GLM+ Delivers Improved Natural Resource Management and Production Outcomes to Extensive Grazing Properties in the Savannas of Semi-Arid North Queensland, Australia

Native pastures are the main feed resource on extensive cattle grazing properties (each usually \u3e25,000 ha) in the savannas of semi-arid north Australia and it is widely accepted that condition of many important land types is declining. A wealth of resource information is publicly available but it is usually complex in nature, diffuse and not presented in terms readily understood by land managers. Extension agencies have also moved towards information delivery using group processes that are not readily accepted by remote land managers. The GLM+ program uses concepts and tools from the Grazing Land Management (GLM) workshop (Chilcott et al., 2003) and also incorporates and builds on producer experience. It is delivered on-property to individual management teams who identify their own resources, the condition of those resources, and opportunities to manage for improved land condition. Its use is described in this paper

Liveweight performance of cattle grazing Redlands and Wondergraze leucaena north Queensland

Leucaena is a rapid-growing, perennial legume which has potential to intensify beef production in the northern rangelands of Australia. Adoption of leucaena in north Queensland has been limited, in-part by the prevalence of the leucaena psyllid (Heteropsylla cubana). Psyllid infestations cause yield losses (Bray and Woodroffe 1991) and all cultivars previously used by industry are susceptible. Leucaena leucocephala 'Redlands' (R) released in 2018 has genetic resistance to psyllids with potential to increase leucaena productivity in psyllid prone regions and increase adoption. However, the performance of R under commercial grazing was untested and cattle grazing a leucaena palatability trial at Whitewater Station in north Queensland, initially grazed other leucaena varieties in preference to R (Keating 2019)

A contemporary assessment of land condition in the Northern Gulf region of Queensland

A framework using assessments of soil condition, pasture composition and woodland density was applied to describe 14 grazing land types as being in A (100% of original carrying capacity), B (75%), C (45%) or D (20%) condition. We assessed the condition of 260 sites, principally along public and some station roads, to provide a benchmark for current land condition. Land types were also assigned relative grazing values between 10 (best) and 0, reflecting soil fertility and potential biomass production. The method identifies particular, 'at-risk' land types for priority investment of resources, while the rationale behind assessments might point to management interventions to improve the condition of those land types. Across all land types, 47% of sites were in A condition, 34% in B condition, 17% in C condition and only 2% in D condition. Seventy-five percent of land types with grazing values >5 were in A or B condition, compared with 88% for those with grazing values ?5. For Georgetown granites, only 27% of sites were in A or B condition, with values for other land types being: alluvials 59%, black soils 64% and red duplex soils 57%, suggesting that improving management of these land types is a priority issue. On land types with high grazing value, the major discounting factor was pasture composition (72% of sites discounted), while increasing woodland density was the main discount (73% of sites discounted) on low grazing value land types

Adoption, profitability and future of leucaena feeding systems in Australia

Leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala ssp. glabrata) is a highly palatable and productive forage used mainly by beef producers on extensive properties in northern Australia. When sown into native or sown grass pastures, leucaena provides significant production, economic, environmental and social benefits. Adoption of leucaena was slow initially due to a range of technical, agronomic and landscape factors. These have now been largely overcome through extensive research, development, producer experience and other advances, resulting in around 130,000 ha of cultivated leucaena being utilized across northern Australia. A range of aspects will need to be addressed if the adoption of leucaena is to be accelerated into the future. These include environmental concerns, especially potential weediness, and a range of technological needs, including soil nutritional requirements, grazing and toxicity management, opportunities for companion fodder systems and conservation options. Advances in technology and the ongoing need for a high-quality, profitable and sustainable perennial forage will ensure the continued adoption of leucaena across northern Australia for the foreseeable future. © 2019, Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT)

Adoption, profitability and future of leucaena feeding systems in Australia

Leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala ssp. glabrata) is a highly palatable and productive forage used mainly by beef producers on extensive properties in northern Australia. When sown into native or sown grass pastures, leucaena provides significant production, economic, environmental and social benefits. Adoption of leucaena was slow initially due to a range of technical, agronomic and landscape factors. These have now been largely overcome through extensive research, development, producer experience and other advances, resulting in around 130,000 ha of cultivated leucaena being utilized across northern Australia. A range of aspects will need to be addressed if the adoption of leucaena is to be accelerated into the future. These include environmental concerns, especially potential weediness, and a range of technological needs, including soil nutritional requirements, grazing and toxicity management, opportunities for companion fodder systems and conservation options. Advances in technology and the ongoing need for a high-quality, profitable and sustainable perennial forage will ensure the continued adoption of leucaena across northern Australia for the foreseeable future. © 2019, Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT)

Phosphorus nutrition and management – overcoming constraints to wider adoption

The importance of phosphorus nutrition for cattle grazing northern Australian rangelands has been well documented and demonstrated. Phosphorus is clearly one of the most important nutritional deficiencies, within the limitations of potential metabolizable energy intakes, of grazing cattle in the seasonally dry tropics. Nevertheless it appears that only a small proportion of cattle grazing phosphorus deficient pastures are supplemented or otherwise managed to alleviate phosphorus deficiency. Estimated requirements for dietary phosphorus by various classes of cattle grazing tropical pastures have recently been revised (CSIRO 2007). The development of faecal near infrared spectroscopy (F.NIRS) allows the routine estimation of metabolizable energy and nitrogen concentrations in the diet, and thus the potential productivity, of cattle grazing northern rangelands. The concentration of phosphorus in the diet of grazing cattle can be estimated from the concentration of phosphorus in the faeces, at least in cattle not fed phosphorus supplements. Combining estimates of diet metabolizable energy, nitrogen and phosphorus allows estimation whether current needs of the animal are supplied by the diet. Phosphorus-replete cattle have substantial body reserves of phosphorus which can be mobilized, especially in late pregnancy and lactation, to alleviate a dietary deficiency. However, these body reserves need to be replenished in late lactation or post-lactation if mobilization occurs each year. Diagnosis of subclinical phosphorus deficiency in grazing cattle, and prediction of animal responses to phosphorus supplements is difficult. In growing cattle the concentration of inorganic phosphorus in blood (Pi), in the late wet or early dry season, combined with information on diet metabolizable energy and nitrogen concentrations obtained by F.NIRS, provides the most reliable test. In pregnant or lactating cows measurements of faecal phosphorus concentration and F.NIRS provide the best estimate of whether phosphorus intake meets the current needs of the animal. However, estimates of adequacy of phosphorus supply need to also consider possible mobilization of body phosphorus reserves. Indicative responses to provision of phosphorus supplements by cattle grazing pastures ranging from marginal to acute deficiency are summarized. Economic evaluation of benchmark enterprises where cattle are expected to be phosphorus deficient indicate that phosphorus supplementation is highly cost-effective. Major obstacles to more widespread adoption of phosphorus supplementation appear to be lack of knowledge and appreciation by managers of the phosphorus status of their cattle, lack of appreciation of the cost-effectiveness of a phosphorus supplementation particularly for some classes of cattle, and the practical difficulties in implementing phosphorus supplementation during the wet season

Pasture-fed beef from tropical pasture systems

Since beef cattle were introduced to Australia, most slaughter cattle have been produced off pasture. Even today, of the 8 M head slaughtered each year, approximately 5.5 M head (68%) are wholly pasture-fed. The ability to produce beef/carcases with consistent eating quality off pasture has been enhanced following the introduction of the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) grading system (Anon 2003). Meat Standards Australia (MSA) provides the technology to predict the eating quality of beef at the carcase stage. Management at all points along the supply chain can be modified to guarantee a high-quality, pasture-fed product. A major requirement in meeting MSA grades is annual liveweight gain per head of at least 180 kg. This eliminates most grazing systems across northern Australia. For example, native pasture systems in Queensland can achieve these weight gains only in exceptional years and then only on the best land types. Only introduced improved pasture species in endowed land zones are able to achieve these required growth rates. This paper identifies regions capable of producing MSA-certified pasture-fed beef and gives examples of pastures used in each region to provide the required liveweight gains. It also identifies possible market specifications for a pasture-fed product, which could take advantage of this emerging, valuable market

Northern Gulf beef production systems : Preparing for, responding to, and recovering from drought

This report details the analysis of the economic implications of management decisions that can be applied to prepare for, respond to, or recover from drought in the Northern Gulf Natural Resource Management (NRM) region of Queensland. Accompanying reports in this series present results for other regions across Queensland's grazing lands. It is intended that the results of these analyses will support the implementation of resilient grazing, herd and business practices necessary in managing seasonal variability. The property-level, regionally-specific herd and business models which we have developed can be used by consultants, advisors and producers to assess both strategic and tactical management decisions for their own properties. We have applied scenario analysis to examine a range of management strategies and technologies that may contribute to building both more profitable and more drought resilient beef properties in the Northern Gulf region. In doing this, we developed property-level, regionally-specific herd and business models for a representative, constructed beef cattle property which was based on the median herd data from relevant industry surveys and research. The starting base property was 30,000 ha of native pastures on representative land types and was considered to be in ca. B- land condition on average (scale A-D) with a carrying capacity ca. 65% of the safe, long term carrying capacity of these land types when in A condition. The property initially carried ca. 2,500 adult equivalents (AE) with estimated ratio of AE to safe carrying capacity of 1.54 given the B- land condition status. It was assumed that under this sustained stocking rate the land condition would continue to decline at a rate of 0.5% decrease in safe carrying capacity per year over the next 30 years resulting in a decrease in herd performance. The management features of the self-replacing Brahman breeding herd included continuous mating and minimal (inadequate) phosphorus (P) supplementation. The average mortality rate of the base herd was 7.5% and the average weaning rate from all cows mated was 47.4%. The average annual post-weaning weight gain for steers was ca. 86 kg/head. The starting herd size, herd performance and approach to pasture management was assumed to represent the current status of local properties that have largely not adopted a sustainable approach to pasture management. Production systems that can be applied to improve the profitability and resilience of a beef property to drought are generally of a strategic nature. The Breedcow and Dynama herd budgeting software was used to develop integrated herd models and discounted cash flow budgets for each alternative management strategy. The economic and financial effect of implementing each strategy was assessed by comparison to a base production system for the representative property. Property level productivity and profitability was assessed over a 30-year investment period and incorporated the change in profit and risk generated by alternative operating systems, the changes in unpaid labour, herd structure and capital, and included the implementation phase. Management decisions which are considered in response to, or recovery from, drought tend to need consideration of both short term and long term implications and were examined using herd models in conjunction with spreadsheets designed to assess tactical decisions

Infrastructure to Improve Beef Business Outcomes in the Queensland Gulf

There are significant economic and environmental issues impacting on the short and long term viability of family-run breeding enterprises in the Queensland Gulf. Falling cattle prices and increased business costs threaten the social and financial well-being of many beef producers. Set stocking and overgrazing combine to reduce native 3P (productive, palatable and perennial) grass frequency and herd productivity. The Ryan family on Greenhills Station at George-town in the Queensland Gulf embarked on a 5 year water and fencing infrastructure development program aiming to improve pasture utilisation, land condition and long term carrying capacity

Leucaena establishment on frontage country in the Queensland Gulf

Introduction and successful establishment of leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) has the potential to improve annual liveweight gains (LWGs) of grazing cattle in northern Australia, sustainably increase gross margins and mitigate methane production (Harrison et al. 2015). However, leucaena adoption in northern Queensland to date has been low (<2,500 ha established) compared with other regions of the State