Colin will discuss pasture cropping. Colin is the pioneer – developer of “Pasture Cropping” which is a perennial cover cropping method of sowing cereal crops directly into perennial pastures. It combines grazing animals and multispecies crops , into a single land use method where each one benefits the other economically, environmentally and ecologically. Colin Seis owns a 2000-acre farm “Winona” which is situated north of Gulgong on the central slopes of NSW Australia. ‘Winona’ runs 4000 merino sheep and grows crops like, oats, wheat , cereal rye, brassica, pea and vetch.

1. ‘Pasture Cropping’
Profitable Regenerative Agriculture
Colin Seis

3. Winona
Myself and son, Nick
2000 acres (840 Ha)
Gulgong Central Tablelands NSW Australia
• Granite soil, Ph 5.5-6.0
• 26 inch annual Rainfall

4. Winona Enterprises 2014
4000 Merino Sheep
(wool & meat.)
Working
Kelpie
Dogs
Native Grass Seed
500 acres of Crops
Wheat, oats, cereal rye.
Cattle trading
Merino
ram sales

5. • My Great Grandparents, Nicholas and Catherine
Seis were some of the original pioneer/settlers in
the district in 1860.
• Produced merino sheep and wool
• Started growing wheat in 1868

6. Due to poor sheep and wool prices,
wheat production expanded on Winona
in the 1930s.
Growing wheat was very
profitable in the 1930s

7. Within 20 years major damage to soil
and grasslands had occurred
Ploughing and sowing
wheat destroyed
Winona’s grassland and
contributed to soil health
decline, erosion and
salinity
Same paddock
5 years later

8. Traditional cropping methods.
Ploughing or Herbicides
• While this paddock is being
prepared for sowing.
• How much stock feed is produced
• How much pasture is destroyed.
• How much structure is destroyed.
• How many nutrients are lost.
• How much carbon is lost
• How much soil is lost to erosion.

9. Industrialized, high input, farming methods
From 1950 to 1978 on ‘Winona’
• All sown to introduced pasture
(clover ryegrass, etc and regularly re-sown)
• Annually fertilized with 112 lbs/acre
• Ploughing and cultivating soil to sow crops
(high rates of fertilizer & pesticides)
• Set stock grazing
This high input system was very
productive during this era

10. • Winona became weedy
and unproductive.
Over time, industrialized
agriculture was doing
serious ecological
damage to Winona
These high
input methods
were costing us
over $80,000
annually
(2014 values)

11. High input, Industrialized Agriculture
started to crash on “Winona” during the
1970s
• Fertilizer costs became too high
• Cost of sowing pasture became too high.
• Rainfall no longer infiltrated
• Soil lost structure
• Soil became acid
• Salinity problems
• Trees dying
• We were going broke

12. Modern Industrial Agriculture
simplifies and destroys farms and the
planet’s ecosystems.
• Monoculture crops.
• Poor animal management.
• Agriculture should mimic natural systems

13. How and why did I change??
During the 1970s the cost of production was becoming too
high and it was more difficult to be profitable
BUT !

14. Major bushfire destroyed Winona 1979
• 3000 sheep killed
• All buildings destroyed
• 30 miles of fencing burned
• No money

15. How did I change
• Looked for low input agriculture methods.(1980s)
• Stopped using pasture fertilizer and pesticides (1980)
• Focused on 100% ground cover. (crops and pasture)
• Started ‘time control grazing’ in 1990
• Developed ‘Pasture Cropping’ in 1993
• Combined ‘Pasture Cropping’ and ‘time control
grazing’ (Holistic planned grazing) in 1995
• Focused on restoring Winona to grassland.

16. Mixed farming ///
How do we combine livestock
and
grow crops???

17. “Pasture Cropping” was invented and
developed in 1993 by Colin Seis & Daryl Cluff

18. ‘Pasture Cropping’ is
‘Perennial Cover Cropping’

19. “Pasture
Cropping” is a
land management
technique where
annual crops are
zero - tilled into
dormant perennial
grass or grassland.
Without killing the
perennial grass.

20. Pasture Cropping
Animals and Crops are combined
and managed in a way where each
one benefits the other.

21. Why haven't crops been planted into grass before?
• It was known that annual plants will compete with each
other. (wheat & annual grass)
• It was assumed that perennial plants would also be
incompatible with cereal crops.
• Crop disease
• No one had looked at how nature worked in a grassland
(Warm season and cool season plants are compatible)

22. ‘Pasture Cropping’
• Zero till sowing of crops into
perennial pasture.
• Never Plough.
• Never kill perennial species.
• Weeds are managed by creating
large quantities of thick litter
from the grassland and using good
grazing management of livestock.
• ‘Pasture Cropping’ is
Perennial Cover Cropping

23. February 2010
Pasture Cropping
Perennial grassland

24. Pasture Pasture Cropping
Cropping
Harvesting native grass seed March 2010
Pasture Cropping

25. Sowing Oats May 2010
After mulching with sheep and/or Cattle, zero-till
plant the crop into litter and mulch of dormant warm
season perennial grass.
Pasture Cropping

26. Sow crop into litter
Pasture Cropping
No weeds grow with this much litter

27. Emerging Crop
Pasture Cropping

28. 10th
September 2010
Pasture Cropping
The crop can be grazed by animals

29. 14th
October 2010
Pasture Cropping

30. Pasture Cropping
Harvest the crop with emerging
perennial grass beneath

31. Graze grassland after the crop is harvested

32. Native grass seed can be harvested after the
cereal crop is harvested
Seed is sold for re-vegetation, and in the
future, sold for human consumption

33. Over a 12 month period the paddock
has produced
1. Native grass seed
2. Grazing of grassland pre sowing the crop
3. Grazing of the crop (sheep & cattle)
4. Grain from the crop
5. Grazing of grassland after harvest (sheep & cattle)
6. Native grass seed
• Reduced fertilizer (reduced by 70%)
• No insecticide
• No fungicide
• No plowing

34. What’s next??

35. Multi Species Pasture Cropping
Perennial grassland

36. Pasture Pasture Cropping
Cropping
Harvesting native grass seed
Multi Species Pasture Cropping

37. After mulching with sheep and/or Cattle, zero-till
a multi species crop into litter and mulch of dormant
warm season perennial grass.
Multi Species Pasture Cropping

38. A mix of 10 to 15 species are sown into
dormant grassland.
• Produce superior quality and quantity stock feed.
• Faster improvements in soil health, soil structure,
carbon and nutrient cycling.
• Add Nitrogen with legumes & scavenge other nutrients.
• Weed control.
• Insect control (flowering plants attract beneficial
insects
• Harvest cereal crop after grazing

39. Pasture Cropping
Harvest the crop with emerging
perennial grass beneath

40. Multi Species Pasture Cropping
Harvesting Grain
Before grazing (May 2014) After three grazings (August 2014)
Grassland after grain harvest
(March 2015)

41. How did ‘Multi species
Pasture Cropping’ happen?
• I had been experimenting with ‘Pasture Crop’ mixes
like oats / field pea and millet / cow peas for the last
5-6 years.
The results were promising.

42. How it happened
Dave Brandt: Iowa USA
Gabe Brown: North Dakota USA
& USA Scientists Dr Jill Clapperton and Dr Dwayne Beck.
Gail Fuller: Kansas

43. How do we feed 9 billion people
with good quality food
• Food can be grown in a grassland.
Cereal crops like wheat, oats, cereal rye, as a
mixture with vegetables like , peas turnips,
kale, radish in the winter.
Summer crops can be millet, cow peas,
lablab, with pumpkins, watermelon, beans,
etc, also sown into a grassland.

44. Including vegetables in the Multi Species Mix
By including vegetables for human consumption in the crop
mix, it is possible to grow vegetables as well as a grain crop
in grassland or perennial pasture
These plants can be grown while restoring grasslands
recycling nutrients, adding nitrogen, improving soil
structure, improving soil health and increasing soil carbon.

45. Native grass seed can be harvested after the
cereal crop is harvested
Seed is sold for re-vegetation, and in the
future, sold for human consumption

46. We can grow a diverse range of healthy food
without destroying our farms and the planet.
While improving a grassland or perennial pasture:
Graze animals on grassland (sheep, cattle, pigs, chickens etc.)
Plant multi species crop (Stockfeed, grain, vegetables)
Graze animals on multi species crop
Harvest vegetables
Harvest grain.
Harvest grass seed.
No pesticides, no plowing, restore grassland ,restore soil

47. Agriculture, and sound ecological
practices should function together

48. On Winona no insecticide has been
used for over 20 years.
We have no insect attack in crops and
pasture.
How??

49. Insects
1. On Winona there is now 600%
more insects and 125% more
insect diversity.
2. Insect attack of crops and
pastures can be controlled by
having more insects.
2. Insecticides are not selective,
they also kill predators like
spiders and wasps that will
control insects naturally.
3. Insecticides will ultimately lead to
more insects and more
insecticides.

50. On Winona no perennial grass
pasture has been re-sown for 30
years.
•How?

51. ‘Pasture Cropping’ has been shown to
improve existing pastures and restore
grasslands
‘Pasture Cropping’ does this by
stimulating perennial grass
recruitment from seed in the soil.

52. Crop Fertilizer reduced by 70%
No fertiliser used on pasture for
over 30 years
How??

53. • Winona’s soil now has 204%
more organic carbon.
• Has sequestered 20 ton /acre
of carbon (72 ton/acre of CO2.)
• Holds almost 200% more water.
(40,000 gal /acre)
All of the soil nutrients including
trace elements have increased by
an average of 172%
• Ph has changed from
5.6 - 6.01 Pp
Winona Soil Neighbor soil

54. Fertiliser does not have to come from a bag
• Myrorrhizal Fungi supply P,
N trace elements and water
• Protozoa and nematodes eat
bacteria & fungi which
supplies N and other nutrients
• Free living N fixing bacteria
supply Nitrogen (up to 40lbs/acre)

55. No fungicide used on ‘Winona’
for over 20 years
No crop or pasture disease
How??

56. Soil microbe tests on Winona have
shown
Total fungi increase 862%
Total bacteria increase 350%
Total protozoa increase 640%
Total nematode increase over 1000%
Having healthy soil with large numbers and large
diversity of soil microbes will control plant
disease

57. Is it profitable?

58. Winona annual costs (2013 costs)
From 1960- 1979 (high chemical & pesticide agriculture)
• Annual cropping expenses $40,000
• 2000ac: Pasture fertilizer $51,000
• Annual sheep Vet costs $12000
• Annual pasture establishment $5000
• Annual cost $107,000
From 1980-2010 (‘pasture cropping & time control grazing)
• Annual cropping expenses $20,000
• 2000ac: No pasture fertilizer $0
• Annual sheep Vet costs $7000
• Annual pasture establishment $0
Annual Cost $27,000
Annual saving $80,000 annually

59. Is it productive?

60. Compared to previous high input
agriculture
• Annual income is higher
• Crop yields are similar.
• ‘Winona’ is running more sheep and cattle
• Harvest and sell over 1000 Kg of native grass seed annually
• Soil organic carbon levels are increasing
• Soil Phosphorus, calcium, ph, magnesium and trace
elements are increasing (available and total)
With over $80,000 less inputs and less labor

61. Vertical Stacking of Farming and
Grazing Enterprises

62. With Vertical Stacking of Farming and
Grazing enterprises we can produce more
food without high chemical inputs and GM
crops.
If the farm enterprises are ecologically
compatible they will regenerate the
landscape and be more profitable.

63. Vertical Stacking of Farming and
Grazing Enterprises
Grazing of grassland pre sowing
Grazing of the crop
Grain from the crop
Grazing of grassland after
harvest
Vegetables
Native grass seed
All produced off the same area over a 12 month period

64. Vertical stacking of different
enterprises can give far more
production and profit per ha.
Grain (wheat, oats, rye, barley)
Sheep meat
Cattle
Wool
Vegetables
Native grass seed
Native grass seed human
consumption
Carbon sequestration

65. • It is very important to
have diverse perennial
grassland or pasture
as the base of the
enterprises.
• The number of
enterprises is
only limited by your
imagination.
• This method can
produce a diverse
range of food,
regenerate the
landscape and be very
profitable.

66. Agriculture does not have to destroy
ecosystems and the planet.
Agriculture Can:
• Produce vast amounts of good quality food.
• Regenerate grasslands.
• Restore soil ecosystems
• Supply and cycle nutrients.
• Regenerate landscapes and ecosystems.

67. Our Farms should function as
ecosystems

68. When we manage our farms as ecosystems :
Restore grasslands
Produce healthy, nutrient dense food
Increase soil carbon & water holding capacity
Improve soil nutrient availability & cycling.
Increase plant and animal diversity.
Prevent plant and animal disease.
Improve soil health.
•Increase profit.

69. • Agriculture can be more profitable,
& environmentally regenerative.
But:
Agricultural practices need to
function closer to how Nature
had it originally designed

70. If you require information
for an on-line, Pasture Cropping Course
Covering:
Pasture Cropping
Multispecies Pasture Cropping
Perennial Cover Cropping
www.perennialcovercropping.com
colin@winona.net.au