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A breath of fresh Eyre

Amy Lawson

IT GROWS one to one-and-a-half times quicker than ordinary saltbush, recovers

quickly from grazing, and has a large plant size as much as four metres (13.1232 ft)

across.

The Eyres Green Saltbush has caught the attention of graziers seeking a low

maintenance, high protein, drought-tolerant plant, with South Australian's Topline

Plant Company coming to the rescue. Partner in the family business, Phillip Tamlin,

Uraidla, Adelaide Hills, South Australia, said " ...the variety, protected by Plant

Breeders Rights, was a selected cutting, or clone, taken from Old Man Saltbush

and featured attractive crude protein figures of about 15 percent of dry matter."

"...It's very high in protein and also in vitamin E, which is particularly useful for

people producing fat lambs... But as with all saltbush, the Eyres green fell

down in metabolisable energy...To get the best out of any saltbush, you need

to incorporate some form of vegetable matter and this can be done by feeding

hay or opening up an adjoining paddock of any form of grass or stubble."

Mr Tamlin also said, Eyres Green Saltbush grew larger than a normal open-

pollinated saltbush and had good lateral growth, so planting was recommended

at four metre (13.1232 ft) spacing and on four metre (13.1232 ft) rows." ...This makes

the Eyres Green Saltbush cheaper to plant per hectare than open-pollinated

saltbush seedlings that are normally planted at 2.5 metres (8.202 ft) between

plants, and 2.5 metres (8.202ft) between rows." he said.

A hectare (2.48 acres approx) of Eyre's Green on four-metre (13.1232 ft) spacing would

require 625 plants and at 25.3 cents ($AUS) per plant including GST (plus freight and planting

costs), that hectare (2.48 acres approx) would cost $AUS158.13. The variety is already

growing in Australia's southern State and NSW and Mr Tamlin took 14,000 cuttings

for the variety's trip to Queensland Elders Farm Fest days, at Toowoomba, Queensland, early

last month.

" ... I only had 1200 plants left after the day so there’s a lot of interest at the moment in

Australian native dry land stock feed," he said. Every Eyre's Green Saltbush is the

same, with variations due to environmental conditions including soil, water and

rock." ...You should be able to get the bushes to full-size in two years," he said." ...You

may do better or worse, depending on the season. " Saltbush is not only suited for

sheep and cattle." ...I've sold it to a lot of other people who have horses, ostriches,

emus, camels - it has a wide range of uses."

Warren Evans, "Farm Gallery", Mercunda, via Loxton, SA, can't rave enough about

the Eyres Green Saltbush after he planted it in areas where salt problems had

been recorded for many years." ...We found that since putting the saltbush on salt

patches, they have dropped the water table probably about six feet or more... and

they did that within two or three years..... We found out we've got a lot higher

production from about half a sheep to the acre with barley grass, which is almost

useless, up to between three and four sheep to the acre with saltbush. we've

found out it's very much a paying proposition...." After about two years, Mr

Evans noticed the barley grass had died with the reducing water table, replaced

by native clovers and grasses. " ...The cuttings are much more productive because

they are virtually all the same bushes - they don't vary - whereas we get the

tremendous variation with the (ordinary saltbush) seedlings and of course, more

production from the cuttings... And they are all palatable bushes... with the

seedlings we get quite a few bushes that are not at all palatable and sheep just

don't like them."

Contact Topline Plant Company, (08) 83903369, or visit www.toplinenursery.com.

By Amy Lawson - The Land

"ONE IN A MILLION FREAK"

pHILLIP tAMLIN DESCRIBES THE EYRES GREEN SALTBUSH AS A "FREAK", A ONE IN A MILLION. hOWEVER ALTHOUGH THE INITIAL FIND WAS RELATIVELY SIMPLE, mR tAMLIN SAID THAT IT REPRESENTED 10 YEARS OF PLANT BREEDING WORK. tHE sOUTH aUSTRALIAN PARTNER IN THE FAMILY BUSINESS, TOPLINE PLANT COMPANY SAID THE PLANT WAS A SELECTED CUTTING OR CLONE, TAKEN FROM OLD MAN SALTBUSH AND OVERCAME ITS LIMITED VARIATIONS SUCH AS STUNTED PLANTS WITH SMALL LEAVES.

mR tAMLIN, A THIRD GENERATION VEGETABLE GROWER, BEGAN HIS SEARCH FOR THE "PERFECT SALTBUSH" IN 1995. "i WAS OVER ON THE EYRE PENINSULA ON A FARMERS PROPERTY AND i ASKED IF HE HAD NOTICED ANY OUTSTANDING PLANTS ON HIS PROPERTY AND HE SAID THAT HE HAD ONE AND HE CALLED IT HIS SUPER BUSH, hE SAID IT WAS ALWAYS THE FIRST BUSH TO RECOVER IN THE PADDOCK. i TOOK CUTTINGS FOR TRIAL WORK AND IT JUST LEFT ALL OUR OTHER TRIAL PLANTS FOR DEAD. iT JUST HAPPEnS TO BE A FREAK, A ONE IN A MILLION AND IT IT HAPPENED TO BE ON THIS FARMERS PROPERTY. iT'S A UNIQUE PLANT."

mR TAMLIN SAID "UNLIKE THE EYRES GREEN SALTBUSH ORDINARY SALTBUSH TENDED TO DEVELOP ALMOST LIKE A TREE WITH A LOT OF WOOD AT THE BASE AND FOLIAGE UP TOO HIGH FOR THE STOCK TO REACH. yOU HAVE TO LOOK AT ALL OF THE BUSHES TO APPRECIATE OPEN-POLLINATED SEEDED PLANTS, THEY ARE GREAT FROM A BIODIVERSITY POINT OF VIEW, BUT FROM A PRODUCTION POINT OF VIEW, THESE BUSHES ARE NOT PRODUCING THE FEED THAT A SELECTED CUTTING WOULD."