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Circular Economy Thinking
No full textJoin us for an engaging session led by Huia Adkins, where we\u27ll explore the principles and practices of circular economy thinking. Huia will provide insights into the importance of shifting from a linear to a circular model of production and consumption, highlighting the benefits for businesses, society, and the environment
Heavy steers and heifers run at low stocking rates enhance drought resilience in a pastoral region of Australia
No full textCONTEXT The semi-arid mulga lands of the Southern Rangelands of Western Australia experience frequent droughts. Maintaining a profitable animal grazing enterprise whilst preserving rangeland condition requires selecting an appropriate stocking rate and herd structure. OBJECTIVE We construct and apply bioeconomic models of beef enterprises for the semi-arid Southern Rangelands of Western Australia, to assess the profitability and relative riskiness of three different livestock production systems and three different stocking rates when exposed to different frequencies of drought. METHODS We construct bio-economic models of herd structures that separately focus on producing either: (i) 200 kg heifers and 210 kg steers (ii) live export of 340 kg heifers and 380 kg steers, or (iii) 500 kg heifers and 560 kg steers for local slaughter. The models are applied to assess the financial and production resilience of each herd structure for three different stocking rates, given the incidence of drought and various price scenarios. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Comparing the three herd structures, option (iii) produces more kilograms of beef at an equivalent grazing pressure and recovers fastest from drought. Considering cattle prices over the 7-year period ending in 2021, live export and slaughter production systems generate comparable financial returns to graziers\u27 actual reported results. Under two different scenarios of future prices, option (iii) provides the most profitable outcome. Applying a stocking rate that is 66% of a recommended stocking rate allows use of residual rangeland feed (known as ‘haystack’) during drought, generates greater profit, and produces a more stable herd size and income. Not matching the haystack with the longest modelled drought reduces the grazier\u27s average annual profit by $172,000. The optimum herd structure identified in this study targets the production of 500 kg heifers and 560 kgs steers for local slaughter, and relies on a conservative stocking rate that leaves enough haystack to increase resilience if ever consecutive droughts occur. SIGNIFICANCE In the Southern Rangelands of Western Australia, there are financial and environmental merits in a herd structure that produces heavy steers and heifers for local slaughter yet is underpinned by conservative stocking rates
Modelling aphid movement in Australian canola fields
No full textA growing challenge in canola (Brassica napus L.) production globally is the management of aphid pests, particularly species that are resistant to insecticides. Aphid pests of canola damage plants through direct feeding and virus transmission, with turnip yellows virus being particularly economically damaging. Integrated Pest Management, a strategy now employed by many growers to reduce the risk of insecticide resistance, requires forward planning and monitoring. Improved risk predictions can be used to help growers limit insecticide spraying by targeting high-risk regions and/or periods. Within Australia, autumnal aphid flights coincide with the critical risk period for virus infestations in canola. In this study, we used an extensive database accumulated from 6 years of surveys collected from more than 200 canola fields across southern Australia with supervised machine learning models to predict aphid movements in autumn-early winter as a function of environmental factors. We found: (i) our models achieve very high predictive accuracy when validated on untrained data; (ii) aphid movements are influenced by a combination of daily temperature and wind regimes as well as ‘green bridge’ effects mediated by summer rainfall patterns; and (iii) higher aphid capture rates in sticky traps are correlated with a higher probability of the aphids being carriers of turnip yellows virus. Taken together these results suggest that growers can use the outputs from predictive models to forecast aphid outbreaks in the early growing season and derive useful rules of thumb around the environmental conditions during which canola crops are at a greater risk of turnip yellows virus transmission
Weed Seed Wizard case study - don\u27t stop harvest weed management because it’s a dry year
No full textThe Weed Seed Wizard is a national collaborative project that uses paddock management information to predict weed emergence and crop losses now and in the future.
The Weed Seed Wizard is a computer simulation tool that: applies to all Australian grain growing areas helps growers understand and manage weed seedbanks on their farms uses farm management records to simulate how different crop rotations, weed control techniques, irrigation, grazing and harvest management tactics can affect weed numbers, the weed seedbank and yields uses farm-specific management and site-specific weather is multi-species
See www.dpird.wa.gov.au for further information on Weed Seed Wizard.
This case study considers weed seed numbers in poor seasons
Cattle performance grazing canola and cereal crops
No full textThe Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development conducted research to investigate and demonstrate the performance of cattle grazing canola and cereal compared to animals left on pasture and investigate the value of spelling the pasture during the time the cattle are grazing crops.
Cattle grazing cereal crops had a higher liveweight gain compared to the cattle that remained on the pasture. However to see a significant benefit from grazing dual purpose crops, the grazing period may need to be longer than 4 weeks particularly when grazing canola.
The highest growth rates for cattle grazing the cereal crops were achieved when the stocking density was 12 DSE/ha. The growth rate reduced as the stocking density was increased
Managing flystrike in sheep
No full textFlystrike is a significant health and welfare risk to Australian sheep and costs $280 million annually. Flystrike should be actively monitored and managed to prevent productivity losses and ensure good animal welfare
Excavated tanks (farm dams)
No full textGuidelines and information for planning, legal requirements, design, construction and management of excavated tanks for water storage on farm.
Excavated tanks (farm dams) provide effective water storage wherever surface water run-off can be harvested for livestock, crop spraying, irrigation and domestic use on rural properties.
Excavated tanks for rainfall storage are common in the southern agricultural areas of WA.
Well-designed and constructed dams are farm assets, safe and require little maintenance.
Poor design and construction can lead to poor water harvesting and storage, excessive costs, downstream erosion and risks to property and people.
DPIRD recommends that excavated tanks should be part of an integrated farm water and salinity management program
Managing subsurface water in WA
No full textThe Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) recommends that subsurface water management is part of an integrated water and salinity program. An integrated program can help to lower water tables and alleviate problems with waterlogging, rising salinity, and infrastructure damage
Open groundwater drains in WA
No full textOpen groundwater drains are excavated channels with sloping floors and sides and open levees, designed to intercept and drain surface (usually fresh) and groundwater (usually saline in WA) from agricultural land. These drains are most effective where the channel is dug below a water table in soils that allow good lateral drainage.
DPIRD recommends leveed groundwater drains in most cases. These should form part of a whole farm and whole catchment integrated water and salinity management program. Information on this page is a guide only. It is highly recommended that landholders considering the construction of open drains seek expert advice plus engineering design and related support from qualified contractor