Published by the North Australia Beef Research Council PO Box 918 GYMPIE Q 4570 These papers have not been refereed by the Conference Program Committee. The content of each paper is the responsibility of the authors. The papers have been formatted to a common abstract style. © Copyright of the individual papers is retained by the authors. Northern Beef Research Update Conference 2013 Organising Committee: Kiri Broad, Ed Charmley, Michael Lyons, Janine King, Jackie Kyte, Tim McGrath, Michael Quirk, Ian Watson. ii FOREWORD It is again my great pleasure to introduce these proceedings for the 2013 Northern Beef Research Update Conference (NBRUC). In so doing I’m acutely aware just how precious are each of the contributions made to the improvement of the northern Australian beef industry. These contributions are made all the more precious by the continued decline in R,D and E capability amongst our leading provider organisations and the gradual ageing of our R,D and E and producer populations. The North Australia Beef Research Council continues to be a force for collaboration and change to enable the greatest benefit to be achieved from our collective effort. This NBRUC is an opportunity to share our ideas and research outcomes and to celebrate our shared vision and passion for the northern beef industry. May it also be an affirmation to those who work tirelessly for the industry, and in the pursuit of progress. I certainly wish to take the opportunity to thank you all for your contribution, not only to this conference, but to a better tomorrow. My thanks to the committee which has made this conference happen under the Chairmanship of Michael Lyons. It remains for us to hope that the results presented at and derived from this conference will make a significant positive impact on how the industry operates in these most trying of times, and show producers struggling in those times that much has been and will continue to be done with their best interests at heart. Once again, my congratulations and thanks to all concerned. Ralph Shannon Chairman North Australia Beef Research Council iii iv CONTENTS Session 1 - Northern beef industry – issues and challenges Is there a place for intensification of northern beef production systems? 1 Ian Watson, Andrew Ash, Tony Grice, Andrew Higgins, Leigh Hunt, Cuan Petheram and Peter Stone Session 2 - Human capacity Extension….What works well 7 Jane Weatherley Session 3 – Managing pastures I Managing ‘rundown’ in grass pastures 11 G. A. Peck, B. Johnson, D. Lawrence, S. Buck, G. Kedzlie, R. O’Connor and D. Taylor Pasture legumes in Queensland – a new wave? 15 Kendrick Cox and Chris Gardiner Early dry season or two-yearly fires are not so hot in grazed savannas: fire impacts on 21 pasture species Robyn A Cowley, Trisha Cowley, Mark Hearnden and Caroline Pettit Session 4 – Different pathways to market Growth paths and meeting market specs 27 S.R. McLennan, B.H. English, J.W. Rolfe, D.P. Poppi and F.C. Chudleigh Meat quality of grain finished entire male Bos indicus cattle 35 L.A. Fitzpatrick, A.J. Parker and H.N. Zerby Session 5 – Managing pastures II Where do we stand with weeds from a research perspective? 43 Shane Campbell, Tim Heard, Vic Galeaand Rieks D. van Klinken Measuring and modelling sediment loss and land management change at catchment scales: 49 a synthesis of a decade of research in the Burdekin catchment R. Bartley, S.N. Wilkinson and P.M.Kuhnert Managing for a variable climate: long term results from the Wambiana grazing trial 55 Peter O’Reagain and John Bushell Session 6 – Improving reproduction rate Insights from Cash Cow 61 Michael R McGowan, Kieren D McCosker, Geoffry Fordyce, David R Smith, Nigel R. Perkins, Peter K O’Rourke, Tamsin Barnes, Louise Marquart Don Menzies, Tom Newsome, Di Joyner, Nancy Phillips, Brian M Burns, John M Morton and Sandi Jephcott Genetic keys to progress: improving female reproduction in tropical breed breeds 67 D. J. Johnston v Session 7 – Improving animal performance and welfare Recent advances in animal welfare 73 JT Rothwell Where to with precision livestock management - the chicken and egg conundrum 77 Dave L. Swain and Greg J. Bishop-Hurley Session 8 – Prospects and possibilities Innovation and investment to boost productivity and profitability for the northern beef 83 industry – what are the opportunities? Andrew Ash, Leigh Hunt, Cam McDonald, Joe Scanlan, Lindsay Bell, Robyn Cowley, Ian Watson, John McIvor and Neil MacLeod POSTERS Carbon and technology theme The Digital Homestead project - taking grazing into the future 91 Angela Anderson, Luciano González, David Henry and Greg Bishop-Hurley Cattle versus carbon. 1. The tug of war begins 92 Byrony Daniels Steven Bray Managing stocking rates to achieve better outcomes for pastures and profits 93 Tim Emery and Roger Sneath Can infrared temperature of cattle detect differences due to breed and rangeland 94 environment? Luciano A. González, Anne-Sophie Clerc, Christopher J. O’Neill A method to refine the geographical scale of greenhouse gas emissions for the northern 95 beef industry G.Havard, S.Eady, S.Brayand H.Cruypenninck Harnessing technologies for the beef industry of remote Australia 96 Sally Leigo, Greg Brennan, Terry Beutel, Anthony Gray, David Phelps, Tim Driver and Mark Trotter Early joining and improved fertility improve profitability and reduce greenhouse gas 97 emissions in the Longreach district David Phelps, Richard Eckard, Brendan Cullen, Mary Timms, Peter Whip, Steven Bray 98 Use of tea seed saponins to reduce ruminant methane emissions: an evaluation of early studies in Northern Australia Carlos A. Ramirez-Restrepo, Jenny Stanford, Christopher J. O’Neill and Chris McSweeney 99 Methane emissions from beef cattle and mine dewatering operations in WA N Tomkins, F Phillips, T Naylor, P Vercoe and J Wilkie “Better farming” or “carbon farming”? Show me the money! 100 Dionne Walsh Cattle versus carbon: 2. Some battle plans 101 Giselle Whish, Lester Pahl, Steven Bray and Byrony Daniels Extension, systems and surveys theme Spyglass Beef Research Facility 102 Stephen Anderson, Sean Reed and Angela Anderson vi Infrastructure to improve beef business outcomes in the Gulf 103 K.C. Broad, B.H. English, R.A. Gunther, E. S. Hegarty, J.W. Rolfe and S.G. Bray Utilising online technologies: the young producers perspective 104 Kate Brown & Megan Debney Grazing management practice adoption survey: extension sources 105 Kate Brown and Tim Moravek Options for northern beef producers: a case study examining the impact of establishing an 106 abattoir in the NT and market alternatives to live export B. Cazergue, S. Eady, T. Oxley, B. Holmes and A. Higgins Pastoralists identify biggest hurdles in managing pastoral operations in Alice Springs region 107 Pieter W. Conradie Producers identify market access as key issue affecting profitability in Katherine region 108 Trisha M. Cowley Stocktake Plus – development of FutureBeef’s first decision support app 109 Megan Debney, Greg Bath, Steve Banney and Jane Pryor Which beef cattle finishing systems stack up? 110 Tim Emery and Roger Sneath Breedcow and Dynama rewrite project 111 Holmes W.E. (Bill), Chudleigh F.C. and Simpson G Improving breeder management systems in northern Australia through extension 112 Mellissa Holzwart Powering adoption by using eExtension wisely 113 John James, Felicity McIntosh and Greg Bath Investigating market compliance in central Queensland beef businesses 114 Peggy Kerr, David Reid, Don Menzies and Laura Devlin A woman’s capacity – grass roots development of cattlewomen as leaders 115 Sally Leigo and Trudi Oxley Brian Pastures Research Facility 116 Tracy Longhurst Economic Trade-offs of HGP and MSA– Lisgar and Trafalgar Results (unpublished) 117 Timothy Moravek, Alan Laing and Felicity Hamlyn-Hill FutureBeef training packages review 118 Jane Pryor, Désirée Jackson, Felicity McIntosh, Jenny Milson, Kiri Broad, Rebecca Farrel, Krista Cavallaro and Trudi Oxley Mapping extension efforts in the Burdekin Rangelands 119 Lauren Williams and Terry Beutel Forages, grazing systems, pastures and rangelands theme Economic evaluation of forages grown in the Fitzroy River Catchment: a desk-top study 120 M. Bowen, R. Gowen, S. Buck, T. Emery, B. Daniels and R. Dixon Grazing BMP – A Producers Perspective 121 M. Brown, J. Gangemi and M. Sullivan Graziers and seed industry are concerned about sown pasture rundown 122 Stuart Buck, Gavin Peck, David Lawrence and Brian Johnson Comparative performance of pasture legumes in southern and central QLD 123 Stuart Buck, Gavin Peck, Graham Kedzlie and Bradley Taylor vii Impacts of land preparation techniques on Leucaena establishment 124 Stuart Buck Wet season spelling at Alexandria Station, Barkly Tablelands 125 Casey Collier and Dionne Walsh Forage and animal production in the Fitzroy River Catchment - 1. Winter annual forages 126 D. Corbet, M. Bowen, S. Buck, C. McCartney, K. Hopkins, T. Emery, B. Daniels and R. Dixon Perennial Arachis and Stylosanthes hays have excellent potential as low-input alternatives to 127 lucerne in north Queensland Kendrick Cox, Mark Keating and Steven Dayes Pasture grasses and legumes recently progressed through the (Queensland) DAFF seed 128 production program in north Queensland Kendrick Cox, Mark Keating and Steven Dayes Long-term approach required to mitigate the financial impact of rejected pasture legumes 129 Kendrick Cox Improving performance through adaptive grazing – Beetaloo Station 130 NJ Douglas , D Walsh , N Wilson and J Armstrong Pasture monitoring and evaluation – the WA experience 131 Rebecca Dray Water ponding on Larrawa station, November 2011: a photo story 132 Matthew Fletcher, Kevin Brockhurst, Melanie McDonald and Ray Thompson Developing a soil information day for the Grazing BMP program 133 J. Gangemi, M. Brown, and M. Sullivan Assessment of Land Health in the Northern Gulf and Cape York Rangelands 134 NR Gobius Recovering bare eroded grazing land in the Burdekin 135 Trevor Hall Spelling strategies for recovery of pasture condition at Charters Towers, Qld.