Case Study: Improving the Feedbase

Tony Beck, South Australia

Mount Gambier prime lamb producer Tony Beck was originally open minded when researchers told him one spray for redlegged earth mite on a specific date in spring could substantially improve his pasture growth the following year.

But any doubt has been replaced with enthusiasm and the Timerite® program has become an integral part the management of Mr Beck’s 700 ha property.

Mr Beck hosted one of the original demonstration sites for the Timerite® program which involved having half of one paddock sprayed in spring to control redlegged earth mite while the other half was left unsprayed,

“It was a great contrast to have the two areas side by side. The increased clover and reduction in redlegged earth mite the following May/June was extremely convincing,” Mr Beck says.

“We run 3,500 autumn lambing first cross ewes and 150 autumn calving cows and aim to turn-off finished prime lambs for the supermarket trade as well as some export weight lambs. All weaned calves are kept through to the following spring. It all means we need good quality feed over autumn and winter.

“The only challenge we have with Timerite®, is that our spray date is when we have unpredictable weather which makes spraying a challenge, and it often coincides with shearing.”

Mr Beck uses Timerite® to improve feed quality and quantity the following winter and spring for both grazing and hay production.

The Timerite® spray in October is often combined in a tankmix with MCPA, allowing Mr Beck to control redlegged earth mite and broadleaf weeds such as capeweed with one pass of the spray unit.

He also plans his spray program to reduce redlegged earth mite numbers in paddocks which will be resown the following autumn.

“By going in and spraying in spring I’m absolutely confident that I won’t have a problem in autumn in new pastures,” he says.

“I’ll get good, quick pasture establishment in autumn which means early feed production. I’m also confident the newly sown plants will be fine for their first year of establishment.

“Before we used Timerite® in this way, we may have had to spray these new pastures a couple of times to control redlegged earth mite.

"There was always the risk these new pastures could get too wet to drive a tractor on, would go unsprayed and we’d loose clover and production.”

Last spring Mr Beck sprayed 40 ha of pasture and 60 ha which will be used for hay this season, and has seen improved vigour in these pastures coming out of the drought.

 “All of our pastures have struggled in the dry, especially our clover based pasture which has been belted around with the poor seasons,” he says.

“The paddocks which were Timerite® sprayed last spring look significantly better this autumn.

“The sprayed paddocks have better pasture composition while the unsprayed paddocks have less clover and a lot more weeds.”