The farm is run in conjunction with national dairy forage program Project 3030, which aims to mirror the success of a R-Max farmlet near Terang, Victoria.

Bill Fraser hosts the project on his 200-hectare dairy farm at Waitpinga, in conjunction with DairySA and FP-AG, to see if this system can improve pasture consumption, herd fertility and profitability on Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu dairy farms.

The system relies heavily on using deferred grazing in autumn and a slow 40-day grazing rotation through winter to maximise pasture growth and quality, with cows fed high-quality supplements beforehand while waiting for sufficient pasture growth.

Premium-quality hay and silage was fed (along with moderate grain feeding levels) through May, but this has allowed the farm to generate very good pasture supply from the start of June. Cows are now eating about 14 kilograms of dry matter grass a day each, and producing an impressive 32 litres milk and 2.31kg milksolids a cow a day.

"Cows now get access to 2.5 per cent of the farm area each day, giving us around a 40-day rotation," FP-AG technical officer Adrian Clarke said.

"On average, pastures have grown 2700kg/ha before grazing, with cows leaving about 1600kg/ha residues after grazing."

According to Project 3030, this style of grazing maximises pasture growth and also forage quality, because grasses are being allowed to grow-out to the three-leaf stage during winter.

On advice from Project 3030 advisers, grain feeding now involves about 7.5kg grain(as-fed)/cow/day, comprising 36pc wheat, 36pc barley, 18pc canola plus minerals.

"And we're aiming to reduce this to 6kg by the end of July," Mr Clarke said.

* Extract from a full Fleurieu Partner Farm report in Stock Journal, June 25 issue.