Rejuvenating perennial pastures

Summary

A degraded pasture has low productivity usually as a result of a low proportion of desirable species.

In NSW many perennial pastures, both introduced and native, are degraded for various reasons, e.g. drought, overgrazing, lack of fertility or inappropriate choice of species at sowing.

The cost of re-sowing these pastures has recently increased dramatically and can be in excess of $300/ha.

Often it can be difficult to recoup these costs within a reasonable time frame.

Deciding whether to replace or attempt pasture species manipulation or rejuvenation becomes a very important decision.

This Primefact covers the following topics:

• Assessing the pasture
• Techniques to improve pasture composition
• Appendix 1. Botanical composition and groundcover measurements
• Appendix 2. Pasture composition recording sheet