Selection of experimental treatments, methods used and evolution of management guidelines for comparing and measuring three grazed farmlet systems
J. M. Scott A I , C. A. Gaden B , C. Edwards C , D. R. Paull D , R. Marchant E , J. Hoad A , H. Sutherland F , T. Coventry G and P. Dutton H
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
B ‘Beaumont’, Invergowrie, NSW 2350, Australia.
C NSW DPI, Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia.
D CSIRO Livestock Industries, Private Bag, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
E Formerly NSW DPI, Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia.
F ‘Deeargee’, Uralla, NSW 2358, Australia.
G ‘Bailey Park’, Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia.
H ‘Wyanga’, Uralla, NSW 2358, Australia.
I Corresponding author. Email: dr.jimscott@gmail.com
Animal Production Science 53(8) 628-642 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN12265
Submitted: 1 August 2012 Accepted: 30 October 2012 Published: 10 July 2013
Journal Compilation © CSIRO Publishing 2013 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND
Abstract
The Cicerone Project was a collaborative effort by livestock producers, researchers and extension specialists, which aimed to explore the profitability and sustainability of grazing enterprises on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. A major part of the Project was the creation of a moderate scale, unreplicated farmlet experiment. The process of selecting the farmlet treatments and the design of the experiment involved considerable negotiation over an extended period in order to achieve ‘ownership’ by all those involved.
The farmlets were designed to compare a typical farmlet (B) as the control with a second farmlet (A), which received higher levels of pasture renovation and soil fertility, and a third (C), which employed intensive rotational grazing management with short graze and long rest periods. Management guidelines were developed for all soil, pasture, livestock and grazing management decisions on the three farmlets.
Whole-farmlet data are presented for the pastures sown, fertiliser applied, supplement fed, the stocking rates attained and the pattern of graze and rest periods over the experimental period from July 2000 to December 2006. Over the first 4 years of the trial, pastures were renovated on 71% of farmlet A while 8% of each of farmlets B and C were renovated. The rates of fertiliser applied to the three farmlets varied according to soil test values and the different target values for soil phosphorus and sulfur. In the first year of the trial (2000–01), the annual average stocking rates on farmlets A, B and C were 9.5, 7.9 and 9.1 dry sheep eqivalents/ha, respectively, whereas by the fifth year (2005), the stocking rates were 11.2, 7.8 and 7.4 dry sheep equivalents/ha, respectively.
This paper provides details of the general methods used in the farmlet trial, of relevance to a series of related papers which explore all aspects of the farmlet experiment and its findings. It also reports on the selection and definition of the farmlet treatments and describes how the guidelines evolved over the duration of the trial in response to the practical realities of conducting this complex, agroecosystem experiment.
Additional keywords: action learning, farming systems research, farmlet studies.
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