Protect crown for resilience in lucerne

Southern NSW and north-east Victoria territory manager for Barenbrug Australia, Shayne Mathews, said management was key to persistence.

"Ideally lucerne needs to be rotationally grazed to get the best out of it in terms of both production and persistence," he said.

Mr Mathews said protecting the crown was crucial.

"In the first summer, don't hammer it for long and protect those daughter shoots. They are your next generation of growth," he said.

"You want them below where you're cutting or grazing - that two to five centimetre mark is perfect to not hit that."

Mr Matthews said when looking at varieties it was important to think about when your feed gaps were, as well as lambing and other activities.

He said having a mix of annual and perennial species was important for this, with about a 30 per cent perennial base working for the southern Riverina environment.

"It covers yourself more than just having annuals," he said.

Elders agronomist Sheree Hamson, Albury, said protecting the crown would allow for the lucerne stand's resilience.

"The species that have a lower crown to the ground are supposed to be more persistent," she said.

Meanwhile, independent farming systems group, Riverine Plains, was putting varieties and seeding rates to the test at a demonstration site.

The demonstration site at the Gorman family property at Savernake is part of the "Creating landscape-scale change through drought resilient pasture systems" project supported by the Southern NSW Drought and Innovation Hub.

Riverine Plains project officer Sophie Hanna said the aim of the demonstration was to show the impact of lucerne seeding rate and variety on pasture performance and persistence.

The total paddock size of 58 hectares includes two 0.8ha treatments in the middle, as well as the farmer control, sown on May 23 last year.

The farmer control is 11kg/ha of Sardi 7s2, a winter active lucerne, along with Mintaro, a mid-maturing Brachycalycinum clover, and Monti, an early-to-mid-maturing Yanninicum clover, while one treatment is Sardi 7s2 with the sub clovers at 15kg/ha, and the other Sardi 7s2 and Sardi Grazer combo with the sub clovers, at 11kg/ha.

Chantelle Gorman, Savernake, said the lucerne had been grazed three times, and the lambs would go on in about August or September and then it would be cut for hay.

"We crash grazed it," she said. "We had to bring all the first-cross ewes back on it - they were getting fly struck and it was the paddock we had spare."

Ms Gorman said their grazing decisions were mainly based on need.

The paddock had a history of Sudan grass two seasons ago, which was cut for sileage and the two or three times for hay.

While the Riverine Plains project officially finishes this year, the lucerne will continued to be monitored over the next several years.