Pasture Seed Mixes

For most grazing paddocks, a mix is the safer bet. Different species grow at different times of year and suit different patches of soil, and a legume in the blend supplies nitrogen to the grasses. A single species makes sense for a specific job, such as a lucerne hay stand or puccinellia on salt land. Our ready-made mixes are formulated for particular rainfall zones and end uses, and we can blend a custom mix to order.

Yes. Alongside our ready-made mixes, we blend custom mixes to order. Send us your average annual rainfall, soil type and pH, whether the paddock waterlogs or has salt patches, what stock you run and how long you need the pasture to last. We'll put together a blend and a sowing rate to match that paddock.

Sow winter-growing mixes on the autumn break, usually late April to June, once there's enough moisture to keep seedlings going. Summer-active perennial grass mixes are different: sow them in late winter to spring, around August in the northern agricultural region and early September to early October on the south coast, once the soil temperature reaches 16–18°C and is rising.

A cover crop is grown mainly to protect the soil between crops or pastures: it holds soil against wind and water, smothers weeds, feeds soil life and can often be grazed. A green manure is a crop, usually legume-rich, that's slashed or worked into the soil while still green to add organic matter and nitrogen. Many multi-species mixes can do either job, depending on how you finish them.

Most small blocks around Perth do best with two layers: a winter-growing annual mix of ryegrass and clover, plus a summer-active perennial grass such as Rhodes grass or kikuyu to hold sandy soil through the dry months. If you keep horses, use a horse-specific mix instead. Sow the annuals on the autumn break and the perennial grasses in spring, once the soil warms up.

The most common causes are weed competition, insect damage and sowing too deep. Most pasture seed should go in 1–2 cm deep, and sub-tropical grass seed only 5–10 mm, into a firm, moist seedbed. Spray out weeds before sowing, control red-legged earth mite and lucerne flea, and inoculate legume seed unless it's pre-inoculated. Sowing on a false break is the other big risk.

Under irrigation, a ryegrass and white clover base grows the most high-quality feed, and chicory or plantain add summer growth. Irrigation lets you use faster-growing, less drought-hardy species than a dryland mix and sow at the higher end of the rate range, typically 25–30 kg/ha for a ryegrass-based blend. We blend dedicated irrigation and dairy mixes for this country.

Not necessarily. If a fair share of good pasture plants remain, you can often renovate: graze it hard, control the weeds, then direct-drill a matching mix into the gaps on the autumn break. If weeds dominate, spray out and resow, or run a one-year fodder crop first to run down the weed seed bank. Either way, fix fertility and pH before you spend on seed.

Graze a new pasture once it passes the pluck test: grab a handful and tug, and if the leaves snap off rather than the plants pulling out, the roots are anchored. For ryegrass-based mixes that's usually 6–8 weeks after sowing. Graze lightly and quickly the first time, ideally with young stock. Slow-establishing perennial grasses can need most of their first season.

Coating gives each seed a better start by carrying rhizobia inoculant for legumes, lime, fungicide or, in many of our mixes, the biological treatment BioNPK Powder S. Heavier lime and clay coatings add weight, so a kilogram of coated seed holds fewer seeds than a kilogram of bare seed, while a light treatment such as BioNPK adds very little. Always sow at the rate given for the product you buy.