West Gippsland dairy farmers Alexander and Allyson Mapleson select high-performance ryegrass cultivars using Dairy Australia’s Forage Value Index (FVI) tables as part of a pasture renovation strategy to lift the productivity, profitability and resilience of their new farm business at Lang Lang.
The progressive, young farming couple took on the 208 predominantly Holstein cow farm 18 months ago and started to revitalise pasture production across a 93 hectare-millking area and additional 47ha-support area.
The dryland farming system receives about 800mm of average annual rainfall, but Alexander says severe dry conditions in 2025 - the region’s driest season in 10 years - prompted an immediate focus on pasture improvement.
“We planned to improve our pasture base because the farm has older ryegrass varieties and it had not been operating as a dairy business for about 10 years,” said Alexander, who previously worked as an agronomist in south-west Gippsland.
“But the season forced our hand to more immediately invest in new ryegrass cultivars because it was such a long, dry summer and autumn period.”
Responding to the record-dry conditions, the couple strategically selected a suite of new ryegrass cultivars from the FVI to help achieve long-term objectives for the farm business.
“Overall, our aim is to continue to lift pasture production by transitioning to newer perennial ryegrass varieties that better utilise the rainfall from April to early November,” he said.
“And we can use the FVI to drive that change by identifying cultivars to capitalise on that rainfall period.”
To this end, they opted for a mix of cultivars matched to their rainfall pattern, as well as their mainly winter-calving system, highly variable soil types, turnip summer cropping program and pest pressure, such as root aphid.
Alexander adds that their variety selection from the FVI, with emphasis on yield and quality, was also significantly influenced by its data showing the seasonal performance of cultivars.
“We’re mainly a winter-calving farm so we want to optimise pasture growth in winter and early spring,” he said.
“We want to have high-energy, highly digestible pasture when the cows are calving in June and July, and when they develop a strong appetite in August.
“Using the FVI enabled us to plan, shortlist and select high-performance cultivars based on independent assessment and trial data,” he said.
“We then do our own background research and examine the performance of shortlisted varieties in our local area.”
To date, the Maplesons have renovated about 60 per cent of their milking area, with only a small percentage of this sown to perennial ryegrass cultivars.
In addition to perennial cultivars, they also opted to grow annual, hybrid and Italian ryegrass cultivars assessed in the FVI.
These were strategically sown, with a focus on transitioning to perennial pasture, as part of their long-term, rotational renovation strategy and over-sown as a short-term tactic to remedy the lowest performing pasture areas.
Alexander relied on FVI data while working as an agronomist, specialising in pastures, for nine years, but he has only applied the resource as a farm business tool on his own property since March 2025.
Seeing valuable gains
Reflecting on the benefits it has provided in the past year, Alexander said the FVI has already secured important gains for the Lang Lang-dairy farm.
Specifically, it has led to improved forage and silage quality, particularly late-season forage quality, and enabled them to conserve more fodder.
And, in turn, the extra fodder has assisted them to increase their stocking rate, and lift overall milk production.
“Compared with the previous season, we were able to achieve canopy cover two to three days earlier.
“Reaching that canopy cover target earlier meant we were able to graze or cut the pasture earlier and conserve more fodder as quality silage.”
In part, this has contributed to an increase in their farm business productivity.
“In the previous season, for instance, we conserved 450 rolls of silage from the milking area, and this season we were able to conserve 700 rolls from that area,” he said.
“Together with an increase in our stocking rate from 175 to 208 cows since February last year, our production has also increased from 1.9 to 2.2 kilograms of milk solids per cow per day.
“The long-term goal using the FVI is now to increase pasture grown and consumed on the farm from the current target of eight tonnes of pasture per hectare per year to above nine tonnes of pasture per hectare per year."
Alexander said their on-farm application of FVI data has been supported by the knowledge he gained from Dairy Australia’s Feeding Pastures for Profit program, which he completed in 2017 and 2025.
To find out more and access the 2026 Forage Value Index (FVI) tables, contact the local Dairy Australia Team or visit Forage Value Index.
The FVI was developed by Dairy Australia in collaboration with DataGene, Meat & Livestock Australia and the Pasture Trials Network.
Credit: Dairy Australia