Growing perennial pastures in a variable climate

There is one simple question Gippsland farmers keep asking, how do we get perennial pastures to actually establish and stick in a tough, variable climate?

Across Central and East Gippsland, pasture performance is shaped by big climate variability in rainfall, hot summers, frosts and diverse soils. Many producers have turned to annuals or are reluctant to spend the money to improve perennial feed bases because perennials often fail to establish costing time, money and confidence.

Running from 2020 to 2025, the Growing Perennial Pastures in a Variable Climate project tested what works, where, and why. It combined a tightly controlled trial at the Gippsland Research Farm with six producer demonstration paddocks across the region, from drier rain-shadow country to higher rainfall zones, and across soils with salinity, acidity, low fertility, and aluminium issues.

At the Research Farm, we compared four different paddock preparation methods and six perennial pasture mixes side by side. On farm, producers chose the options that best suited their system and put it to work under real grazing pressure.

The focus wasn’t just tonnes of feed, it was persistence, grazing performance, costs, and return on investment over time.

The outcome is practical, local evidence farmers can trust, showing what helps perennial pastures last, where the risks really sit, and how different establishment approaches perform in Gippsland. The project also confirms what farmers already know in their bones, there’s no silver bullet, weather and timing in the establishment year matter a lot.