Producing over 40 t dry matter/ha per year through a complementary forage rotation system

Abstract

A long-term field study is being conducted in New South Wales, Australia, to evaluate the feasibility of producing over 40 t DM/ha/year with a triple crop, complementary forage rotation (CFR) system. The CFR comprises a bulk crop (maize); a break crop (forage rape) and a legume crop capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen (clover). The control is a well managed kikuyu-based pasture oversown with short rotation ryegrass each autumn. Treatments are replicated four times and data from the first 2 years are reported. Over 40 t DM/ha/year was either utilised by grazing or harvested mechanically from the CFR system in the first 2 years. This compares to almost 18 t DM/ha/year of utilised pasture for the control pasture system. In practice, these results indicate that dairy farmers in Australia can increase productivity by growing more forage on-farm with increased efficiency. The systems are designed to complement, rather than substitute, pasture-based systems. Keywords: complementary forage rotation, pasture, crop, dairy