Members and readers intending to present a poster at the Society’s 53^rd Annual Conference, to be held at the Launceston Tramshed on 25^th-27^th July 2012, are asked to submit an abstract of their poster.

Guidelines for authors

The abstract should be compiled using MS Word and submitted by Friday 4th May 2012 to office at grasslands. Abstracts should be written to appeal to a broad audience including farmers, scientists, students, etc. All papers will be reviewed and are to be no longer than five pages (approx. A5 size) of the conference proceedings using the following format.

Format guidelines

PAGE SIZE:

17 cm x 24.5 cm in a portrait layout (approx. A5)

MARGINS:

Top, bottom, left and right margins - 2 cm.

FONT:

Times New Roman.

HEADING TEXT:

Centred, bold, font size 12.

AUTHOR TEXT:

Centred, bold, font size 11.

TEXT:

Left justified, font size 11.

PARAGRAPHS:

Single line spacing with 6 pt after each paragraph.

COLUMN FORMAT:

One column format only. Refer to past proceedings for layout.

SIZE AND CONTENT:

The paper must fit onto five pages and be organised conventionally (i.e. Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions) although headings in the text are not mandatory.

References:

Provide references for further information. Cite your references in the text as Quigley et al. (1992) or (Quigley et al., 1992) and list them at the end of your paper in alphabetical order in the following way. Quigley PE, Ward GN, Morgan T 1992. Botanical composition of pastures in southwest Victoria. Proc. 6th Australian Agronomy Conference p 533.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF POSTER ABSTRACTS: Friday 4th May, 2012.

The postponement is due to a clash with another agricultural event.

The Mac Troup Lecture will be rescheduled for Mid Year

Welcome to the new home and website for the Grassland Society of Sourthern Australia. We hope you'll enjoy the new look and feel of the website along with an intention to increase detail of upcoming events and news of all things related to the farming of grass. You think you're farming sheep or cattle, but these are just delivery mechanisms of your ability to farm and produce grass.

A new website has been created on the 15th of August, 2011 called Australian Grasslands Association (www.australiangrasslands.org.au). The Australian Grasslands Association is a partnership initiative of the Grassland Society of Southern Australia Inc. and The Grassland Society of NSW Inc. to undertake a regular comprehensive and critical review of the pasture research industry, to set the scene, detail completed and ongoing research projects and the gaps in research, and develop recomendations for future research investment.

Pasture Innovations Research Project

The pasture innovations research project will effectively deliver a regular, structured, broad based review of the main components of the pasture industry and assist greatly with improving growth and development rates of pasture based industries. This inaugural symposium focussing on legume research will be pivotal in setting the research agenda for the medium to long term as well as providing a forum for the scientific community to discuss and put forward ideas and concepts aimed at potentially generating the next quantum leap in industry.

Your Society is on the move with the formation of a new branch in the Central Ranges region. It is the first time the Society has launched a branch for many years and reflects the strong status of the organisation.

The new branch covers an area west of the Hume Freeway, north of Melbourne, south of Bendigo and east of Ballarat. Baynton farmer Gerard Ryan has been elected as the inaugural branch President.

Gerard said there was strong interest from local farmers in the area in holding events to share information and technology related to grassland farming. “There hasn’t been much happening so we thought it would be good to form a branch specifically for this area,” he said. “We called a meeting and there was strong support for forming a new branch.” The branch plans to hold four events each year and will start with a Pastures Update at Kyneton on September 23.

“We have a good committee of about 10 people so we hope to remain active,” Gerard said.

Gerard has been a member for the past 30 years as he expanded his prime lamb and Merino enterprises on his property between Kyneton and Heathcote. “The Society is a network of researchers, agricultural professionals and farmers interested in improving productivity of grass, and provides great opportunities to exchange information and knowledge from research, experimental work and practical experience.”

“This region along the Great Dividing Range has acidic soil types and hilly terrain so there is good reason to have our own branch to focus on our specific needs.” Our Executive Officer Clare de Kok said the formation of a new branch in the area was a good reflection of interest in the Society. Clare has taken the role of joint branch Secretary/ Treasurer for the first year.

Grassland Society of Southern Australia