Have you got saltbush plantings that have grown out of control and are no longer able to provide a feed source for stock?

While saltbush is a great means of managing saline soils and providing a valuable feed source for stock, it does need regular grazing or cutting to keep it suitable for grazing.

When this management is overlooked, established plantations become overgrown, too dense to manage effectively and too tall for livestock to graze on.

A Trials and Demonstrations project recently conducted at Corrigin and Goomalling, by Wheatbelt NRM, Curtin University and Corrigin Farm Improvement Group has focussed on methods for the rehabilitation of saltbush that had become too woody for grazing.

Three different treatments were trialled.The saltbush was rolled/squashed to ground level, cut to 50cm or cut to 1m, with some kept as a control treatment and left as a comparison. 

All treatments produced new growth in the Oldman Saltbush however in the cut to 1m trial plot the new growth was above grazing level for sheep within a year.

Interestingly, River Saltbush did not respond positively to any of the treatments.