PASTURE rundown is set to cost the country $17 billion over the next 30 years, but there is a small project about to kick off in central Queensland to help tackle that.
Less than an hour's drive west of Rockhampton, hugging a bend in the Fitzroy River at Gogango, is The Pocket - 1821 hectares (4500 acres) of open ironbark country. This will be one of three properties in the region to be part of a trial run by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and funded by Meat and Livestock Australia.
A 1ha plot will be used to plant promising legumes and pastures that could be more suitable for the less productive and more loamy-type soils in northern and central Queensland.
"I am as keen as mustard for it and we have to move forward," said Bob Caton, who has been managing The Pocket for just over four years.
It is one of five properties run by THF Agribusiness, owned by a German family, and is used for backgrounding and fattening.
THF, which is managed by Brett Coombes, also includes Bindaree at Moura, Karmeea, Mosstowie and Baralaba, and Lucy at Dingo. The country at The Pocket is not very fertile and relies on a combination of irrigation, improved pasture and leucaena to finish 950 Brahman/Charolais-cross cattle. About 60 breeders also run on the speargrass country on the ridges.
"Improving our pastures is very important," Mr Caton said.
"Our industry is about as efficient as it can be, and with the government pushing up the cost of power to increase our efficiency, getting better pasture is one way of getting that."
Irrigation is a necessity and without it, the country would not be able to carry the numbers of cattle it does. However, the price of electricity is making this prohibitive.
Meanwhile, the trial was set to begin in the latter part of 2014, but the exceedingly dry conditions delayed this by several months.
With 155mm falling in mid-December, it is back on track and will have six to eight varieties of pasture and legume planted in late January or February.
Meanwhile, Mr Caton has been experimenting with his own pastures, mainly under irrigation.
"We've fertilised, we've ripped and we try to introduce different grasses like Mekong, which is straight from the Mekong wetlands. We have creeping bluegrass under one irrigation pivot and we've introduced Floren bluegrass under another pivot, and that has been a big success."
The recent rain has seen the creeping bluegrass respond, "and it's a lot cheaper than irrigation".
Mr Caton has also planted Bambatsi.
About 242ha (600ac) of land has been planted with irrigated leucaena.
"It does take a bit of maintaining to a manageable height, and then we rip in the middle to keep the grass going.
"It gets a fair bit of compaction from the cattle and ripping helps."
With the improved pasture, legumes and irrigation, the cattle can put on at least 1kg a day and some up to 1.6kg.
"We bring them in from some of the other places around 350kg and then we take them through to finishing 580-600kg."
The cattle are then sent straight to the meatworks, where they are "pretty good with grading".
Big picture project
THE project at The Pocket is part of a bigger picture.
Stuart Buck is a senior agronomist specialising in sown pastures at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry based in Rockhampton.
"The bigger picture is that there are large areas of country and land types that can be improved, but there are some land types where the return on investment doesn't stack up," he explained.
"This project is targeting those lesser quality areas, where the soil is lighter and hasn't been targeted before. It could be a game changer."
The trial will be looking for a suite of pastures and legumes that can be used across a property, where there is usually a number of different soil types.
The Pocket, along with plots at Moura/Bauhinia and near Emerald, will have a similar range of grasses and legumes to trial for up to five years to determine how they establish, how they grow and the quality of that forage.
It comes back to one issue - pasture rundown, Mr Buck said.
Pasture rundown in the Fitzroy Basin is a problem.
"Pasture and beef production has more than halved since those pastures were first sown, after Brigalow country was cleared and scrub pulled."
While there is the obvious economic impact, there has also been an environmental impact with increased run-off to the reef.
DAFF has run close to 20 workshops throughout the state and producers have identified that their sown pastures are declining.
"We estimate pasture rundown will cost $17 billion in the next 30 years - so it's a huge issue and that's why MLA have funded our five-year project.
"It's a big issue as it's across 12 million hectares of sown pasture in northern Australia, where production has more than halved and is continuing to fall."
Although producers may attribute pasture rundown to over stocking or poor grazing management, changing grazing does not get to the root of the problem, which is nutrient tie up, primarily nitrogen.
"By moving into rotational grazing may match the stocking rates to pasture production, but it doesn't tackle the cause."
The soil and pasture are effectively starved of nitrogen, which is tied up in organic forms, such as the stems and roots.
"The total nitrogen pool is relatively high, particularly in Brigalow soils, and the large amount of nitrogen tied up can be released by ploughing, but that is just a short-term fix."
Another way is to add a nitrogen fertiliser, either organic or chemical, such as Urea, and recent economic analysis indicates this stacks up as pastures continue to rundown.
While fertiliser wouldn't necessarily be applied to an entire property, it could make economic sense to use it for specific reasons, such as to improve pasture quality for finishing particular classes of cattle to meet market specifications.
"The best long-term and economic solution is to incorporate a perennial legume, such as leucaena, a stylo or butterfly pea."
The type of legume would depend on the country and what it was used for, Mr Buck added.
"In Brigalow country with clay soil, leucaena, desmanthus or caatinga stylo are good, and butterfly pea."
Other legumes include siratro and burgundy bean, although the latter is more of a short-term planting and ideal as an in-between during grain cropping.
Mr Buck said there was support available through his office, but the best way to gain information was by attending one of the DAFF sown pasture rundown workshops.
