Grazing of tagasaste is now very opportunistic. If there is summer rain, there will be good feed to supplement the autumn feed gap. If not, then Keith feeds it off in late autumn and early winter to take the pressure off the germinating paddocks. The tagasaste is then destocked to allow it to recover and is grazed again throughout the year. Multiple grazing keeps the leaves young and fresh and helps to reduce the pruning costs.
Water use A small soak in the middle of the plantation is now dry throughout the summer.
Results from the Martin-dale Research Station at New Norcia have shown that the perched watertable and deeper ground water under tagasaste plantations are drying out at the same rate. Although the tagasaste is not using the ground water, it is using most of the incoming rainfall and the moisture stored in the profile over summer, preventing recharge to the ground water system. Acknowledgment Keith and Kerry Parnell can be contacted at 'Bell Vista', PO Box 24, Tincurrin 6361. This case study was developed with funding from the National Landcare Program projects 'Revegetation strategies for Land Conservation Districts of the Western Australian wheatbelt' and 'Upper Great Southern Key Farmers Sustainable Systems Promotion'. The author would like to thank David Bicknell, Agriculture Western Australia, Narrogin, for his assistance.