The palatable and leafy option for high productivity

Gatton Panic is a vigorous summer-active perennial grass suited to a wide range of subtropical grazing operations. It is responsive to rainfall and tolerant to drought. Highly palatable and fantastic on its own or as part of a mix. Gatton Panic prefers light to medium soil types and suits subtropical zones with annual rainfall of 500 – 1500mm. If green plant material is frosted in winter, it can reshoot in spring when moisture and higher growing temperatures are present.

Pasture seed sowing rate (sole): 8-10kg/ha
Pasture seed sowing rate (mixed): 2-6kg/ha

Soil

Gatton panic is well adapted to a wide range of light to medium textured soil types providing they are well-drained, moist and fertile. Gatton panic prefers high fertility soils with a soil pH between 5.5-6. It does not tolerate water logging or salinity and shouldn’t be planted on heavy soils.

Although highly responsive to Nitrogen and phosphate, maintenance applications of phosphate and Nitrogen are required for a highly productive pasture. Apply phosphate at 20-40kg/ha/yr, and apply Nitrogen at 100-200kg/ha/yr. 

Rainfall

Sow pasture seed in areas that experience between 500mm and 1500mm rainfall per annum. The drought tolerance of Gatton panic varies depending on soil type and generally doesn’t tolerate dry periods longer than 4 to 5 months. Tolerant of short-term flooding by moving water.

Sowing and establishment 

For successful establishment of Gatton panic pasture seed, seedbed preparation and seed to soil contact is important for an even germination. Prepare seedbed well with prior weed control, good subsoil moisture and consolidation (rolling) after sowing pasture seed to improve germination and establishment. 

Sow pasture seed at 2-8kg/ha if sown as a sole pasture and 1.5-3kg/ha when sowing within a mixed pasture. When direct drilling, drill with fertiliser if able and sow no deeper than 1cm whilst ensuring slots are closed with the use of press wheels or rolling. 

If Gatton panic is provided with enough nutrients (N) and moisture, dry matter yields range between 5-20tDM/ha/yr. Nitrogen is a key driver for high dry matter yields, maintenance requirements can range between 100-200kg/ha/yr of Nitrogen.

Grazing management

Gatton panic is suited to light stocking rates and/or rotational grazing. A rotational grazing system of 1 week on, 4 weeks rest has shown good results in the subtropics. For long term persistence of a pasture, Gatton panic shouldn’t be cut (low or frequent) or grazed below 15cm.

Rotational grazing using a 4 week interval allows a balance between quality and quantity. Gatton panic combines well with twining legumes under light/rotational grazing. Always sow Gatton panic with grass of similar palatability to avoid over grazing of Gatton panic.

Animal production

Gatton panic is readily accepted by all classes of grazing livestock. When grazed under good grazing management with young leafy growth, animal intakes will be high. Nutritive values will vary depending on grazing management and fertiliser inputs (N), and crude protein levels can range from 6 to 25%.

Stock liveweight gains can be up to 0.8 kg/hd/day and up to 1,200 kg/ha/yr LWG (commonly 300‒500 kg/ha/yr LWG) depending primarily on stocking rate, N fertiliser rate and age of regrowth.

Envirogro seed treatment

The Envirogro^® seed treatment process is now a tailored seed treatment offering to aid in the establishment and productivity of tropical and subtropical seed varieties. Envirogro is a species-dependent, tailored process that produces the highest quality tropical and subtropical seed through improved seed cleaning, seed dehulling/scarification (where the species requires it) and a customised coating process to improve live seed numbers per hectare.

Envirogro benefits
• Improves seed flowability and ballistic properties
• Improves seed quality and purity for a higher return on investment
• Produces a clean, uniform seed
• Removes weed seed, waste material and contaminants
• Increases bare seed counts through improved cleaning
• Coated with insecticide, polymer and talc/lime (no Rhizobia inoculant applied to tropical legumes)