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Some hydrological characteristics of a red earth soil were examined under two pasture types at Yathong in central-westem New South Wales using simulated rainfall. Runoff and rate of sediment loss from plots dominated by perennial grasses were lower than for plots dominated by ephemerals. Time-to-ponding was less on the plots dominated by ephemerals but time-to-runoff was similar for both pasture types. On both grass and ephemeral-dominant soils, measured soil and vegetation attributes explained very little of the variation in runoff and sediment yield. The results do not support the existence of a threshold level of vegetation cover below which runoff increases markedly.