Valuing the Pasture Resource - Importance of Perennials in Higher Rainfall Regions of South Eastern Australia

The premature decline of perennial grass based pastures in southern temperate Australia results in poor productivity and unstable pastures that allow invasion by less desirable weedy species and the potential for soil degradation. The loss of perennial species is attributed to overgrazing arising from an undervaluation of the pasture resource. Resowing pastures is largely uneconomic so maintenance of, or increasing the perennial, is dependent on improved grazing and pasture management practices. A key to changing perceptions is valuing the true worth of the perennial component. Results are presented from a model that takes into account the seasonality of production of pastures of different composition. The model uses specific metabolically energy values for the different functional groups that are typically within pastures (perennial grasses, annual grasses, legumes, broadleaf species) and livestock demand, to estimate animal performance and then gross margins for different pasture types. The results show that the value of perennial grasses is much greater than any other component and the more perennial grass, the greater the returns. The potential use of this approach to provide more useful information to landholders, permitting more appropriate management decisions to be made, is described