Self-Regenerating Pasture Seed Mix

It could be. Annual ryegrass toxicity (ARGT) causes uncoordinated movement, falling and convulsions, brought on by stress or activity, and it can kill. Call your vet or a DPIRD vet straight away, and quietly move stock onto safe feed. ARGT happens when a nematode carries a toxin-producing bacterium into ryegrass seed heads. Toxins form from the end of flowering to seed maturity, and dried pasture and hay stay toxic. Our Self Regeneration Mix is built on Safeguard ARGT resistant ryegrass to cut that risk in future years.

Safeguard is resistant to the nematode that causes ARGT outbreaks, and it cross-pollinates with local Wimmera ryegrass, passing ARGT resistance to the following year's progeny. Over several years, with a good management plan, this should help eradicate and combat ARGT on your farm. Self Regeneration Mix is based on certified Safeguard, and livestock grazing it have a significantly reduced risk of ARGT from the pasture, hay or grain. Test the paddock in later years to confirm the bacterium is under control.

Choose early-flowering species that set seed before the soil dries out. Our Self Regeneration Mix suits areas with 350 mm or more rainfall, on light sands through to heavy soils with a pH of 5 (CaCl2) or above. Safeguard flowers early while there's still good soil moisture, improving seed set. The clovers are hard seeded for persistence: Nungarin sub clover is early maturing with a high level of hard seed, Dalkeith is a prolific seeder with a high percentage of hard seed, and Hykon rose is an early-flowering, hard-seeded clover.

Run down the Wimmera seed bank first, ideally the year before sowing. Cultivate after the autumn break to germinate the local ryegrass, then spray it with a non-selective herbicide, repeating if needed. If background ryegrass levels are low, do the opposite: don't cultivate, and sow with minimum soil disturbance, such as a triple disc, so dormant Wimmera seed stays put. Either way, leave a few unsown, undisturbed test strips so you can monitor how much local ryegrass comes up.

Sow at a minimum of 12 kg/ha, rising to 15 kg/ha where you expect a high Wimmera population. The higher rate improves cross-pollination with the local Wimmera, lifts winter production and helps second-year regeneration. Sow in autumn to winter into adequate soil moisture. Don't sow deep: broadcast and harrow lightly, or preferably sod seed with a triple disc. Check emerging seedlings for insects such as redlegged earth mite and control them early.

Keep the paddock tightly grazed until mid-September, then remove or reduce stock so Safeguard and the local Wimmera head together. Tight grazing through late winter and early spring keeps the Wimmera vegetative, and Safeguard normally runs to head in early October, depending on area and season. Before then, graze rotationally between 10 and 15 cm, and no lower than 3 cm. In the first year, let the paddock run to seed, as that seed set provides the following years' regeneration.

Not in the first year. Let the paddock run to seed so the ryegrass and clovers build the seed bank for future years, and note that cutting late for silage or hay limits regeneration of Paradana balansa in particular. In later years, remember that hay made from ARGT-infected ryegrass stays toxic. Safeguard significantly reduces the risk of ARGT in pasture, hay and grain, but if you plan to sell or feed hay from the paddock, have it tested.

Because the ARGT protection depends on certified Safeguard seed. Non-certified seed is likely to be ARGT susceptible and may also be herbicide resistant, so saved or uncertified ryegrass can undo your ARGT control. Self Regeneration Mix contains certified Safeguard ARGT resistant annual ryegrass and is supplied under the Australian Seed Federation Code of Practice as Certified Quality Assured Seed. In WA, certified Safeguard is distributed solely by IH Seeds.

A self-seeding annual pasture is the practical choice, because you sow it once and manage it to come back. Safeguard ryegrass is ideal as a self re-seeding species in rocky areas where cropping isn't possible, and it brings ARGT resistance with it. Our Self Regeneration Mix pairs Safeguard with hard-seeded clovers, including Hykon rose, which tolerates lighter, dry, rocky and low-fertility soils and has some tolerance of low pH. Graze through winter and early spring, then lock up for seed set so the pasture regenerates.

Once seed set is finished and the pasture has fully dried off, stock can return to graze the residues. Safeguard pasture is safe to graze in spring and summer, which matters in country where ARGT is present. Grazing the dry residues over summer also helps break down the hard seed of clovers such as Paradana balansa, setting up regeneration. Don't graze so hard that you strip the seed bank, and test the paddock for ARGT in later years to confirm the bacterium is under control.