Lucerne lifts summer feed efficiency
26 August 2025
Ben McHugh always suspected his dairy farm was losing dry matter production during the summer because of the Italian ryegrass and white clover in some paddocks.
Ben and his wife Katie, along with their three sons, farm at Mosquito Hill in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills – where it’s common to have hot days during summer. This weather sapped soil moisture and delivered poor production from the biennial ryegrass and clover.
Replacing this pasture with tall fescue resulted in improved dry matter yields, but the McHugh’s 330-head herd of Jersey cows didn’t like grazing it once it turned ‘rank’.
The next option was lucerne.
“We already grew some lucerne on another area of the farm,” Ben said.
“The cows grazed it well over the summer months. It produced so much more over summer, and it was more water efficient.”
Making the decision to add more lucerne to the dairy’s grazing platform came from discussions as part of the Smarter Irrigation for Profit phase 2 program (SIP2), funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Dairy Australia.
Concentrating on optimising irrigation water productivity, the McHugh’s farm was one of the program’s optimisation sites, where local farmers explored water efficient technology and new irrigation practices.
Ben said installing moisture probes as part of the program was beneficial to the business. The probes enabled better soil moisture monitoring to advise ideal irrigation timing.
Ben said this practice led to increased productivity and reduced costs.
“The biggest efficiency gain was at start-up,” Ben explained.
“Starting up irrigation a couple of weeks earlier than we traditionally would have meant production growth rates stayed a lot higher for longer. We didn’t let the soil dry out as much as we would have prior to the probes.
“We got more grazings and more growth, which meant we could come back and graze those paddocks faster and it also meant less supplementary feed.”
It was these soil moisture probes and the subsequent monitoring that guided Ben’s irrigation practices for the lucerne that replaced the biennial ryegrass and clover.
Moving away from Italian ryegrass and white clover improved water and energy costs per tonne of dry matter and increased the daily growth rate. The total cost per tonne of dry matter decreased 79 per cent between the first season – the Italian ryegrass and white clover – and the third season, when there was established lucerne.
It’s because of its seasonality that Ben will continue to manage the existing amount of lucerne in his farm’s pasture platform – despite its summer water efficiency.
“In the areas where we water lucerne, we lose a little production area in winter – we don’t get the growth rates,” he said.
“We need to spread-out the growth rates on farm throughout the year and maximise dry matter.”
As part of the program, Ben received a weekly report supplied by Dairy Australia’s South Australia team, which included weather forecast information, water loss rates and water balance calculations.
He used this information in conjunction with data from the soil moisture probes to inform irrigation rates and timing.
“With the probes, you can obviously see the readily available water improving after a watering,” Ben said.
“Quite often it meant that when we had a rain event, we’d know when to start watering again. Because we’d know how far it lifted the moisture in the soil profile or how far it didn’t.
“It gives you peace of mind that what you are doing is the right thing.”
Dairy Australia is supporting dairy farmers with using effective irrigation systems to increase farm productivity and profitability, drive water-use efficiencies and reduce input costs.
For more information about soil moisture monitoring and to access resources, visit the Soil Moisture Monitoring page.
This project was supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry as part of its Rural R&D for Profit program.
Replacing this pasture with tall fescue resulted in improved dry matter yields, but the McHugh’s 330-head herd of Jersey cows didn’t like grazing it once it turned ‘rank’.
The next option was lucerne.
“We already grew some lucerne on another area of the farm,” Ben said.
“The cows grazed it well over the summer months. It produced so much more over summer, and it was more water efficient.”
Making the decision to add more lucerne to the dairy’s grazing platform came from discussions as part of the Smarter Irrigation for Profit phase 2 program (SIP2), funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Dairy Australia.
Concentrating on optimising irrigation water productivity, the McHugh’s farm was one of the program’s optimisation sites, where local farmers explored water efficient technology and new irrigation practices.
Ben said installing moisture probes as part of the program was beneficial to the business. The probes enabled better soil moisture monitoring to advise ideal irrigation timing.
Ben said this practice led to increased productivity and reduced costs.
“The biggest efficiency gain was at start-up,” Ben explained.
“Starting up irrigation a couple of weeks earlier than we traditionally would have meant production growth rates stayed a lot higher for longer. We didn’t let the soil dry out as much as we would have prior to the probes.
“We got more grazings and more growth, which meant we could come back and graze those paddocks faster and it also meant less supplementary feed.”
It was these soil moisture probes and the subsequent monitoring that guided Ben’s irrigation practices for the lucerne that replaced the biennial ryegrass and clover.
Moving away from Italian ryegrass and white clover improved water and energy costs per tonne of dry matter and increased the daily growth rate. The total cost per tonne of dry matter decreased 79 per cent between the first season – the Italian ryegrass and white clover – and the third season, when there was established lucerne.
It’s because of its seasonality that Ben will continue to manage the existing amount of lucerne in his farm’s pasture platform – despite its summer water efficiency.
“In the areas where we water lucerne, we lose a little production area in winter – we don’t get the growth rates,” he said.
“We need to spread-out the growth rates on farm throughout the year and maximise dry matter.”
As part of the program, Ben received a weekly report supplied by Dairy Australia’s South Australia team, which included weather forecast information, water loss rates and water balance calculations.
He used this information in conjunction with data from the soil moisture probes to inform irrigation rates and timing.
“With the probes, you can obviously see the readily available water improving after a watering,” Ben said.
“Quite often it meant that when we had a rain event, we’d know when to start watering again. Because we’d know how far it lifted the moisture in the soil profile or how far it didn’t.
“It gives you peace of mind that what you are doing is the right thing.”
Dairy Australia is supporting dairy farmers with using effective irrigation systems to increase farm productivity and profitability, drive water-use efficiencies and reduce input costs.
For more information about soil moisture monitoring and to access resources, visit the Soil Moisture Monitoring page.
This project was supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry as part of its Rural R&D for Profit program.