Transitioning from annual fodder crops to perennial pasture in a beef cattle system

This report investigates whether beef producers on the North-West Slopes of NSW, a transitional climatic zone sitting between the temperate Northern Tablelands and the sub-tropical North-West Plains, can improve their feedbase by shifting away from annual fodder crops toward temperate perennial pasture, while maintaining productivity and profitability.

Three objectives guided the research: whether improvements can be made by transitioning to perennial pasture; how temperate species can be better managed in a transitional climate; and whether such a transition is viable while maintaining production and profit.

The traditional North-West Slopes system pairs winter annual fodder (predominantly oats) with summer sub-tropical perennial pasture. Several pressures are prompting producers to reconsider this model: rising social and market expectations around sustainability credentials, the higher fertiliser and fuel cost exposure of cropping-intensive systems, and the emergence of Australian Carbon Credit Unit opportunities tied to converting cropland to permanent pasture. But arguably the fundamental key driver is business profitability. Producers are assessing whether the system they’re using is optimising productivity and profitability. 

A comparison of feed quality showed forage cereals and temperate perennial pastures are broadly comparable in crude protein and metabolisable energy at the vegetative stage — meaning the choice between them hinges less on raw feed value and more on productive duration, seasonal timing, and input cost.

Case studies from Australia, Uruguay, Argentina and the USA revealed a range of approaches to managing temperate pastures in variable environments. High grazing density and daily rotation supported legume-driven nitrogen cycling without fertiliser input; tightly integrated pasture and cropping rotations (Uruguay) prioritised shorter-term persistence (three to four years) over the ten-plus years Australian producers typically expect; and adaptive, rather than prescriptive, grazing management (USA) delivered materially more grazing days. A recurring theme was that reducing the expectation of long-term persistence, in exchange for higher productivity (a combination of dry matter and feed quality) over a shorter pasture life, may make temperate pastures more competitive with annual cropping in this environment.

Key agronomic considerations examined include persistence expectations, adaptive grazing and rest strategies, the limited local success of pasture cropping (constrained by lower and more variable rainfall than comparable systems overseas), and the nutrient dynamics between legumes and companion grasses — particularly the phosphorus, sulphur and potassium requirements needed to sustain legume-driven nitrogen fixation, and the additional fertiliser demands of high-value herbs such as chicory and plantain, which do not fix their own nitrogen.

Ultimately, this research concludes that annual fodder cropping cannot be totally replaced by temperate perennial pasture on the North-West Slopes. Rather, a patchwork feedbase, combining improved annual and perennial systems, informed by adaptive management and realistic persistence expectations, offers the most viable path to optimising feed availability throughout the pasture growth curve and maintaining productivity and profitability in this variable, transitional environment.