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THE importance of flexibility in sheep system during varying seasons was underlined by grazing and pastoral consultant Tim Prance during a Barossa Improved Grazing Group workshop at Keyneton last week.

Barossa livestock producers are hoping their bushfire experiences can help farmers affected by future fires.

The Barossa Improved Grazing Group (BIGG) have spent the past two years investigating the recovery of pastures after bushfire through grants from Natural Resources Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges and SA Murray Darling Basin.

Rehabilitating a watercourse is a brilliant way to improve water quality, reduce erosion, provide habitat for birds and to improve on-farm production however, how do you select the most appropriate plant community to do the job?

THERE is no perfect bull, just the right bull, according to cattle breeder and University of Adelaide agricultural lecturer Darren Koopman, Tungkillo.

“There are so many decisions to make, so you need to ask ‘what’s the best bull for your job?’,” he said.

Significant changes in ground cover and site recovery have been observed at the halfway mark of the Barossa Improved Grazing Group’s (BIGG) one-year watercourse rehabilitation project.

MERINO breeders Ian and Fiona Koch are continuously searching for new ways to make their enterprise more profitable and sustainable.

And thanks to a study grant, the Kochs – who operate Bunyara Merino stud at Moculta – will head to the United States in October to further their research.

Ian and Fiona Koch own and manage 1800 hectares in the northern Barossa Ranges. The property consists of a variety of land classes in three different rainfall zones which require different management techniques. One region of the property, the native grass rangelands, is in a 350 mm rainfall zone.

In its biggest ever pasture walk, the Barossa Improved Grazing Group (BIGG) will be visiting three major project trial sites on September 21.

Technical facilitator Georgie Keynes says the farming systems group are excited to share learnings from the projects with Barossa livestock producers.

Eden Valley livestock producer and grape grower Ben Zander is a strong advocate of sheep grazing in vineyards, with his family using the increasingly-popular practice for more than 30 years.

The Barossa Improved Grazing Group (BIGG) and Grasslands Society of Southern Australia (GSSA) have teamed up to bring together a pasture update for graziers in the Barossa region, to be held at the Nuriootpa Sports and Function Centre on August 25.