HOT OFF THE PRESS

July 28, 2023

Why hasn’t an El Niño been declared in Australia?

Despite the United Nation’s weather agency, the World Meteorological Organisation and the US Government weather agency confirming a global El Niño, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology is yet to issue a statement confirming El Niño. Read more in Sheep Central to find out why.

Latest Issue of the Across the Outback released

The June issue of the Across the Outback e-bulletin has a number of articles that may interest our readers. Read about the following and more:

Southern Rangelands Grazing Land Management course – Would you like to learn more about grazing land management and the fundamentals of rangeland soils and livestock production? This one day course will be offered at 11 locations in the SA Arid Lands during August – October 2023 and will teach you to identify land types, build knowledge of native pasture plants, develop strategies to manage land condition, understand how to manage nutritional requirements of livestock and estimate the long and short-term stock carrying capacity.
Plants of Outback South Australia – The long-awaited second edition of the popular field guide Plants of Outback South Australia is has been recently released. It follows a similar format to the original book, but now features 356 plants, including 10 new species, with updated photos taken in the field throughout the SA outback for easy identification. Plants considered important for their pastoral or horticultural value or conservation status are assigned a whole page, while other species have received a shorter treatment.
New funding to address biosecurity threats – A new program to improve management of biosecurity threats in the SA Arid Lands has received funding from the South Australian Landscape Priorities Fund. The Resilient Rangelands – Managing biosecurity threats for climate resilient landscapes program received $800,000 to manage the biosecurity threats from feral goats, pigs and wild dogs, which pose a risk to resilient, healthy and productive rangeland landscapes.

Major investment in research to improve Queensland pastures and grazing land management

A $24.4 million investment in research to improve Queensland pastures and grazing land management was recently announced. This five-year partnership between the Queensland Government, Meat & Livestock Australia and Australian Government will address three significant threats to beef productivity in northern Australia: pasture dieback, land condition decline and pasture rundown. Read more about the program here.

First Feral Pig Conference

The inaugural Feral Pig Conference was held in Cairns from the 20-21 June. With the theme of Integrated Feral Pig Management: Adaptive and Collaborative Action, the Conference was held both in-person and online with over 200 participants. The Conference Proceedings are now available on the Feral Pigs website while a short wrap-up of the Conference has also been released.

Paddock Power – Taking the guesswork out of paddock development

Paddock Power, a new computer tool that supports producers with their individual property planning requirements and decision-making, was the subject of a recent webinar conducted by Dionne Walsh (RangeIQ and Immediate Past President of the ARS).

In the webinar outlines and discusses:

What is Paddock Power and what does it offer?
Ability for producers to keep their own property maps up to date
Subdivide paddocks, plan out new water points, fences or pipelines and cost them out before you build them
Compare different development options to see which one/s will deliver the best “bang for buck”
Generate reports to take to owners/shareholders/banks to secure funding.

The webinar can be accessed on the FutureBeef website as both a full recording and a playlist (where you can jump to the start of a particular section within the presentation).

A recording of Part 2 of the Paddock Power webinar series – Commercial property results – does watered area affect productivity – will be available on the FutureBeef website in the near future.

Farm Crime Survey

For the first time in twenty years, a national survey into farm crime is currently being undertake by the University of New England (UNE). As farm crime often goes unreported, it is hoped that this survey will result in a better understanding of extent of the problem and use land managers insights to provide police and government decision-makers with recommendations to help curb farm crime. Read more in this ABC Rural News report

How do you retain station staff?

A recent issue of the NT Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade’s Agriculture and Biosecurity newsletter included a very interesting article looking at station staff retention in the northern beef industry. 15past and current employees, including ringers, headstockpersons, managers and recruiters from a mix of cattle stations and companies across the Northern Territory (NT) were asked questions such as ‘What makes employees leave?” and “What makes employees want to stay”. Read the full article here.