Upcoming livestock research aimed at improving farmers’ bottom line was outlined in detail at a Southern Australia Meat Research Council forum in Armidale this week.
The event coincided with news from Meat and Livestock Australia that collaborative partnership in the research field has been expanded, with the potential for up to $50 million worth of projects over the next five years.
The turnout among a target audience of young farmers was limited, but the program will provide the opportunity for a collaborative approach with industry, government and research institutes to benefit livestock producers.
The forum was aimed to connect with young producers as we wanted to ask them ‘how do you want this work extended to you?,” said northern zone chairman Tom Amey, who runs cattle at Mummulgum via Casino.
“I do believe once the projects are up and running we will see a different situation but researchers on the day were hoping to find out what farmers required to adopt future research results.”
Department of Primary industries director, extensive livestock industries at Armidale, Sion Jones, said the current research projects, many of which had yet to sign contracts with MLA’s donor company, were vital in keeping Australia ‘ahead of the game’.
Mr Jones was not concerned about the lack of farmer turn-out, saying DPI had a good networking relationship with producers which would be used ‘to make sure we receive key messages from farmers on the uptake of this work’.
“We have five years worth of engagement ahead of us,” he explained. “These research projects are the primary vehicle in the livestock space to make a difference to production over the next 5-15 years and we all need to pull together to make that work.”
What’s being researched?
Dr Warwick Badgery, DPI Orange, is leading a project looking at improving on-farm feed base by planting tropical pasture, or dual-purpose crops like forage brassicas.
Included in the broad project, which involves northern and southern tablelands’ production systems, is work progressing the idea of resilient pastures, looking at soil constraints such as acidity.
Another DPI researcher Hutton Oddy, based at Armidale, spoke about work to modernise out-dated feed standards to take advantage of modern genetics. He described the finished result as a bit like the ‘microcomputer on your modern fridge. It just does stuff that helps you’.
In another project based in Richmond, Qld and verified at Armidale, remote sensors will be used to monitor cattle weight and their uptake of nutrient lick in a project that hopes to improve weaning rates in Queensland Brahman herds.
The project will also substantiate whether ‘pre-loading’ cattle with vitamin D in the dry season really does reduce phosphorous deficiency in the wet.
Remote sensing was invoked in the fourth project explained at Armidale this week.
Dr Paul Greenwood is leading a joint CSIRO and DPI experiment measuring grazing activity with motion sensors explained with algorithms. The eventual data created will help substantiate other work on feed standards and herd fertility.