The Barraba grazier breeds merino sheep, as well as angus and first-cross wagyu cattle, with a supporting fodder cropping program of oats.

For the last two summers, Mr Croll has also grown Pioneer brand Super Sweet Sudan (SSS) forage, to provide quality grazing at a high stocking rate.

“We first planted 10 hectares of SSS in the extremely dry summer of 2015/16, but it went well: we got more grazing off it than any of our equivalent-sized paddocks for that period,” he said.

The Crolls backed up with 22 hectares of SSS in the 2016/17 summer, planting on December 19 and 20 into good moisture.

“It then rained over Christmas and early January, so the conditions were pretty well ideal – such that 39 days after planting, we were grazing it; the speed of growth was amazing,” Mr Croll said.

“On the 6th February, we then cut 85 large round bales of SSS for silage, at around 400kg each, off seven hectares of the paddock.

“Later in February, we then mulched the rest of the paddock that hadn’t been baled, and that was amazing – it all reshot and thickened up and a whole fresh crop came up again.”

The SSS was then strip-grazed off and on through to April 20, when it was sprayed out to be planted into lucerne.

“I was very happy with the way the stock did on it; it was very palatable,” Mr Croll said.

“The positive for me is you can put a smaller area of SSS in and get a lot of productivity out of it.

“From one small area we produced enough hay for two or three years of weaning, plus all the weight gains and the amount of stock we were able to run on that small area.

“That enables more country to be rested, and other pastures and paddocks can get away just because of the growth rate of the SSS, which was planted along with cowpeas.”