Pastures and Green Feed Options for Northern Victoria

When:

Tuesday 3^rd April, 2012

Time:

9:30 am to 3:15 pm

Where:

Boort Memorial Hall

Theme:

Provide rural producers & Agribusiness with current and new pasture and green feed options for Northern Victoria

Topics:

• Exposure to pasture and feed options for Northern Victoria.
• Right plant, right place, right purpose.
• Learn outcomes of pasture trials.
• Expand rural producers social network.

Partners:

Loddon Shire

Birchip Cropping Group

Contact:

R.S.V.P. Erica Schelfhorst DPI by 27th March

Phone: 03 5430 4560 or

Email: Office at Grasslands

Program:

See below:

9:30 am

Registrations

Morning tea & arrivals

10:00 am

Erica Schelfhorst, DPI

Purpose of the day

10:15 am

Tim Leeming

What can good pastures achieve

Case Study

Local farmer viewpoint. Pasture, purpose, management results

10:45 am

Kieran Ransom

Managing the key risks of farming; climate, weather and the price variability of grains, meat and wool

There are many farming systems or rotations of grains and sheep in use on North-Central Victorian farms. This presentation compares the profitability of intensive cropping versus mixed farms of crops and lucerne pasture as well as crops and annual pastures

11:15 am

A snapshot of Pastures / Fodder Options

11:20 am

Rob Fisher, Grain & Graze VICC

Cereal Fodder Crops

Garry Armstrong, DPI

Case study – Nullawil PDS site

11:50 am

Steve Clarke, DPI

Perennial Pastures

Case Study – Bealiba pasture trial

12:35 pm

Lunch - Seed companies & Agronomists stalls/displays

1:30 pm

Dean Harrington, Harrington Ag Consulting

Brassica fodder crops

1:45 pm

Jason Emms, FFI CRC

Low rainfall options

Perennial Shrubs – Enrich

2:05 pm

Soap Box Presentations

2:25 pm

Q&A with panel of experts & seed companies

Facilitated by Damian Jones, DPI

What further information do farmers need to know about pastures?

2:45 pm

Dean Harrington, Harrington Ag Consulting

How to decide what is the next pasture step

Setting up your own on-farm trials

3:05 pm

Erica Schelfhorst, DPI

Wrap up and Evaluation

3:15 pm

Close

Tags: Pasture Update

Lucerne and bent grass management -
For profitable perenial pastures

When:

Thursday 20^th October, 2011

Where:

Mt. Wallace Hall

off the Geelong-Ballan Road, Mt. Wallace

For directions see below

Time:

9:30am to 4:30pm (lunch provided)

What:

Want to know more about lucerne and how it fits into your farming system? Want to know how you can increase the profitability of your perennial pastures through control of bent grass?

Come along to this field day on profitable perennial pastures and hear about:

• The costs and profits of a lucerne mix.
• How to control bent grass starting in spring.
• How picking the right pastures impacts on kilogram per hectare of beef.
• Grazing tolerant lucernes and how they fit in the farming system.
• Fitting lucerne into your farming system.
• Bus trip: Visit a MLA producer demonstration site and a lucerne recovery site.
• How to increase soil carbon and why it is important.

RSVP:

By Monday 17th October to:

Name:

Neil James, Department of Primary Industries

Mobile:

0417 353 929

Email:

neil.james@dpi.vic.gov.au

Guest Speakers

• Lucerne. How it can increase profitability and production on-farm — Claire Swann from DPI Bendigo
• Getting started on a bent grass control program in spring — Reg Hill from Wrightson Seeds
• Getting it right! Plant, place and purpose — Anita Morant from DPI Hamilton
• Extending the boundaries with GT lucernes – James Sewell from Wrightson Seeds
• Bus trip to an MLA producer demonstration site at Ballan and DPI’s lucerne recovery site at Dereel
• Fitting lucerne into our farming system — John and Maureen Fish, Ballan
• What we have learnt from the producer demonstration site — Neil James from DPI Ballarat

Directions to Mt. Wallace

Tags: Field Day