Life Sciences Commons^™

Western Australia Soil Acidity Research And Development Update 1999 : Time To Lime, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia

Bulletins 4000 -

We all know we have to apply lime as part of our farming systems. This means that a huge amount of lime will be applied to soils which have never had lime applied before.

One of the effects of this is that we can now consider thinking about introducing acid-sensitive systems to soils, which previously would have been considered too acid.

The other side of liming is that the pH changes affect many soil properties. There is an element of uncertainty about whether unforeseen side effects will emerge on our fragile soils as a result of this new practice.

The …

Profit From Pastures, Mark Callow, Martin Van Houtert

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The research program has made a major contribution to the improvement of pasture management techniques, which has, in turn, led to a gain in productivity for dairy farms in the south-west of Western Australia. Analysis has shown a 25 per cent improvement in pasture utilisation, an increase in the average number of cows milked from 155 to 192, an increase in average stocking rates from 0.9 to 1.2 cows per hectare, and increased income from milk sales by $600 per hectare. There are still areas for improvement in sustainability, productivity, and profitability, but the success to date is a credit …