Pasture cropping‐integrating livestock and crop production for sustainable management of rangelands in south east Australia

W . B . Badgery, C . Seis and G . D . Millar, NSW Department of Primary Industries , Orange A gricultural instate , Forest Rd , Orange , NSW , 2800 Australia, Grain & Graze Central West/ Lachlan Regional Initiative

Pasture cropping ( PC) is an intercropping technique that was developed by farmers in the Central West region of New South Wales , Australia to retain perennial grasses for summer/ autumn grazing . Winter cereal crops are sown directly into summer growing (C４) native pastures ( e .g . Bothriochloa macra and Pasp alidium j ubi f lorum) to exploit their complementary growth phases . The experiment examined the production and environmental differences between grazing pasture ( PA) , PC and no till ( NT ) wheat cropping . PC yields were significantly lower than NT and were limited by nitrogen . There was only a minimal reduction in the density and basal area of perennial grasses from PC compared to PA . Gross margin increased from PA to PC to NT , but higher returns were associated with higher annual volatility .

Key words :intercropping , pasture regeneration , farming systems , perennial pastures