Water is critical to the Australian livestock industry and we are dedicated to continuous improvement in water management. Farmers are implementing a variety of measures to use water efficiently in their grazing systems, including creating additional watering points and maintaining healthy soils to minimise run off.
Processing plants, meanwhile, are changing their operations to improve water efficiency and recycle water where possible.
Water used to raise Australian livestock is generally not diverted water. This means that water used by cattle can not be used for other purposes, such as human consumption. This is because the majority of Australia's cattle and sheep drink from water that falls on the property in dams and river systems, rather than relying on town water supply.
Water management improvements
Cattle and sheep farmers can do many things to influence the water balance in their grazing systems. Healthy soils and adequate nutrients are two basic elements of any successful grazing system. Healthy soil drives higher pasture productivity and provides benefits for the environment through greater use of water and nutrients in the paddock and less risk of run-off, erosion and deep drainage.
How much water is used?
|
According to a 2009 University of New South Wales red meat production life cycle assessment (LCA), it takes between 103 and 540 litres of water to produce a kilogram of red meat. This is the first comprehensive LCA undertaken on Australian beef and lamb, with further LCA's currently underway to gain a better understanding of the amount of water required to produce a kilogram of meat including the water the animal drinks, animal cleaning and the water used during processing.Using rainfall on property.
Science and research
Meat & Livestock Australia invests in projects to help increase efficient water use on farms such as research and extension on:
- Improving water use within grazing systems, in particular the positive impact of increased use of well-managed perennial pastures. This is a focus of a number of on-farm research and development projects, such as the Grain & Graze program
- Meat & Livestock Australia has invested substantially in projects that aim to address soil erosion, dryland salinity and soil acidification including EverGraze
- DNA technologies are most commonly considered in human and animal health sciences, however, plant DNA technology developments are crucial for continued innovation in the livestock industry to improve the pest resistance and drought tolerance of plant species in the Australian climate
|
|
|