Drought pendulum in 'uncertain' phase, says Southern Farming Systems

Chair Scott Chirnside, Inverleigh, said now was the time to prepare for the next two phases of the drought cycle.

SFS was trying to educate farmers about the four phases of drought: good conditions, uncertainty, drought itself and recovery periods, he said

"It's at least going to come into the second phase, which is the uncertain phase - that is when we aren't sure what is going to happen and it's not looking that rosy," Mr Chirnside said.

"We start to look at matching our livestock production enterprises with our pasture or feed availability and what livestock we are going to retain, having made plans as to which animals are going to go out the gate, as things become more stressed."

Mr Chirnside said having plans in place allowed farmers to know where they wanted to be when things got tough, which also promoted better mental health.

Practical actions that could be taken now were setting up stock confinement areas or sacrificial paddocks to help preserve pasture.

"All those decisions need to be made when things are good, so you are ready to go," Mr Chirnside said.

"People are holding livestock in confinement to allow pastures, from an early break, to get away and get some size about them. so they are not damaged in the seedling stage by excessive grazing," he said.

The other concern was the build-up of cricket numbers in the south-west, as they often consumed young seedlings.

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SFS South West Node Drought and Innovation Adoption officer Jen Clarke said uncertain times were hard to predict, but farmers could take action on the things that were under their control.

Tactics to maximise pasture production after a big spring and summer and after the Autumn break were crucial.

But an excess of dry feed, after good spring rains, was causing issues across the region, she said.

Failure to remove this material reduced potential regrowth from species like perennial ryegrass, phalaris, cocksfoot and tall fescue.

It also affected the breakdown of hard seededness in sub clover, resulting in lower rates of germination.

The dry material was also of very low nutritive content, which meant the grazing value was minimised.

"I think it is a really common problem and we have had a couple of seasons, like this one," Ms Clarke said.

"All that dry, standing feed is really going to limit the new growth that we are wanting to promote - it's like driving with the handbrake on, things are starting to grow, but not as well as they could," Ms Clarke said.

"We are trying to get light into the base of our plants, to get those new tillers produced , and with all this trash, we can't get the light in."

The first option would be to graze the stubbles, but that required a reasonably large mob of sheep.

'If you have a small mob, they will just wander around and pick out the green bits and they will leave that dry material - you do need to push them a bit harder, so they can't be as selective with their grazing," she said.

Slashing or mowing would let the light into grasses, but could smother clovers trying to germinate and come through, while the last resort would be a cool burn.

"You really want to make the most of the opportunity you have got now, whilst we have got warm soil temperatures and reasonable moisture, at the minute, so you can build up a feed wedge as we enter into winter and the cold saps growth," she said.

The ideal targets for ground cover on flat country were: