Opportunistic sowing of summer forage for livestock is gaining popularity in high rainfall zones of Victoria.
Sporadic summer rainfall events can provide enough moisture to grow summer forage and valuable ground cover for the soil.
With the Bureau of Meteorology declaring an El Niño alert – with a 70 per cent chance of El Niño fully forming this summer – growers need to consider their decision to sow a summer crop.
While the benefits of cover cropping are widely understood, growers lack basic local knowledge to make informed decisions.
Recent funding through the National Landcare Program Phase 2 has been announced for a new project focusing on mixed cover crops for sustainable farming. Southern Farming Systems will contribute to this nationwide project starting late 2018/early 2019.
The project will run demonstration site evaluations on 20 farms across South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. SFS will have two sites in southern Victoria and one in Tasmania. Sites will be established in the summer of 2018-19 and will be monitored until 2021.
Paddocks will be sown with multiple species cover crop. Replicated areas within the paddock will have two treatments, no soil disturbance and no seed added (summer fallow), and a single cover crop species sown.
The CSIRO will undertake measurements on nutrient cycling and stratification, soil organic matter and fractions, microbial biomass size and activity, soil physical parameters, analysis of C & N in cover crop, biomass cuts and grain samples.
Invertebrate communities will also be assessed at five sites.
Targeted field trials will focus on two key questions:
- What are the new and emerging plant species, summer and winter active and most suited to different environments across the region?
- What are the most effective strategies and timings to terminate a cover crop for achieving the optimum benefits for subsequent crops and soil health?
