Fodder for the future

WHY THIS PROJECT WAS NEEDED

The use of fodder in dairying systems has become an increasingly important component of dairying across the Southern Murray Darling Basin (MDB) for both dairy businesses and fodder and grain producers.

Fodder for the Future is designed to assist agricultural communities adapt to a water limited future. This project highlights the value of ‘closed loop’ fodder production systems, which involve the transfer of high-quality fodder between businesses within the Southern MDB, whilst retaining the value of production locally. The project also aimed to increase the knowledge and skills of dairy farmers who are increasingly growing fodder to support their overall feedbase systems.

In short: The Fodder for the Future project helped dairy farmers and fodder producers optimise the quality and yield of a range of fodder species in the southern Murray Darling Basin. It included an assessment of various pasture species combinations for fodder quality and ease of harvest, including vetch. 

Demonstration trials explored a range of fodder types across the Murray region of northern Victoria and Southern NSW. Fodder for the Future offered both dairy and fodder producers the chance to explore fodder production strategies for their businesses, building networks and draw on knowledge and expertise from partnering organisations.

Project focus

The project aimed to be a cross-sectoral collaboration designed to support the development of complementary farming systems that optimise the use of both irrigated and dryland forages across the Southern MDB by:

1. Increasing the quality and yield of fodder produced on both dairy, hay and grain farms and;
2. Brokering long term relationships between dairy and hay producers to increase risk management options, diversification of income and resilience in business management.

As part of the project, Riverine Plains established a demonstration site at Boorhaman in northeast Victoria. The trial evaluated an oats/vetch mix sown at two different sowing rates and dates, with a variety of physiological growth measurements taken throughout the growing season.

This site, along with results from additional trials established in other areas, has provided farmers and service providers an opportunity to look at economic and biophysical performance of different cereals and under a range of climatic and market conditions in Murray region. Trials included wheat, barley, oats, triticale, vetch, sorghum and maize, comparing the suitability of varieties within each species for fodder production. 

Project outcomes

The Fodder for the Future project was designed to improve the supply chain for quality fodder between the cropping and dairy industries.

Results from the Youarang demonstration site

Key points

• Vetch grown as a ‘companion crop’ with a small amount of oats increased the harvestability of the fodder, while decreasing the quality of the fodder for dairy cows.
• If growing a cereal with legume, match the time of maturity of the cereal with the legume.
• Be proactive with using fungicides rather than reactive.
• Balance quantity and quality of fodder, the Benetas variety had a greater biomass to the detriment of quality.

Aim

To demonstrate the harvestability and quality of silage and or hay on a crop of vetch with and without a standing crop.

Demonstration details

A 60ha paddock, in Youarang, Victoria, was used as the demonstration site for 2022. The site was sown on 24 May 2022 using  two varieties of vetch – Morava and Benetas, which were sown individually as well as with a small amount of oats (cv Mitika). Sowing rates and varieties are presented in Table 1, while the site set up can be seen in Figure 1.

Fungicide (400mL/ha Veritas Opti) was applied on 28 July 2022 and on 21 September 2022.

Table 1 Species and varieties sown, with target sowing rates

Prior to sowing, soil samples for full chemical analysis was taken from two places in the demonstration site. There were also two samples taken in 5 cm increments from 0-20 cm depth.

Table 2 pH results from 5cm incremental soil samples

Table 3 Chemical analysis of soil from Yourang demonstration site

*EC; electrical conductivity, ^PBI; Phosphorus buffering index

Figure 1 Layout of plots at Youarang demonstration site.

Plots with Morava (front & left) were sprayed out and brown manured due to wet conditions. Benetas (back right) was taken to grain. 

Yield

Due to the wet seasonal conditions, the demonstration sites were too wet to cut for hay or silage. As a result the Morava vetch was sprayed out and brown manured. The Benetas vetch was taken to grain harvest.

Before the demonstration was sprayed out and brown manured, it was estimated that the Morava would have yielded 7.5t/ha while the Benetas was greater at 8.5t/ha. The grain yield of the vetch averaged 0.8t/ha.

There was a visual difference in the vetch stature between the vetch-only and the vetch with oats, as well as between vetch varieties. The oats kept the vetch off the ground and gave the plant greater opportunity to dry out. The vetch-only created a wet mat on the ground floor giving disease an opportunity to take over. The thick layers of vetch were more pronounced in the Morava (plots 1 and 2) due to Benetas having a tougher, thicker stem and standing taller. Part of the reason for not harvesting the Morava was that it formed a wet mass that would be difficult to pick up off the ground cleanly. When cuts were taken for sampling, the vetch measured 155cm for Morava and 180cm for the Benetas.

Nutrition

Biomass samples were sent to FeedTest for analysis and showed that the samples from each plot had generally good quality. Results can be seen in Table 5.

Table 5 Feed analysis when vetch was at BBCH growth stage 61-63. Results are on a % dry matter (%DM) basis.

 
Observations and discussion

Growth during the season looked promising, however with steady rainfall it became one of the wettest springs on record. This meant there were minimal opportunities to dry out the forage once it was cut.

Towards the end of the season, a decision needed to be made between making very poor-quality hay or silage or utilising the legume and incorporating the nutrients into the soil for a nitrogen boost in the next season. As a result, Morava was brown manured, with the decision to take the Benetas vetch to seed based on lack of seed supply. The farmer also hoped to harvest enough for stores for next season.

The harvestability of the vetch-only treatment, especially in a wet year like 2022, was challenging, with the vetch mulched just above ground level creating a ‘wet mass’. The vetch grown with a small amount of cereal stood much taller and allowed for cleaner cutting. Morava vetch was much shorter in stature than the Benetas. The Benetas companion cropped with a cereal created an even larger amount of biomass.

The site was very well managed with a proactive response to disease rather than a reactive one, despite the wet conditions creating an increased risk of disease. Two applications of fungicide were used during the season, which managed to keep diseases at bay. A late application of fungicide on 21 September saved the vetch from late disease.

When taking samples, it was noted that the oat variety (Mitika) matured earlier than the vetch, with Morava vetch maturing around three weeks earlier than the Benetas vetch. An oat variety to match the timing of the vetch variety would be ideal to increase the quality of fodder.

Dairy farmers look for a combination of nutritional characteristics such as metabolic energy (ME), crude protein (CP%) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) when assessing fodder options. Feed was tested for NDF, which indicated that the Benetas variety had higher biomass, and high stem to leaf ratio. The combination of all nutritional values indicated that the Benetas vetch/Mikita oats were marginal for milking quality feed and the Benetas vetch results were just acceptable for milking quality. The Morava vetch met nutritional value requirements, while the Benetas vetch/Mikita oats were ideal for harvestability.

It was clear from the trial that farmers need to have a clear quality objective in mind when growing fodder. If harvested, both varieties in the trial would have produced over 7.5 t/ha of biomass, however due to the Benetas quality in this demonstration, it was sacrificed for biomass.

Further reading

• Read the report produced for Research for the Riverine Plains, 2022. 

Virtual Field Day, 2021

As part of the project, a Virtual Field Day was held in September 2021, see below.

At the virtual field day Shane Byrne, Murray Dairy, introduced the project as providing a forum for sharing technical and market knowledge related to the production of high-quality fodder for the dairy industry.

Catherine Marriott, Riverine Plains, spoke on the benefits of forming long-term partnerships between dairy farmers and grain growers as a way to meet the requirements of dairy farmers, while providing an income stream to grain farmers. 

Dr Cassandra Schefe (AgriSci), explained how some soils in our region are naturally acidic while other soils have become acid due to agricultural production. While some farmers in northeastern Victoria apply lime, application rates are not keeping up with increased productivity of meat, milk and grain production systems. The conventional method of broadcasting lime on the soil surface tends to improve the top 1-5cm, while the soil below can become more acidic. Hay production has the biggest affect on acidification of all agricultural systems (i.e. an 8t/ha oaten hay crop requires 200kg lime/ha to replace the acidification). If fertiliser applied to fodder crops are considered (i.e 80kg/ha MAP and 100kg/ha urea), 326kg/ha lime is required to replace the acidification. Acidity is a systems issue for the whole farm, as the range of options for crop and pasture species is reduced at levels below pHCaCl 5. Increased acidity also means that crops and pastures cannot efficiently access nutrients, further reducing their productivity.

Soil sampling using GPS located points is helpful to remove in-paddock variation, and sampling of the same areas over time can help determine trends. Ideally, sample different areas of the paddock (either good/bad or light/heavy soil types). If the paddock has a no-till history, sampling needs to be done in 5cm increments down to 20cm to show where the acidity is located in the profile and determine how to apply and incorporate the lime. Lime is a capital investment, and farmers in the region should target a pH of 5.8 in the topsoil. If correct rates of lime are applied and incorporated correctly based on soil test information, economic returns will be faster compared to if lime was surface applied.

Luke Nagle (Advanced Ag) explained how a fodder crop can provide a weed break and nitrogen fixation for cropping systems and farmers whilst simultaneously providing  good  protein and energy for dairy systems and farmers.  Good communication between the fodder producer and the dairy farmer is essential to ensure the product meets animal production needs. A good dairy fodder option is a cereal and vetch mix, sown at 40kg vetch and 10-20kg of cereal. Common local vetch varieties are Morava and Popany, with an early May sowing the best date to make a quality product.

Luke also recommended avoiding stony paddocks, ensuring irrigation wasn’t too late and that capeweed is hard to get out of vetch. Harvesting at booting stage for silage (35% dry matter) gives the higher quality protein product, while harvesting at head emergence gives a quality product and more dry matter. Even though hay is not as profitable as grain this year, there may be incentives for grain farmers to clean up problem weed paddocks and maintain long term relationships with dairy farmers.

David Lewis (Lallemand) spoke about the benefits of silage as a source of readily digestible feed and nutrients for ruminants, where high quality forages preserved as quality silage can improve animal performance. The key to quality spring silage is in managing the whole process, starting with mowing and raking for rapid wilting and making silage at the correct plant moisture on the day. Contamination with soil from a low cutting height or rough/stony paddocks can be detrimental to silage quality (i.e if it is cut too low, there can be a lot of contaminants in the silage which reduce animal production).

When growing companion crops, it is important to get the mix of species and maturity right to achieve the targeted feed quality (protein, energy etc). Cereals can be cut for silage at two stages: flag leaf and soft dough. When cereals are combined with vetch, the target is generally booting stage, limiting the amount of cereal so it doesn’t dilute the protein levels provided by the vetch.

Harvest timing locks in the feed values of the fodder: generally, the later the crops are ensiled, the more quality decreases. This can be partially overcome in a cereal/vetch mix as vetch protein remains high while flowering. However, the feed quality of the vetch drops away once it finishes flowering. This is where the combination of matching maturities and seeding rates of the two species is important to provide enough frame from the cereal to support the vetch, whilst not diluting the feed value.

The Fodder for the Future project is funded by the Federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, through the Murray-Darling Basin Economic Development Program.

This event was supported by the North East CMA through funding provided by the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.