Pasture Persistence and Production

Dairy pastures for persistence and production: best practice renewal

This project proposes to trial best-practice pasture renewal and management techniques with close monitoring of the establishment, persistence and production of the key forage species, with a specific focus on Canterbury. In this way, a value proposition can be developed (with independence from vested interests) that explicitly considers the costs, benefits, risks and uncertainties of pasture renewal in a farming system context. It has a particular interest in the delivery of the benefits of novel endophytes on pasture production and persistence.

Expected outcomes of this project

Benefit

They will develop a whole-farm pasture renewal programme with confidence in the success of the renewal process and the economic and environmental benefits it will bring. This information will be demanded by the wider farming community and benefits will accrue across all pastoral industries.

The enhanced two-way flow of information will lead to accelerating development and uptake of new technologies.

This will enhance the environmental performance of dairy farms, improving the public perception of dairy farming, leading to better community and political support.