RAIN READY RANGELANDS

Image Credit: DITT

IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABLE AND PRODUCTIVE LAND MANAGEMENT LAND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ACROSS CENTRE AND NORTHERN AUSTRALIAN PASTORAL LANDS TO RECOVER FROM PAST DROUGHTS AND BUILD RESILIENCE FOR FUTURE CLIMATE VARIABILITY

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Navigating the challenges of seasonal variability and drought can be reduced by making your pastures “Rain Ready”. Growing more grass for each millimetre of rainfall can be achieved by improving or maintaining land condition, without having to sacrifice herd productivity.

Rain Ready Rangelands is a NT-wide project that has been working with pastoralists to develop three commercial-scale grazing land management demonstration sites. Each site has been selected by participating pastoralists and highlights how to make pastures rain ready, by aiming to increase recovery after dry periods and make the most of rainfall.

The project comprises four field activities across pastoral regions in the NT. Rain Ready Rangelands is a collaborative project between Territory NRM, the Department of Industry Tourism and Trade (DITT) and pastoralists in the NT.

Rain Ready Rangelands is funded by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s Future Drought Fund.

Forage Budgeting & Climate Literacy Demonstraction

Forage Budgeting & Climate Literacy Demonstraction

PADDOCK CHALLENGE - ALICE SPRINGS REGION

The Alice Springs Paddock Challenge is trialling different stocking rates to achieve long-term carrying capacity for the region. Two properties in the Alice Springs region are working with DITT and have provided a paddock to the project to compare the outcomes of current station practices against recommended practices in relation to:

Land condition
Animal production
Financial performance

Changes in pasture composition, land condition, soil health, and animal performance have been monitored in all paddocks. Changes through time have been compared to current management on a paired paddock on that property. The effectiveness of stocking practices as a means of drought resilience will be evaluated at the end of the project with the results to be presented in a case study.

Mitchell Grass Pasture Recovery Demonstration (Image credit: DITT)

Paddock Challenge (Image credit: DITT)

Mitchell Grass Pasture Recovery Demonstration (Image credit: DITT)

FORAGE BUDGETING AND CLIMATE LITERACY DEMONSTRATION - VICTORIA RIVER DISTRICT (VRD)

A property in the VRD has been supported to adopt use of the Australian Feed Base Monitor tool developed by Cibo Labs, to carry out a formal forage budget. This activity includes:

Pasture yield estimates to help calculate forage budgets at a paddock scale.
One-on-one support provided on the application and implementation of a forage budget calculated by the Australian Feed Base Monitor.
Climate Literacy Workshop and support provided to pastoralists in the VRD.

Cibo Labs support land managers by providing more objective and accurate feed budgeting data, leading to more informed grazing management decisions. The Australian Feedbase Monitor is a new grazing management tool which provides land managers with satellite assisted insights into their feed availabilities. This information can help increase a pastoralist’s drought resilience capacity by helping to inform them on how much feed is available, so they can prepare forage budget for a season with expected periods of low rainfall.

Climate literacy workshops have been held in the region to inform pastoralists with a seasonal outlook and provide information on Northern Australian climate drivers.

Paddock Challenge (Image credit: DITT)

MITCHELL GRASS PASTURE RECOVERY DEMONSTRATION -

BARKLY REGION

Wet season spelling is being trialled in the Barkly region as a strategy to recover Mitchell Grass pasture. The participating property is undergoing a variety of stocking practices to achieve this. This activity involves:

Mitchell grass recovery through the application of wet season spelling.
Measuring changes in ground cover, soil and pasture health.
Comparison of no grazing in exclosure, wet season spelling, and continuous grazing without spelling.

All paddocks involved in wet season spelling and rotations have been monitored for pasture composition and utilisation, Mitchell grass tussock density changes, ground cover and soil health. Wet season spelling effectiveness as a drought resilience technology will be evaluated through a case study and producer surveys.

FORAGE REPORT DEMONSTRATION

The FORAGE tool is a digital report that delivers property scale information on land type, long-term carrying capacity and seasonal growth. Three properties in the Northern Territory are participating in the development a FORAGE report.

This involves:

Using NT land type pasture growth models to create automated FORAGE reports on carrying capacity, for the participating properties.
SWIFTSYND sites – 30m x 30m enclosures set up to collect pasture and soil data for calibrating the GRASP pasture growth model to be used in developing FORAGE reports.

This project is funded by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s Future Drought Fund.