Over the past seven years, Bruce has consulted the Forage Value Index (FVI) tables each season to select the ryegrass varieties most likely to succeed in south-west Victoria.
And it’s working.
Bruce can see that pasture growth has been better since he started using the FVI to select his pasture varieties. Along with other improvements in feeding systems and genetic selection, the better grass output has contributed to a 10 per cent rise in milk production over the past five years.
The basis of the FVI is a direct outcome of Dairy Australia’s funded research in collaboration with several industry partners. The initiative commenced around a decade ago, and it has been further developed and expanded under the DairyFeedbase research program.
The FVI tables have been released annually since 2017 by Dairy Australia, in collaboration with DataGene, Meat & Livestock Australia and the Pasture Trials Network, to help dairy farmers like Bruce to make more informed decisions when selecting profitable ryegrass varieties.
They provide an independent and reliable assessment on the potential economic value of Perennial, Italian and Annual ryegrass varieties.
Bruce and his wife Andrea purchased their Nirranda farm in 1995. They now run it as an equity partnership with farm manager Isaac Fynn and their three children, Jordy, Sam and Casey, milking 830 three-way cross cows on a 287-hectare irrigated milking platform.
Bruce uses the FVI to validate the different ryegrass varieties on the market.
“It lets us look at all the commercially available ryegrasses and pick the right one for our farm. Grass is the biggest part of the cows’ diet year-round,” he says.
“When you sow a ryegrass pasture, you want it to last for a few years – so you want to make sure you get the best bang for your buck.”
Bruce says the FVI has improved his business as it allows him to make more informed decisions.
“Dairy Australia developed a formula based on the trial sites in South-west Victoria, so we’re not just picking ryegrasses from the best advertising; we’re going with a science-based appraisal.
“We follow the formula and change the varieties according to what will be best for our light soil type.”
Bruce focuses on Annual ryegrasses for the dryland part of the farm, Perennials for the irrigated areas and Italians for paddock renovation. They are also trialling multispecies pastures with promising results.
“We’ve changed the grasses because of the FVI,” he says.
“It gives us an ability to change between companies to keep moving forward with the right ryegrasses.”
Bruce is confident in the data.
“There’s enough information to safely use new varieties,” he says.
“That’s one of the reasons we need this work because they do all the testing and validation. Improvements are incremental. Your eye will only pick up 10 per cent or more growth, so unless you’re doing all the trial work, you’re not going to pick up the differences.
“Visually we’ve seen an improvement, and there has been a corresponding improvement in milk production.”
Bruce says the information within the FVI is easy to follow and beneficial for all farmers.
“You’re getting good information and it’s addressing farmer concerns,” he explains.
“Farmers want more drought tolerant grasses so they’re also going down that path by researching a persistence component in the index.
“It’s also good to see what endophytes they’ve got to address things such as black beetle damage.
“I think the FVI is a big step forward in our selection of ryegrasses and grasses in general.”
The Forage Value Index is one of the many ways that Dairy Australia delivers outcomes from research to improve herd and feed genetics, as well as providing farmers with insights to support their decision making.
The 2025 Forage Value Index tables are available now at dairyaustralia.com.au/fvi.
