CATTLE and hay producers not planting newer varieties of Rhodes grass are missing out on major production and productivity gains for their enterprises, according to Australia’s pre-eminent Rhodes grass breeder based in Queensland, Dr Don Loch.
Dr Loch, who has been involved with Rhodes grass breeding for more than 40 years, said older Katambora and Callide varieties still popularly grown in some areas were now “a dog’s breakfast of different types’’ after years of uncontrolled multiplication and had fallen behind newer improved cultivars for feed quality.
“These old varieties have been grown on and on and so the type now varies going from coastal areas to central regions,’’ Dr Loch said.
“Their flowering is now a mixed bag. You get Callide producing significant seed heads all year round these days, so the value and quality is not there.’’
Dr Loch’s path to plant breeding commenced as an agronomist and plant physiologist with a special understanding of Rhodes grass biology, an essential base for any successful breeder. While he spent the bulk of his career with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, since 2008, in conjunction with Margaret Zorin, he has led the Rhodes grass breeding program of Brisbane-based company, Australian Premium Seeds.
Two varieties from that program now offering producers a significant boost for grazing and hay production include Tolgar (Katambora type) and Toro (Callide type).
“These newer varieties are multiplied professionally to maintain varietal trueness to type and producers that know about them are swinging away from the older varieties to these better forage and hay types. Unfortunately, there are still producers in some areas who are not aware of these new varieties and their benefits,’’ Don said.
Australian Premium Seeds National Sales Manager Steve Walsh confirmed there were still some producers in different parts of the country who were unaware of the improved Rhodes grass options available today.
Mr Walsh said producers adopting the newer varieties had referred to the older grasses “becoming stalky and unpalatable’’.
“Cattle prefer the newer varieties that tend not to go to head so quickly,’’ he said.
Queensland beef producer Ian Mitchell, who farms at Darr Creek near Jandowae, situated north-west of Dalby, said he couldn’t get his cattle to eat Katambora, whereas a trial of Tolgar in a 6-hectare weaner paddock had been “flogged down to just 6-inches high’’.
Mr Mitchell trades stock and also breeds Charbray cattle over the family’s 2830ha ‘Glenburn’ property.
He said he had grown Katambora for years, but he could not get cattle to eat it.
“I’ve got 50 cows in one paddock and the Katambora there is waist high – they stay down near the creek and won’t eat it,’’ Mr Mitchell said.
“The Tolgar has been flogged down to look like couch grass.’’
He said he was now looking forward to trialling other newer Rhodes grasses.
Dr Loch said Tolgar and Toro were later maturing; leafier and remained leafier for longer, resulting in increased dry matter production; offered higher protein and less fibre, providing better quality feed; and hence, were more palatable for cattle.
“They are preferred by cattle because of their leafiness and fewer seed heads in the pasture compared with the older varieties.’’
Tolgar and Toro are widely adapted and offer high leaf to stem ratio and much finer leaves and stems than the older varieties, as well as an exceptionally high tolerance to saline conditions.
Toro, suitable for more intensive production systems in higher rainfall and irrigation areas, demonstrates excellent persistence and recovery after grazing, while Tolgar is ideal for grazing and hay production as well as amenity, revegetation and soil conservation purposes.
Mr Walsh said while the newer varieties were ideal for beef producers in Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia, and with growing enquiry now even coming from Victoria, the grasses also were highly suitable for dairy farmers looking to fill summer feed gaps.
Dr Loch said the salt tolerance with the newer varieties, as well as the breeding program’s continued focus in this area, was of special interest for producers in WA, where Rhodes grass was being grown in the Geraldton region, in the South West around to Albany and near the South Coast.
The Tolgar variety also was recently selected for an 830ha centre pivot irrigated hay production site on Rio Tinto’s Hamersley Station near Tom Price in WA. The high quality hay will be fed to the station’s 25,000 cattle and also made available to other Pilbara pastoralists.
Dr Loch said there also were more exciting cultivar releases on the way with increased cold tolerance, better leaf to stem ratio and an even higher level of salt tolerance.
