Good falls fuel speedy growth at Trangie

Peter Howe (pictured at "Dunnield" in January with his wife Fiona in tropical pasture after 30 millimetres of rain and again in March after a further 170mm) was overjoyed by the response from his paddock of tropical pasture of predominantly Gatton panic and premier digit.

He's now letting the grasses set seed before harvesting the seed and will decide on either making hay or turning it to silage.

Mr Howe said the grasses were a Heritage Seed mix of Gatton panic, creeping blue grass, bambatsi panic and premier digit sown in 2007.

One third of "Dunnield" is sown to these tropical grasses.

Mr Howe said the property had received a total of 200mm year to date of which 75mm fell in the third week of March.

These tropical pastures have responded within 10 days of rain to provide much needed quality feed, said NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) development officer, Trudie Atkinson, Trangie, who visited "Dunnield" a fortnight ago after viewing the property in spring.

"When we visited Peter and Fiona Howe's property in spring, conditions were dry and by early summer they had reduced stock numbers and later began supplementary feeding," she said.

"Tropical pastures, with their characteristic high daily growth rates at this time of year delivered a speedy turn around in on-farm feed availability," she said.

The Howes also took a punt by fertilising two paddocks to lift the pasture response when it did rain.

"Outstanding pasture growth, with broader leaves in the fertilised paddocks, has exceeded their feed requirements and now they are resting one paddock to allow the plants to seed," Ms Atkinson said.