Regen in practice in the WA Wheatbelt

The RegenWA team received a great photo of regeneration in action from Wheatbelt local, Roy Butler, who also provided a snippet of information providing some insight into the background of the photo.

”I am a native pasture/low input sheep system enthusiast.

Photo taken this morning 2/02/2024 in my driveway which is ~50m wide and 500m long and used as one of six paddocks in my grazing rotation. Took the photo this morning when I let sheep into the driveway. 39C at 9.15.

Sheep are Dorper-van Rooy, lamb year round, single mob, stocked at 1.5 – 2.5 DSE

Total rainfall Sep 1 to Dec 31 2023: 32.8 ml . Total for January 2024 was 29.7ml, most of which fell in storms on 15th and 17th (12 ml and 11 ml).

So, we have had a long dry spring and early summer, as locals are well aware. But following a bit of January rain the curly windmill grass (Enteropogon acicularis) tussocks very quickly came to life. Green, palatable and reasonably nutritious. Much tougher and more persistent in this environment than lucerne. Other summer active perennial native grasses similarly resprout, including kangaroo grass, paspalidium species, bandicoot grass, and the short lived perennial Chloris truncata (windmill grass) that many croppers dislike. ”

A great example of utilising native grasses which are well adapted to the long, dry summers in Western Australia.