“There is no point in growing enormous amounts of pasture if you are not going to get maximum benefit from it,” Greg Manson said.
On his 390ha aggregation, “Springfield Valley”, Murrumbateman, Mr Manson grazes 140 breeding cows along with 40 heifers and 40 trading stock.
With a base Angus herd, Mr Manson joins the cows to either a Limousin or Charolais bull, and he has developed his country during the past 15 years to a high standard, where laneways ease the movement of stock and pastures are continually renovated and top dressed each year to achieve maximum potential.
Mr Manson said the maintenance of his infrastructure is important, but the fertility of his soil is paramount and he will not skimp on applying fertilizer.
“We regularly fertilze our country applying 125kg single super,” he said.
“And when we have a good soil moisture profile and I am confident of the spring, I top dress our pastures with Pasture Booster mixes at the rate of 200kg/ha.”
But Mr Manson is in no doubt effective use must be made of his pasture which is a mix of fescue, phalaris, strawberry clover and sub-clover.
“You have to be able to harness the productivity,” he said.
“If you have grass over the front of your ute the extra growth will mostly be wasted when cattle go into the paddock.
“You are better to bale at peak nutrition and feed back to the stock.”
Mr Manson said he recognised many years ago cattle crave top quality roughage so he makes the best hay he can.
On his beautiful black soil in a secluded valley north of Canberra, Mr Manson likens his operation to that of a dairy farm, where they concentrate on maximising production.
In one eight hectare paddock, Mr Manson sowed Manning wheat in February on “average soil moisture”.
“We then had decent rain in autumn and by May we were able to put cattle onto it,” he said.
With a regime of five weeks on and four weeks spell through the winter, Mr Manson grazed 60 head of home bred Charolais/Angus or Limousin/Angus mixed sexes through to trade weights.
Mr Manson said he likes Manning wheat for it’s ability to put a lot of weight on cattle during the winter period.
“It is also a great crop to sow when I am cleaning up paddocks prior to re-establishing new pastures,” he said.
“It gets going earlier and handles the cold better than oats,” he said.
“We are also able to make hay or harvest for grain depending on the season.”
Mr Manson is advised in his pasture improvement program by James Cheetham, an agronomist based at Yass with Delta Agribusiness.
Mr Cheetham said oats had been the traditional winter crop for the southern tablelands, but with the introduction of Manning winter wheat livestock producers are able to lift their productivity.
“We have more options with Manning wheat because it can be sown earlier and as we graze it for longer, availability of total dry matter during the season is increased,” Mr Cheetham said.
“We are also using it for weed control with the different range of herbicides we can use.”
Anecdotally, Mr Cheetham said, “growth rates appear to be better than oats,” but the “key in using Manning wheat is it’s long season.”
“It is also resistant to Barley Yellow Dwarf virus, which is a big plus,” he said.
There is no point in growing enormous amounts of pasture if you are not going to get maximum benefit from it
- Greg Manson
There was direct proof of the capacity of the improved pasture supplemented by hay on “Springfield Valley”, when Mr Manson sold the tops of his 12-14 month Angus cross steers through the Wagga saleyards up to 467kg.
“I only want to take my calves through one winter,” he said.
“With my pasture and hay I can do that and still get the weight in my cattle.”
Mr Manson’s top pen of Angus/Charolais steers sold for $1721.
