Multiple cropping will increase the erosion hazard

WITH the low price of wool and the price of wheat high in comparison, farmers need little encouragement to increase their acreage of crops. Unfortunately with increased cropping comes the risk of increased erosion—unless there is a simultaneous increase in the use of conservation practices

Control strategies for annual ryegrass toxicity

In 982-83, annual ryegrass tocicity (ARGT) was estimated to have cost Western Australian sheep farmers between $7 and$8 million in total economic losses. The disease can severely disrupt farming operations. Sheep must be checked daily and if affected moved to a \u27safe\u27 paddock. The availability of paddock feed is reduced, as is stock carrying capacity. Worry about the possibility of dramatic stock losses, and uncertainty about what decisions to make, are all stressful. Stock losses from ARGT can be minimised by the use of selective herbicides to control ryegrass in pastures and crops. This breaks the disease cycle - the nematode\u27s life cycle - by substantially reducing gall formation and the amount of ryegrass present. Nematode reproduction must be controlled for at least two season to achieve the break

Draining a saline seep

Sub-surface drains have dried out a salty seep on farm land in the Katanning district. Capeweed and clovers are now growing on more than three-quarters of the land that was previously bare or carried only patchy sea barley grass. The drains are still running water after five years. The salt content of the surface soil has been reduced markedly and the salt content of the effluent water is decreasing. However, to complete the reclamation, further drains will be necessary. Both existing and any new drains will have to be flushed periodically because blockages of pipes cause problems

Pasture : corner-stone of soil conservation

LEGUME PASTURE is the basis of prosperity in farming in the agricultural areas of Western Australia. The livestock industry could not thrive without it and it also maintains fertility and soil structure for the cereal growing industry. It is, in fact, the comer-stone on which the soil conservation conscious farmer rests his soil management

Water supplies : dams and roaded catchments

Western Australia\u27s Upper and Lower Great Southern statistical areas include most of the broad-scale agricultural land south of a line from Perth to Hyden. Much of the area is well-developed and carries 13.4 million sheep, 203 00 cattle and 95 000 pigs, almost half the State\u27s livestock. There are few natural rivers and lakes to water livestock in summer and much of the bore water is salty. On-farm waterr conservation, therefore, consits mainly of excavated earth tanks (dams) which are filled by surface runoff or shallow seepage. In the drier areas and in the sandplain roaded catchments have neen built to ensure reliable filling of dams. To supply the larger towns in the area, the Water Authority of Western Australia has developed the Great Southern Towns Water Supply Scheme in which water is pumped inland from Wellington Dam near Collie

Control strategies for annual ryegrass toxicity

In 982-83, annual ryegrass tocicity (ARGT) was estimated to have cost Western Australian sheep farmers between $7 and$8 million in total economic losses. The disease can severely disrupt farming operations. Sheep must be checked daily and if affected moved to a \u27safe\u27 paddock. The availability of paddock feed is reduced, as is stock carrying capacity. Worry about the possibility of dramatic stock losses, and uncertainty about what decisions to make, are all stressful. Stock losses from ARGT can be minimised by the use of selective herbicides to control ryegrass in pastures and crops. This breaks the disease cycle - the nematode\u27s life cycle - by substantially reducing gall formation and the amount of ryegrass present. Nematode reproduction must be controlled for at least two season to achieve the break