"Waitara" In brief..

Property:

Waitara

Address:

Trangie

Owners:

Geoff Chase

Phone:

Area (in hectares)

5200 ha

Rainfall (mm/pa)

450 mm

Oldman Saltbush area (hecatares)

135 ha

year of first Planting

1966

Q & A: an interview with Geoff Chase

Why OMSB planted?  

Tired of feeding stock and wanted some feed reserves and to allow rest for pastures, especially after rain. To make our farming operation more profitable.

What grazing and pasture benefits have been observed? 

Carrying capacity - overall farm unchanged, however, stock and pastures both are doing better. It fits in well as a part of overall farm / grazing system.

What financial benefits have been observed ?

$8,400 feed grain saved on just one lambing, lamb and calf survival better, stock and pastures in better order. When you look at it like this it is big money saved.

Biggest OMSB impact?   Provides a food gap filler. Allows rest of pasture to be spelled after rain and I can see it will easily allow us to run more stock.

Any problems with OMSB?  Requires more management than a pasture. Need to break and train stock into OMSB. (gut bacteria issue etc). Some access problems with rows.

Do you / if you had a salinity problem, do you think OMSB would help with controlling deep drainage and/or lowering the water table?  Yes

Would you like to increase your area sown to OMSB? Yes

What limits your planting of a larger area?  Finance

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