As the 2025 growing season begins across Southwest WA, sheep producers are once again faced with the critical decision of when to introduce stock on to newly germinated pastures. With the break of the season now underway, it would be worth deferring grazing to maximise pasture productivity and animal performance.
Grazing too early can significantly reduce the potential for annual pastures. At this early stage, seedlings are still poorly rooted and vulnerable to uprooting by grazing animals. This not only reduces plant density but also limits the leaf area available for photosynthesis, which in turn slows pasture growth during the crucial winter months when the temperatures are low, which reduces plant growth.
To avoid these setbacks, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) recommends holding off grazing until pastures have reached at least 500 to 800 kilograms of dry matter per hectare. At this point, the plants are more securely anchored in the soil and have developed enough leaf area to support regrowth after grazing. This threshold is particularly important in 2025, as many areas have experienced a patchy and delayed break.
Deferred grazing is not just about protecting young plants—it’s about setting up the entire season for success. By allowing pastures to establish properly in autumn, farmers can ensure that they enter winter with a dense, vigorous sward capable of sustaining grazing pressure. This is where EasyOne® comes into play. EasyOne® is a high-quality pellet that can be fed safely to sheep to maintain BCS, without the risk of acidosis typically observed when feeding traditional grain mixes.
The benefits of deferred grazing are even more pronounced in seasons like this one, where false breaks or high stocking rates have already placed pressure on pasture systems. In such cases, combining deferred grazing with supplementary feeding or strip grazing can help ration early growth and protect the long-term productivity of the paddock.
Implementing deferred grazing requires planning. Sheep should be moved to confined feeding areas or paddocks with low erosion risk while the main pasture paddocks are rested. For mixed enterprises, paddocks destined for cropping may be grazed early to manage weeds, while others are held back to build pasture biomass. Having a dedicated confinement area is now considered best practice and feeding EasyOne® is well suited to this.
As the 2025 season progresses, producers are encouraged to use tools like the deferred grazing calculator and regional feed-on-offer (FOO) maps to guide their decisions. These resources, updated regularly by DPIRD, provide valuable insights into pasture growth rates and help fine-tune grazing and feeding strategies.
By taking a strategic approach to grazing this autumn, farmers can lay the groundwork for a more productive and resilient pasture system—one that supports both livestock and land health well into the season ahead.
