Farming from the grass up

Like most farmers, Rachel considers herself a cow person but her real passion is the grass. 

“I like cows but I really love growing grass and seeing high quality pastures,” she says. 

Rachel’s phone is full of photos of lush grass growing on her south-west Victorian farm – and she wants to make sure that she and her cows are getting the most out of it. 

Rachel and Dale have leased their 130-hectare farm in Gorae West for the past seven years, initially in partnership with Dale’s family but on their own for the past two years. They also lease a nearby 40-hectare property for young stock. 

They currently milk about 190 cows in a mixed herd, down from a peak of 250 as they strive to reduce reliance on bought-in feed. 

Traditionally, they relied on agronomists, seed brochures and local word-of-mouth for their pasture variety choices but it didn’t always work out. 

“Every catalogue comes out saying they’re the biggest and the best but I don’t know if it’s true or not,” Rachel said. “With the Dairy Australia FVI, you can look at the tables and see exactly how the varieties perform against each other. It takes out the guess work,” says Rachel. 

Rachel and Dale aim to become self-sufficient home-grown feeders and need the right grasses in the right paddocks. 

“Because we’re seasonal calving starting in May and make all of our milk and money up until the end of spring, we need grass that’s going to keep them fully fed for the months that we need,” Rachel said. 

“For us, summer production is less important because we’re winding them down to be dried off. Mid-winter is when we need the most feed, to match the peak feed demand from our herd. If we can get the right varieties that support what we’re trying to do with our farming system, it means less reliance on silage and bought-in feed.” 

When they took over, the farm was planted in annual ryegrass, but Rachel and Dale  have since dabbled in Italian ryegrasses and perennials. They introduced a trial of Cocksfoot to overcome a barley grass problem - adding clovers and ryegrass to make it more palatable for the cows - and trialled multispecies mixes that have been particularly successful in winter.  

Varieties on the FVI are ranked according to the return they deliver at the farmgate, including information about seasonal dry matter yield, trials, metabolisable energy (ME), heading date, endophyte, and much more. The rankings provide an independent and reliable assessment on the potential economic value of perennial, Italian and Annual ryegrass cultivars. 

'Based on the FVI, last year they selected their perennial and Italian cultivars from the rankings.  

“Both varieties were on top of the charts last year and they both just kept going and going for us really late into spring,” Rachel said. “The paddocks that we didn’t sow last year went to head far earlier than the new varieties. They’re still near the top of the list this year and I’d be happy to stick with them.” 

They also consulted the FVI to help select an annual ryegrass variety in the calf paddock with great success,  allowing a quick rotation of paddocks. 

“The only thing we’ve bought this year is cereal hay for the springers and we’ve cut 1,000 bales of silage compared to 600 a few years ago and managed to do a pit for the first time. Previously we bought-in vetch and clover hay to keep them fed in winter. We’re mid-February now and we’ve still got six paddocks that are green and growing.” 

Rachel and Dale are aiming to reduce fertiliser use and “step back and let the grass do its thing” to feed their mid-sized herd. 

“We produce as much as we can over spring, and having high quality pasture during this period helps sustain milk production that is profitable and has a high margin well into mid to late lactation” Rachel said.  

They say they will continue to consult the FVI, including the new energy component to make sure their grasses not only yield well, but that their cows want to eat them. 

"We want to be self-sufficient and keep turning the grain dial back as much as possible so they can be fully fed on grass that we’ve grown,” Rachel said. “You don’t want to waste a good season and we want to get as many milk solids from directly grazed pasture as possible.” 

To find out more and access the 2026 Forage Value Index (FVI) tables, contact the local Dairy Australia Team or visit Forage Value Index.

The FVI was developed in collaboration with DataGene, Meat & Livestock Australia and the Pasture Trials Network.