From scrubby land to productive pasture

Much of lower country on Braemar is undulating and terraced with areas of deep fertile soils

11-08-2010 | Contributor

Four years ago, to help improve feed quality on some of the more productive land, Hamish and Julia began using the high-sugar grass Aberdhart with great success.

The Aberdhart-based pastures are used for finishing lambs and for making silage.

Hamish says they don't get managed any differently from other pastures but stock do well on them and they seem to persist and produce a lot of feed.

Dave Schrader, from Annett Seeds, says high-sugar grasses are high in water soluble carbohydrates but lower in protein.

The ratio of carbohydrate to protein is important - the higher the carbohydrate the slower the breakdown in protein and the more available it is to the animal.

In their pasture development programme the Mackenzies spray with glysophate and direct-drill where they can but in heavier country they use a swamp plough before putting the paddocks through a rotation of brassicas and short-rotation grasses followed by permanent pasture.

Where suitable they are sowing their rape crops with clover and plantain so that when the rape runs out they can direct drill short-rotation ryegrasses into the clover base.

The soils on Braemar are not as arid as in other parts of the Mackenzie Basin but, typical of soils in the high country, they are deficient in sulphur and high in aluminium due to low pH.

Capital fertilisers are focused on sulphur and lime but potassium is applied to the paddocks used for silage and last season nitrogen was used to get feed going.

One of the downsides of lifting the fertility of the soils on Braemar is the proliferation of matagouri and snow tussocks.

Hamish says the tussocks are a good indicator of soil health and while they provide valuable shelter and retain moisture, in some areas they have become too thick.

One 60ha block was choked and until they sprayed and burned it the block provided only two weeks' grazing a year.

Hamish and Julia now lamb 300 ewes on that block and get at least a month's grazing out of it.

They sprayed the tussock and left it for three months before burning it in what was a hot burn which worked well in opening up the area.

Hamish and Julia are continuing the pasture development programme started by Duncan back in the 1970s and by using tools such as swamp ploughs, root rakes, spraying and burning they are turning scrubby land into productive pasture.

Root raking is an expensive but effective way of developing land and the swamp plough works well with snow tussocks.

Fire is a controversial tool and Hamish admits that while it can do short-term damage, it can be hugely beneficial in the long-term. They are debating the best way to deal with matagouri. The options include spraying and/or burning.

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