Initially tagasaste was developed to replace hand feeding sheep during autumn in Western Australia, when feed supplies were normally very low. This involved locking the tagasaste up for 11 months and then grazing it with 100 sheep per hectare for a month. As the tagasaste grows to about 3 metres height in 11 months, it must be mechanically cut while the sheep are in the paddock. Sheep can not be set stocked on tagasaste as this can lead to plant deaths.