Optimising Anameka fodder shrubs for dryland sheep production | DPIRD

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Video published:
1 June 2022
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732 views (1 June 2022 - 22 June 2022)
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Video Case Study: Rodney and Janet Stokes, Tammin
The video depicts Rod’s farmscale establishment of AnamekaTM fodder shrubs, and how he has created a fodder system that fulfills about half his sheep flock’s daily energy requirements in the autumn. It allows him to free up paddocks needed for preparations for pre-seeding and is planted on areas of land unproductive for anything other than bluebush or saltbush. It also allows Rod to rest pastures from grazing over winter leading to improved pasture productivity. It is an expensive investment initially but over five or six years he is in front financially given the savings in supplementary feed (up to 60% per pasture hectare) and the saltbush fill a significant percentage of the autumn feed gap.
The farm is located 7km west of Tammin, which is approximately 180 km east of Perth in the central wheatbelt of Western Australia. The area has an average annual rainfall of 330mm. 70-80% of the arable land on the farm is cropped each year with the remainder producing Merino sheep.
Rod has established 140 hectares of Anameka plantations over the last ten years and plans to plant another 60-80 hectares within the next decade. The bushes are planted in multiple rows (4-5) approximately four meters apart, with a gap of around two to three meters between each plant, equating to about 600 plants per hectare. He has left strategic gaps to allow for ease of mustering sheep. The bushes are grazed hard and recover quickly and can be grazed at least twice a year.
The development of AnamekaTM variety was led by scientists from CSIRO resulting in a fodder shrub of predictable/uniform productivity with 64% digestibility of the organic matter. high level of minerals, vitamin E, antioxidants and 20% crude protein.
The fodder bush system is proving itself to be a key part of his farming system.
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