A RESEARCH project in South Africa could help WA farmers fill traditional green feed gaps in autumn and late spring.
The research project, run by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and Murdoch University, with assistance from Ballard Seeds senior consultant Neil Ballard, has been looking at alternative species of perennial pasture legumes with great results.
One result from last year saw lambs doubling their weight from 26kg to 52kg in just 10 weeks.
The research done by ACIAR has been going since 2006 but after a number of years of heavy drought early in its production stage, the results are just starting to shine through.
ACIAR research program manager for livestock production systems Dr Peter Horne, said he was really surprised by the success the project had had in the last year.
He said the fact that some lambs had doubled their weight in just 10 weeks showed the potential some of the perennial pasture legumes could have for livestock producers.
He said the Eastern Cape of South Africa, where the project was completed, could be compared with the South West of WA, particularly on the margins of the Wheatbelt.
Mr Horne hoped the next phase of the project would try and confirm the weight put on by the lambs in such a short space of time.
"We will be doing more tests to see the benefits for livestock because at the end of the day farmers do not care whether the legumes are growing well in their pasture or not," Mr Horne said.
"They care about whether they are getting more wool, getting more lambs and their animals are healthier."
Mr Horne said the success in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa could open a number of possibilities for WA producers.
"We wanted to see what legumes we could get under the ground with minimal management and what was able to grow under heavy grazing and WA particularly has great experience in this," he said.
"Murdoch University was looking at the legumes and the possible benefits it could have for Australia and what might be useful for WA, particularly in the face of climate change.
"In the future, the large areas will be faced with lower and more erratic rainfall events and Murdoch University professor John Howieson saw an opportunity over there, because producers are in similar situation to us."
Mr Horne said a major positive to come out of the project was to have Mr Ballard involved.
He said having someone of Mr Ballard's experience and expertise in the private sector was crucial in the project's success.
Mr Ballard said the results far exceeded his expectations of the project and he was now confident the project could progress and more of the research could be brought back to WA.
Mr Ballard said when they first began the project in 2006, food security was not high on the radar, but with the growing importance of food security, the research was becoming even more important.
"There is 800,000ha of abandoned lands (in the province) which they cleared but it has just eroded and nothing grows there," Mr Ballard said. "But now the legumes have gone really well.
"Some of the paddocks we were working in haven't been put into crop since 1958, they've just been grazed."
Mr Ballard said they were now looking for further funding to expand the research.
"The aim is to get another four year project started again in 2013," he said.
"Part of the project going forward would be to measure other things such as nitrogen production and that sort of thing."
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