Pastures and rangelands

Central West Dry Land Cropping Zone

As soil types and situations vary greatly over the region different pasture mixtures become necessary.

The following mixtures will cover many situations and they can be varied to suit individual requirements.

Red and chocolate basalts, red loams, river and creek flats	Seed Sowing Rate
Lucerne	3-5 kg/ha
or
Lucerne	2-3 kg/ha
Sub-clover	3-4 kg/ha or mix of medic varieties at 3 kg/ha (acid-neutral soils)
or
Lucerne	2 kg/ha
Sub-clover mix	2-3 kg/ha
Selected temperate perennial grass	1 kg/ha

Sandy Clay Loams	Seed Sowing Rate
Lucerne (omit if soil very acid or has poor drainage)	1 kg/ha
Sub-clover	3-4 kg/ha

Sandy Loams	Seed Sowing Rate
Lucerne	1 kg/ha
Sub-clover / Serradella mix	3 kg/ha
Selected temperate perennial grass	1-2 kg/ha
OR
Currie cocksfoot	1-2 kg/ha

Spring Sowing	Seed Sowing Rate
Tropical grass	1 kg/ha
Sub-clover	2 kg/ha
Serradella	2 kg/ha
Note: There are many situations where Persian, Balansa, Arrowleaf clovers or pasture herbs could be added to the above mixtures

	Seed Sowing Rate
Lucerne	2-3 kg/ha
or
Lucerne	1.5 kg/ha
Short season sub and/or medic mix	3 kg/ha
or
Lucerne	1-2 kg/ha
Rose clover	1 kg/ha
Short season sub mix	2 kg/ha

Sandy loams	Seed Sowing Rate
Lucerne (if pH Ca over 5.2)	1 kg/ha
Sub clover mix	3 kg/ha
or
Lucerne (if pH Ca over 5.2)	1 kg/ha
Short season sub clover mix	3 kg/ha
Arrowleaf Clover	1 kg/ha

or September to December Sowings	Seed Sowing Rate
Premier digit grass and Rhodes grass has also been successfully established on the sandy loam soils (granite and sandstone derived soils) as follows:
Premier digit grass	1 kg/ha
Pioneer Rhodes grass	0.5 kg/ha
Lucerne (if pH Ca over 5.2)	0.5 kg/ha
The option is to sod seed sub clover or serradella into the Premier Digit Grass and Rhodes grass the following autumn. Premier Digit Grass and/or Rhodes Grass should be mixed with fertiliser, dropped onto the seed bed and only lightly harrowed, or it can be furrow sown. Consol Lovegrass can be included in the above mixtures (0.15 kg/ha) or substituted for Rhodes Grass (0.25 kg/ha) on the acid, high exchangeable aluminium soils.
or
February/March Sowings (on good soil moisture)	Seed Sowing Rate
Pioneer Rhodes Grass	1.5 kg/ha
Dalkeith/York sub-clover	2 kg/ha*
or
Serradella (King/Cadiz)	2 kg/ha*
Lucerne (if pH Ca over 5.2)	1 kg/ha
Note: There are many situations where Persian, Balansa or Arrowleaf clovers could be added to the above mixtures. *Earlier than optimal sowing window

Deep Sands	Seed Sowing Rate
Serradella (yellow or pink)	2 kg/ha dehulled
Short Season Sub Clover mix	2 kg/ha

Northern Areas

Tropical grass pasture for heavy soils	Seed Sowing Rate
Bambatsi panic	1 kg/ha
Purple pigeon grass	1 kg/ha
Medic (sow from spring-summer)	2 kg/ha* (added later)

Tropical grass pasture for light soils, deep sands only	Seed Sowing Rate
Premier digit grass	1 kg/ha
Consol love grass	0.5 kg/ha
Medic	2 kg/ha* (added later)
* Earlier than optimal sowing window

The following species have tolerance of saline conditions
Tall wheatgrass (Tyrrell, Dundas)
Puccinellia
Pioneer Rhodes Grass
Palestine strawberry clover
Saltbush
Bambatsi Panic
Balansa Clover

The following species have performed well in trials on sodic soils at Balladoran
Sephi barrel medic
Sava snail medic
Lucerne (midly sodic) - Aurora, Genesis or Aquarius, L90
Woolly pod vetch
Riverina Sub-clover
Balansa clover and Nitro Persian Clover, Clare, Antas, Rosedale
Bambatsi Panic
Phalaris