Potential for winter grazing from sod-seeded cereals in southern Australia

Abstract

In growing cereals for winter forage there appear to be some advantages in seeding directly into pasture rather than into a prepared seedbed. Generally, crops have to be sown sufficiently early for the bulk of the required forage to be grown before low average temperatures restrict the crop growth rate. However, in some environments competition for moisture between autumn sown cereals and pasture may be severe. The probabilities of obtaining favourable precipitation/evaporation ratios have been estimated for representative locations in southern Australia and are used to assess the possibility of successfully sodseeding a winter forage crop. It is suggested that the technique is unlikely to prove a generally reliable means of providing winter forage except in a narrow belt on the east coast and in zones of unequivocally Mediterranean-type climate. Developments in implement design and the use of chemical pasture suppressants may be expected to extend the areas in which the practice would prove reliable.