The northern Australian beef industry, a snapshot. 5. Land and pasture development practices

Abstract

The land and pasture development practices of 375 northern Australian beef properties in 8 regions were surveyed during 1996–97. These properties represented a broad cross-section of the beef industry in terms of geographical location, enterprise and herd size, and ownership structures. Both tree clearing and killing were more common in Queensland than in the Northern Territory or northern Western Australia. In all regions where trees were poisoned, native pasture was more widely used than sowing introduced grass and/or legume species. In contrast, tree clearing was most often accompanied by sowing pastures (either an introduced grass only or introduced grass and legume species together), rather than using native pastures. Central coastal Queensland had the highest use of poisoning trees for pasture development. Tree clearing and using native pasture was most important in central Queensland regions and the Maranoa South West. Sowing introduced pasture species under live trees was more commonly practiced in northern Queensland, the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia than in other regions. A considerable number of introduced grass and legume species were sown by producers. Most of the sown species were grasses. Many of the sown grass and legume species were spreading naturally. Buffel grass was spreading in all areas with < 1000 mm average annual rainfall, but most sown species were spreading only in wetter regions. Stylosanthes spp. were the most commonly spreading legume species in regions with > 500 mm average annual rainfall. The results are discussed in relation to contemporary natural resource management issues and how this may affect land and pasture development activities in the future.