AN AUSTRALIAN TEMPERATE PASTURES DATABASE

A census of pasture types and their composition and attributes (e.g. p urpose and carrying capacity) was carried out throughout southern Aust ralia from June to October 1994. This paper describes the survey proce ss and subsequent creation of an Australian temperate pastures databas e. Data were created for 562 local government areas (LGAs) from 'desk estimates' by trained agriculturists. They identified about 2500 pastu re types, which were grouped into 120 standardised pasture categories. Some findings from the data are identified, namely the high relative importance on an area basis of unimproved native pastures, the importa nce of weedy species (e.g. Vulpia), and the marked decline with increa sing rainfall in importance of annual medics compared with subterranea n clover. This paper provides examples of the data and their use for a ssessment of the regional economic impact of increases in productivity of pasture species.