocking rate and ultimately, how many kilos of lamb, wool or mutton we can produce.

“Grass is the cheapest way  to feed stock and it should be the first port of call.

“Certainly I have clients who have feedlots as part of their farm system but for those who can, growing grass, and considering  not only volume but quality, can be very profitable.”

There is no one-size-fits-all, nor a silver bullet, when it comes to maximising grass production, yet tweaks can be made to ensure each class of stock is getting the right quality of feed to suit their stage of growth or role in the production system.

“Preferably you would have a pasture suited to each class of stock, with high protein for young growing stock and high energy pastures for pregnant stock, but there’s a balance in that too,” Ms Frost said.

“It’s important to ensure diets are balanced and appropriate for the production stage of the animal. For example: if animals are consuming protein well in excess of their requirements, they can actually begin to lose weight because of the energy requirement to excrete the excess protein. So what may have started as a diet that provided enough energy for growth, is now insufficient. 

“My advice is to look at the farm as a whole system.

“You might have high production areas like river flats that can cope with a pasture mix of red clover, chicory and Italian ryegrass, and that may be a perfect weaning paddock.

“But it could also be a good choice for lambing down twin-bearing ewes who need that kind of nutrition.

“If you have lighter country with a lot of roughage, that is perfect for dry animals.

“It’s about knowing what class of stock needs what quality of pasture  and being able to match those paddocks to feed demand.”

Ms Frost’s work as a pasture agronomist is more than just organising a soil test, and she looks at the farming system to work out which pastures are best for the operation.

The first step in determining your pasture mix is to select a grass species that suits the climate, soil type, rainfall and topography. The grass is a base, and added to that is a legume, again which fits the criteria, and then a herb like chicory or plantain. Working with an agronomist who understands your enterprise and the local conditions, to help you select the most appropriate species and develop a program to optimise establishment, is a key step for success, Ms Frost said.

If she had to nominate a favourite, it’s chicory, given its hardiness as well as the ability to produce weight gains of more than 350 grams/day for lambs.

“You can’t beat chicory in terms of finishing lambs, and I am a big chicory fan,” Ms Frost said.

In terms of return on investment, she said establishing high-performing perennial pastures can deliver excellent returns if done carefully.
“It is not cheap to establish permanent pasture, so we must give them every chance of success to reduce the risk of failure and generate a positive return through an increase in stocking rate,” she said.

Back of the envelope numbers for establishing a pasture in her area confirmed just how reasonable the cost was.

There’s a caveat in that these are ball park figures, Ms Frost said, but were indicative of the kind of outlay and returns from planting the right pastures.

In her area, she calculated it costs about $1330/hectare to sow a perennial pasture, which included pre and post emergent herbicide applications, seed, contractors and fertilisers.

If that pasture was then to generate eight tonnes/hectare of dry matter, the cost comes back to just over 16c/kilogram of dry matter in the first year. If this pasture averaged around 11 megajoules of metabolisable energy per kilogram of dry matter, that would equate to about 1.5 cents per megajoule of energy.

The results are even more impressive in the second year of production and successive years, with costs of $200/hectare to maintain the pasture (fertiliser and herbicides) against a dry matter production of 12 tonnes, reducing the cost to less than 2c per kilogram of dry matter, or 0.02c per megajoule of energy.  

Pasture longevity can range from around five years for ryegrass, up to 15 to 20 years for phalaris or cocksfoot-based stands.
“ Locally, we are seeing producers quite easily double their stocking rates relative to the local industry average, through increased fertiliser use and better rotation grazing systems,” Ms Frost said.

“Once we start adding pasture improvement, many are stocking three times the average rate on their better country, as an average across the year.”

Ms Frost said equal emphasis should be given to genetics and pastures in a lamb production system, as one without the other was not maximising the potential of the farm system.