As part of the Grain & Graze Mallee program, six mixed-enterprise farms across three states were chosen for ongoing monitoring and analysis. The monitoring and analysis of cropping and grazing methods on these innovative farms in the Mallee region are providing local producers with the knowledge they need to implement more profitable and sustainable farming systems. The Mallee region - about 300 million hectares of dryland cropping area covering South-West New South Wales, South-East South Australia and North-West Victoria - is one of nine regions in the grain/sheep/beef zone of Southern Australia participating in Grain & Graze.

Grain & Graze Mallee coordinator Zubair Shahzad, of Mallee Sustainable Farming, said the monitor farms would become topics of discussion among farmer groups, providing local information on the integration of pasture, livestock and cropping enterprises under various management regimes.

There are two monitor farms in each of the three states.

In South Australia

The first farm - Denis, Jenny and Adrian Roberts' property in Karoonda - will be monitored for feed production levels over three years. Permanent pasture, intensive cereal and a crop/pasture rotation will be compared to find the best way to fill the autumn/winter feed gap.

The farm is divided into four paddocks: Paddock one has been sown to Veldt grass, a perennial pasture, to boost feed production in the difficult period from May to June.

Paddock two is being intensively cropped for three consecutive years, with annual applications of fertiliser and summer weed control. Previous research has shown continuous cropping to increase yield potential through improvements in soil biota and fertility; and the Roberts' paddock trial will test this research locally.

Paddocks three and four are being managed as a year-in, year-out crop/pasture rotation system. The pasture phase will be monitored similarly to paddock one, the crop phase similarly to paddock two, so that performance of each system can be compared.

On a neighbouring farm, a paddock has been set up to test if feed production can be increased by sowing grazing cereals at higher density and higher nutrition. One half of the paddock will be seeded to barley at 60kg/ha and spread with fertiliser at 50kg/ha; the other half will be seeded at 120-150kg/ha and initially spread with 100kg/ha of fertiliser and followed up with another 50kg/ha of urea at the three-leaf stage.

The second monitor farm at Stephen and Anne May's property in Loxton, will explore the value of increased pasture production and the risk associated with higher inputs.

One pasture paddock has been divided into three areas. One area will be sown with cereal and a high level of pasture (120-150kg/ha seed). Another will be sown with cereal and an average amount of pasture and fertiliser (60kg/ha seed and 50kg/ha of 24:16). The third will be left to volunteer pasture. Each area will be monitored for dry matter production, feed quality, livestock weight gain, soil nutrition, disease, weeds and crop yield. The data will then be compared to find which method delivers the most production for input.

In New South Wales

The first monitor farm, at Luke Follet's property in Euston, is a replicated lucerne trial, designed to demonstrate successful methods for lucerne establishment.

Four winter-active lucerne varieties - Prime, Aurora, Sardi 7 and Super 10 - have been sown in four different ways: oats over-sown with lucerne; oats under-sown with lucerne and sprayed out; oats and Lucerne sown in alternating strips; and lucerne as a monoculture. This will demonstrate how different winter-active lucerne varieties and sowing methods have effect on erodibility, biomass and plant density over three years. The plan is to increase livestock production by 10 per cent where the lucerne is successfully established.

The second monitor farm at Geoff Parker's place in Balranald will demonstrate continuous fodder systems. Some of the newest research on farming rotations (New rotations for low rainfall environments - Bartolome 2003) will be trialled on a paddock-scale for the fist time. This research investigates whether some crop and forage legumes can be more productive than medic pastures, while still addressing soil nutrition, weed control and disease. On the monitor farm there are six non-replicated treatments, involving combinations of peas, oats and lathyrus sown in different combinations at varying rates.

In Victoria

Both monitor farms in Victoria aim to refine the economics of each farm enterprise and then improve whole-farm productivity. Among other things, they'll be utilising existing programs, such as TopCrop, the N-Calculator and Prograze, to do this.

On the first monitor farm at Brian Barry's property in Manangatang, three cropping paddocks have been selected for monitoring. Soils tests have been conducted on these paddocks and fertiliser and seed rates etc. have been adjusted accordingly - such as in the TopCrop program.

For the grazing enterprise, a 40ha plantation of saltbush has been tested for feed quality in order to calculate its worth as a feed source. Other areas of the farm system that will be monitored over the next three years include the use of oats and vetch as supplementary feed, pregnancy-testing of ewes and joining a proportion of the sheep flock earlier than the usual November/December period.

On the second farm - Michael Callahan's property in Millewa - some of the activities include using grass-selective sprays to manage medic dominance in pastures, sowing oat paddocks for supplementary sheep feed, bulking up a malting barley variety to replace the current feed variety, and comparing direct drilling to cultivated fallows.

Grain & Graze is the result of a partnership between four of Australia's major research and development corporations: Meat & Livestock Australia, Australian Wool Innovation Limited, Grains Research and Development Corporation and Land & Water Australia.

The Mallee Grain & Graze project involves the Departments of Primary Industries in Victoria and New South Wales, Rural Solutions South Australia, CSIRO Land and Water, the Mallee Catchment Management Authority, Lower Murray Darling Catchment Management Board and the South Australian Murray Darling Basin Integrated Natural Resource Management Group.

To find out more about Grain & Graze in the Mallee area, contact the Mallee Regional coordinator, Zubair Shahzad on phone: (03) 5021 9103, mobile: 0427 219 103, email: zubair.shahzad@msfp.org.au  or visit the website at www.msfp.org.au. Or contact Gillian Stewart on 02 6263 6042 or visit www.grainandgraze.com.au