Ten Steps to Successful Pasture Establishment

Mark Kesby  LPLM Project Officer

When planting pastures, it is important to realise that the planning and preparation needs to be as good as when you are planting crops. Often pastures are planted on a spur of the moment decision. While this is sometimes successful, every corner that is cut increases the chances of an expensive and disheartening failure. If you follow the ten steps outlined below, the chances of success are very high.

In particular, I draw you attention to the four essential steps (steps 2, 3, 4 and 8). If weeds are allowed to seed the previous season, they will provide strong competition to the seedling pasture. This means that the chances of success are very low. If there isn’t a store of subsoil moisture at planting time, you are relying on good follow up rain for seedling survival. This is especially important for summer planting. Getting seeding depth right is crucial: plant too deep and the seedlings will never make it to the surface; plant too shallow and the seeds may dry out before they can germinate and will struggle to get their roots down.

STEP 1. Plan ahead (at least 12 months, preferably 3 years)

• What weeds are present and how best to control them? Remember it is much easier and cheaper to control weeds before planting the pasture rather than after establishment. Severe weed problems may limit your options. Start with the paddock with the least problems. Annual summer grasses make it virtually impossible to successfully establish tropical grasses.
• Are there existing species in the paddock that are useful? It is possible to renovate existing pastures by building on what is there. eg many native perennial grasses can be productive if you add fertiliser and annual legumes such as sub clover.
• What are you trying to achieve by pasture improving? This will affect what you should plant and how you could best go about it.

For example, do you want to - Fill a specific feed gap? Improve the carrying capacity? Fatten cattle?

STEP 2. ESSENTIAL Control weeds the years before to reduce the weed seed bank

• Seedling pastures compete poorly with weeds. Too much competition from weeds is the biggest cause of failure when establishing pastures. It is most important to reduce the weed seed bank before planting.
• A good way to do this is to grow a crop (preferably 3 years). Other measures to consider include controlling broadleaf weeds the previous year and spray topping barley grass and rye. If you believe that there will be significant weed competition, then delay planting until the weeds are under control. You may be better to choose another paddock to plant this season.

STEP 3. Essential to plant into a store of subsoil moisture

• Fallow the paddock to reduce competition and build a store of subsoil moisture. Pasture seedlings need a store of moisture to get them through dry spells after planting. This is particularly critical when planting tropical grasses.

STEP 4. Essential to eliminate or suppress competition

• It is best to wait until competition emerges at the beginning of the season. Then spray or cultivate before planting. Tropical grasses germinate later and more slowly than the annual grasses.

STEP 5. Correct nutritional problems

• Is there a phosphate or sulphur deficiency? A fertiliser program must be part of your overall plan. Use a starter fertiliser when planting grasses to get them off to a good start.
• Plan an ongoing fertiliser program to ensure a long-lived, productive pasture.
• It is essential to have legumes as part of the mix. They fix the nitrogen that enables grasses to grow well and persist. Without nitrogen the results will be disappointing.

STEP 6. Choose the right species mix

• Aim for a mixture of grasses and legumes. (Get advice on the latest recommendations). Perennial grasses are better than annuals. They respond quicker, compete with weeds and provide groundcover.

STEP 7. Plant at the right time when chances of success highest

• For winter growing species (sub clover, medics, phalaris) and lucerne: plant after the autumn break. Allow time for weeds to emerge, control them and then plant. If you plant late, annual legumes won’t have time to seed properly. Lucerne can also be successfully planted in spring.
• Tropical grasses: spring is the best time (but not too early). Avoid summer unless there is good stubble cover, as the heat can kill young seedlings. February/early March planting is possible. However, autumn is often a dry time of year and the chances of rain to germinate and establish the grasses before winter are limited. Later planting can be better if there is likely to be summer grass competition (ie barnyard, liverseed and Spiny burr grasses).

STEP 8. Essential to place seed at right depth with good seed/soil contact

• This means that the right equipment is necessary. When planting into a conventional seedbed, use a band seeder and a roller.
• Tilth under the seed, seed placement at the right depth and press wheels will give best results when using zero till. Machines such as the Soil Flow Seeder_® are capable of achieving this.

STEP 9. Control weeds and pests in young pastures

• Monitor the young pasture. Heavy weed competition can cause a pasture to fail. Watch for earth mites in winter pastures. They can kill seedling plants in days.

STEP 10. Use good grazing management

• You’ve spent a lot of money establishing the pasture – so look after it to get its maximum life!
• It is important that the pasture is allowed to set seed in the first year. This enables the plants to develop good root systems, build root reserves and provide seed reserves
• Aim to let plants flower once every year from then on. Rotational grazing will give much better results than set stocking.
• Avoid prolonged hard grazing as this will run down the plant’s root reserves making it weak. It will also cause erosion and allow weed invasion.
• Maintain at least 70% ground cover (preferably more) to minimise runoff, erosion and weeds. Move stock when the pasture has been grazed to this point.