Burdekin catchment
The Burdekin River is one of the largest catchment systems in Australia. Careful management of nutrient and sediment run-off from this catchment is essential to maintain water quality and the health of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem.
In recent years, the grazing industry has worked hard to understand and reduce its contribution to sediment loss in the Burdekin catchment using knowledge gained from several MLA-funded projects.
Identifying areas at risk of erosion, sediment and nutrient transport revealed that around 10% of the catchment accounted for 85% of all sediment run-off from hillslope, gully and streambank erosion. Subsequent research and development has focussed on these areas.
Management guidelines have been developed to assist producers to locate, identify and prioritise problem types of erosion on their own properties. By working to retain water, soil and nutrients on-farm, producers can increase land productivity and achieve positive environmental outcomes.
Biodiversity leads to great success for Wagga Wagga sheep and cereal property's
A bigger focus on biodiversity has led to impressive results on Malcolm and Kerrie Plum's Wagga Wagga sheep and cereal property. The couple, who are a part of the BiGG program, admit that they did not show this concern during their earlier days in farming. After a few health problems within their family, however, they began to wonder at possible links between their increased use of commercial fertilisers and chemicals.
Their mission statement now reads: "Healthy soils mean healthy plants, which in turn, lead to healthy livestock and healthier humans".
Better grazing with EverGraze
The research program, EverGraze, is developing and testing new farming systems in different environments across the high rainfall zone of southern Australia.
It aims to increase profits of sheep and cattle enterprises by up to 50% and at the same time improve water management, use of perennials, biodiversity and soil health. Through modelling, EverGraze will estimate catchment-scale impacts of the widespread adoption of future farming systems.
Six research teams at sites in three states are testing these new farming systems, measuring soil, water, pasture and livestock inputs and outputs, enabling accurate modelling of the impact catchment outcomes and farm profits.
Three sites focus on sown exotic perennial species and three sites are working with existing native perennial pastures.
EverGraze is a joint program of MLA, Future Farm Industries CRC and Australian Wool Innovation.
MLA management strategies prove successful for Esperence beef property
West Australian farming family, Phil, Nicole and Rohan Chalmer have used MLA's research and development tools to their advantage on their Esperence beef property.
By implementing a risk management strategy which incorporated these tools, the Chalmers have been able to maximise the opportunities presented by good seasonal conditions, while minimising the affects of the drought.
The Rainfall to Pasture Growth Outlook Tool took some of the guess work out of assessing the seasonal outlook and the amount of pasture growth likely.
The Chalmers used the MLA Feed Demand Calculator, meanwhile, to plan for a number of scenarios and support buying and selling decisions.