Case Study: Timerite® for Multiple Enterprises

Philip Osborne, Tasmania

Up until three years ago, Midlands woolgrower Philip Osborne had never given much thought to controlling redlegged earth mite in established pastures.   

But today Mr Osborne is committed to working towards spraying a third of his 4,080ha property using Timerite principles each year.

The Osborne family run 12,000 Merinos and crop 1,000ha a year on Fairfield, in the Midlands just south of Launceston, having moved to Tasmania seven years ago after running a dairy herd in the United Kingdom.

“Controlling redlegged earth mite through a Timerite® spray on a set date in October results in less pasture damage in autumn and a greater potential for increased pasture production over the rest of the season,” Mr Osborne says.

“We were always conscious of the potential for redlegged earth mite damage in our poppy crops because we had access to company agronomists involved in poppy production,” Mr Osborne says.

“But until we heard of Timerite®, the only times we sprayed to control earth mite was when we were establishing new pastures and in those cases we’d only spray when we saw damage.”

Fairfield was one of the original Timerite® trial sites in Tasmania which meant the Osborne family had a first hand view of the technology working in their environment.

“Seeing the dramatic reduction in redlegged earth mite numbers in the following autumn on our demonstration site convinced me that Timerite® is an extremely valuable pasture management tool. We’ve been using the program ever since.”

“It made me realise we’ve got potential to grow significantly more pasture and crops by taking a preventative approach by using the principles of Timerite® to spray before redlegged earth damage occurs.”

“We work on spraying a third of the farm a year on a rotation which involves spraying established pasture and paddocks to be sown to new pasture or crops in the autumn.”

“Gradually the whole farm will have been sprayed and hopefully will reduce our overall population of redlegged earth mite.”

“Although we have had a drought this last season, the previous two seasons have shown the benefits of Timerite®’s October spraying for earth mites with more feed and leaf area in the autumn than pastures which have not been treated.”

“This healthy pasture cover in autumn has greater potential to grow more feed going into spring which is when we lamb.”

Fairfield has a mix of dryland and irrigated pastures and stock are managed using rotational grazing.

The ewes are grazed on irrigated pastures in autumn, to allow dryland pastures to be ‘saved’ for lambing in spring.

In the past seasons the tough conditions have meant a portion of these dry pastures have been direct drilled with wheat and oats to help create a bulk of feed for lambing ewes.

“The real value of using Timerite® will become apparent when have some reasonable seasons and our pastures grow to their potential, reducing our need for supplementary feed and potentially let us increase stocking rates, ” Mr Osborne says.