Steer liveweight gains on Progardes desmanthus/buffel pastures in Queensland

Progardes are new selections from the desmanthus legume genus developed at JCU as tropical pasture legume for semiarid clay soils. In the dry tropics livestock face annual long dry season/protein droughts and in some situation nitrogen "run down" is of serious concern. Progardes was sown into a renovated buffel grass pasture in Central Queensland and steers liveweight gain was recorded over a dry frosty 90 day period. Steers on the Progardes buffel pasture gained an addition 40kg compared to steers on an unrenovated buffel only pasture. Progardes is well suited to the region and may alleviate buffel run down