The table represents the potential gross margin that can be made off an area of plantain/clover forage compared with pasture. This is a model based on a 100ha block, finishing lambs from December till September and grazing ewe hoggets from September till December. The production is valued at $2/kg/LW for comparison purposes.
The establishment cost will vary depending on which areas you decide to change. Can you cultivate and drill or is it a helicopter job? What weeds are present and do I need capital fertiliser and lime?
An estimated establishment cost for a block that hasn’t been cultivated before, but is able to be drilled, could be around $1150/ha. This includes spray, insecticide, slug bait, seed (plantain/clover), 200kg/ha DAP, cultivation and sowing, post-emergence weed spray, and urea.
This cost does not include any capital investment that may be needed, the costs of any intermediate crop that may be used to reduce weed contamination, or on-going yearly weed sprays that may be needed to prolong persistency.
There is also an opportunity cost associated with having the pasture out during establishment.
The two things that will drive your return on investment are yield and how efficiently you convert the new feed to product. This may mean a change in stocking policy.
The returns you can get out of a high-performing plantain forage are optimised when you can graze an efficient class of stock on it. The area should also be large enough that you can have a class of stock rotationally grazing. Many farmers have tried a small area, due to the cost of the establishment and the potential variability of the yield, and have not been able to utilise it to its full potential, and are now putting in a larger area. Rotationally grazing also helps to improve animal performance, and overall yield of the crop. The area needs to be well subdivided to allow this to happen.
There may be opportunities this spring, with perhaps lower scanning results and lower capital stock numbers due to the drought, to have larger areas available to take out of the system for forage establishment. If the paddocks are going from pasture straight to a herb forage, weed pressure may be significant. Ideally the paddocks should go through an intermediate crop such as annual grass, oats or brassica to give a chance to reduce weed contamination. If you are sowing straight from pasture, consider leaving out the clover for the first year, to make options for weed control easier.
The potential yield of a new forage on hill country generally will be influenced most by paddock selection. Can you easily identify and remedy the cause of a poor performing paddock? Is it aspect, drainage or fertility? How will your new forage cope under these conditions?
Return on investment is often shown to be highest when converting your poorest performing paddocks first, but the reasons for this low performance may not be easily corrected on hill country. Unless you can easily identify why they are performing poorly and rectify this in a cost-effective manner, there may be less risk in doing your easier paddocks first and getting a more consistent and reliable result. This way, you can plan your change in management and stocking policy with more certainty around how much feed you will have available. The tougher areas can be tackled when you have gained an understanding of your new system.
Last word
The potential return on investment of improving your pastures may be highest when you renew the poorest performing areas first.
When doing this on hill country, it also comes with a high level of risk. This is due to the variability of the result, cost to establish the new forage, and the time it takes to adjust your management to utilise the new forage system with a change in stock policy.
Take time to make your paddock selection and understand the change in your management system that a new plantain forage will allow you to operate.
Kate Wyeth, B Appl Sci – Agribusiness, with Baker & Associates.
