Corangamite/Glenelg-Hopkins Region, Victoria

Project contact: Cam Nicholson, phone 0417 311 098, email nicon@pipeline.com.au

Raised beds and controlled traffic allow the use of lucerne and other species previously deemed unsuitable for this region because of waterlogging. These crops are used to break weed, pest and disease cycles, improve soil fertility and deep soil structure for subsequent crops and provide high quality out-of-season feed.

However, lucerne growth in winter is less than conventional pastures, exacerbating the shortage of winter feed. In spring and summer, producers are reporting less than anticipated growth rates by livestock grazing lush, actively-growing lucerne.

Unless these two issues are addressed, the adoption of lucerne as a break crop is likely to be limited.

This project is examining ways of solving the winter feed shortage by using lucerne to provide feed in late spring and summer.

It is also testing a range of supplements to improve feed conversion efficiency, hopefully enabling a significant increase in the grazing value of lucerne as a break crop and therefore as part of the crop/pasture cycle.