As seen in Farm Weekly, 03/07/2025

In Western Australia, perennial pastures play a fundamental role in sustainable agriculture, particularly during the challenging summer months.

At Irwin Hunter & Co, we offer an extensive range of quality, proven and tested pasture seed including our popular Northern Perennial mix, Southern Perennial mix, Cover Crop Plus Summer mix and Equi1st pasture mix, as well as the option to 'Mix & Match' to suit your requirements.

Perennial Pastures offer a range of benefits that support the resilience and productivity of farming systems in WA.

They provide a reliable source of forage for livestock during the summer months, reducing the need for supplementary feeding and reducing input costs.

Their deep-rooted systems improve soil health, enhance water retention, and stabilise fragile soils, helping to reduce erosion and increase drought resilience.

These pastures also support nutrient cycling by accessing deeper soil layers and making nutrients available to other plants, while their dense growth helps suppress weeds.

In addition, perennial species contribute to carbon sequestration and promote on-farm biodiversity by providing habitat for beneficial wildlife.

Blending perennials with annuals can further enhance seasonal feed supply and pasture performance.

While perennial pastures take time to establish, typically over a year, they offer long-term persistence, have increased drought tolerance and recover well after grazing.

It is important to manage perennial pastures carefully to maintain production and quality addressing weed control, fertilisation and rotationally grazing.

Cover Crops essentially provide ground cover during the off-season, preventing soil erosion and improving soil structure by adding organic matter enhancing the soil's water-holding capacity, reducing runoff and increase water availability for subsequent crops.

Cover Crops used as forage offer an additional source of nutrition for livestock during periods of low pasture productivity.

Legumes in cover crops enrich the soil by fixing atmospheric nitrogen, while non-legumes capture residual nutrients, reducing leaching and making them available for future crops.

Fast to establish, they suppress weeds, attract beneficial insects, and contribute to soil carbon levels.

Overall, cover crops support healthier soils, better subsequent crop yields, and provide greater resilience to extreme weather events.

It's important to choose mixes and species that are suited to your growing conditions and location as well as soil type, rainfall, likelihood of frost and your livestock requirements.

Summer pasture options

Northern Perennial Mix is a combination of Rhodes grasses and Gatton Panic, essentially for areas north of Perth although it is also suitable for southern frost-free areas.

Finecut Rhodes grass, bred from Katambora has fine leaves and stems with a high leaf stem ratio and excellent water efficiency once established.

It offers increased palatability and is an ideal choice for hay and grazing.

Gatton Panic grass is a robust, tufted, medium height bunch grass that is suited to medium fertile soils but with adequate nutrition it will also grow on lighter soils.

Allow to establish well, 8-10 months before first grazing and manage appropriately to retain palatability on a rotational grazing system and do not over graze especially in summer and unless adequate moisture and plant nutrition is available.

Southern Perennial Mix is a balanced pasture mix of perennial grasses selected for their compatibility and unique adaptations including Kikuyu, Amplify Phalaris, Rhodes grasses and Gatton Panic grass.

Kikuyu is a high-quality forage and is highly persistent especially on fertile soils if moisture is available in the summer.

Once established it is very competitive and will effectively reduce soil erosion and supress weeds.

Kikuyu is moderately drought and frost tolerant, is an excellent ground cover responding well to fertiliser especially in the warmer months.

Amplify Phalaris is a deep-rooted perennial with high winter forage yields and some summer production under favourable conditions.

Reliable long-term perennial with the ability to go summer dormant under adverse conditions for increased persistence.

Strong seedling vigour, lower toxicity and tolerance to acid soils, waterlogging and heavy grazing.

Rotational grazing management should be followed and monitored to prevent overgrazing to a residue of 12-15 centimetres allowing adequate recovery.

Cover Crop Plus Summer Mix is a diverse selection of Summer species that include Chicory, Tillage Radish, Forage Brassica, Millet, Buckwheat, Sunflowers and Cowpeas.

The combined selection of species based on their adaptability to WA conditions offers biodiversity, high biomass production, deep extensive root systems, nitrogen fixing legumes and drought tolerance resulting in enhanced soil health, improved water management and increase overall agricultural sustainability.

Our Equi1st mix is a scientifically developed blend of perennial and annual grasses and selected legumes offering a full year of nutritional healthy feed based on the availability of soil moisture.

This balanced mix of species has been carefully selected for its suitability primarily for horses as it is relatively low in sugars and starch, moderate in protein and still highly palatable providing healthier, quality grass pasture and hay.

Equi1st is also suitable for all livestock, improves your soils and is tolerant of animal traffic.

Sow as shallow as possible into soil when soil temperatures are 16ºC+ as some species in this mix are tropical.

Allow to establish at least 4-8 months before grazing.

A resilient, year-round pasture requires careful species selection, thoughtful grazing management, and a commitment to soil health.

By investing in well-matched perennial bases and using summer-specific solutions, Western Australian farmers can secure a productive, balanced system that supports their livestock and their land through every season.

Contact your local farm supplier or Irwin Hunter & Co. for more information regarding the extensive range of pasture seed and mixes.