At a research plot in South
Australia's mid-north they're
harvesting vetch, after
it's gone to seed.
But there are so many seasonal uses
for this legume crop.
It doesn't always get to the seeding
stage.
Vetch is not dual purpose, vetch is
multi-purpose, there is about five
end uses, and
the confusion comes in well where
does that fit in?
Stuart Nagel works for the South
Australian Research and Development
Institute SARDI, the
research division of the Department
of Primary Industries and Regions in
South Australia.
He's the leader of the National
Vetch Breeding Program,
a major GRDC investment
that's been trialling and releasing
different varieties since 1992.
When you're looking at vetch in
Australia, there are three major
species grown quite
widely.
There's common vetch, which is the
most broad probably 80 per cent of
vetch grown in Australia is common
vetch which is vicia sativa.
There is woolly pod vetch which is
vicia villosa, which is probably the
next most prevalent.
And then there's purple vetch, which
is vicia benghhalensis, and that's
a quite a minor crop.
It's focussed in the really high
rainfall areas.
Well, these are plots of woolly
pod vetch that we're taking through
the grain.
You can see they are woolly pod because
they're a very different flower
and leaf and the pods
are much smaller.
Stuart Nagel has narrowed down the
main uses for vetch,
firstly as a high value
fodder as green grazing,
hay or silage.
It's a very high protein hay.
Really good levels of metabolisable
energy, and it's very
popular in those dairy markets.
Secondly, common vetch grain
is good feed.
It's a very high protein grain that
can be used to feed ruminants ad lib
that there's a lot of tales about
where vetch sits as a stock feed,
but common vetch can be fed to
ruminants ad lib.
Thirdly, vetch fixes nitrogen
in soil.
Back in the early 2000s, we did
trials across South Australia for
three years across five sites
and diverse sites from Lameroo,
Peake here
at Roseworthy, Jamestown
and Blythe so quite diverse
rainfall and soil types.
And on average,
after a grain
crop was taken off, there was
about 57 kilograms of
nitrogen returned to the soil in the
next season per hectare.
After a hay crop that
was at about 97 around there and
after a green manure, that
was up to 145, 150kg.
Fourthly, it can be ploughed back
in as green or brown
manure.
Brown manure became really popular
in the say, 2000, around
the 2010 period
in central western New South Wales.
It became very popular in that
more diverse
country that red soils over there
to have a brown manure they called
it. They would spread it out in
September, leave it standing and sow
back into it, not even graze it off.
It provides a break from diseases
like rhizoctonia.
And finally, it can be useful
in controlling crop weeds.
You're using a different chemical
range to your cereal and
vetch can be cut before weed seed
set.
If you're either using hay or
brown manure, you can
crop up the weeds at the time
that suits you and so you can
stop seed set.
There's not a broad market
for the seed, but Stuart Nagel
says many farmers who grow it
recognise its production value.
Most of which is traded over a
fence. And so it's not a traditional
cash crop.
There has been some very good
years where vetch has been sold
farmer to farmer
and they've made very good margins
on that. But what I what I've been
saying, the gross margin on
a vetch hay crop is very,
very good.
But generally people would
like to have a contract in place
first.
It's not an easy crop to define
and perhaps needs something of a
rebrand.
But Stuart Nagel says vetch
in your farming system can
give you on the go options.
Your pulses you have to take through
to that quality endpoint,
whereas vetch one of the
strengths is its versatility during
the year you can go this year is
absolutely magnificent.
We will take this grain through
to grain we'll produce good grain
for the next few years.
We'll lock that away.
Will you go look, it's just cutting
off too quickly. Let's bale it or
look, I'm going to buy sheep
and put sleep in on this because
sheep are at about $350
a head at the moment.
Let's fatten some sheep up, get a
couple of lambs out so you can
change your tack during the year.
You can use that versatility
to deal with the issues
as they come up, rather than I'm
locked in to producing wheat
or lentils or chickpeas.
Vetch is indeed versatile.