Introduction

• Pastures are mixed communities of plant species adapted to being grazed.
• Grass species provide the majority of the herbage produced by pastures but the legume species are the keystone of the pastoral system because they supply fixed nitrogen and often have greater nutritive value than grasses.

Reasons for the farmer to change pasture species

• A desire for better seasonal distribution of herbage production
• For better nutritive value; for greater persistency from the pasture
• For improved pest and disease tolerance
• For the opportunity provided by cultivation to remove unwanted species
• To incorporate drainage and to level land