Grazing pressure, land condition, productivity and profitability of beef cattle grazing buffel grass pastures in the subtropics of Australia: a modelling approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (8) ◽  
pp. 1451 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. K. Bowen ◽  
F. Chudleigh
Keyword(s):  
Beef Cattle ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Economic Effect ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Grazing Pressure ◽  
Production Plant ◽  
Pasture Grass ◽  
Buffel Grass ◽  
Utilisation Rate ◽  
Land Condition

There is widespread evidence that beef cattle land managers in Queensland are using stocking rates for perennial pastures that are substantially higher than recommended guidelines, and some indication that these decisions are motivated by perceived financial and economic benefits. Considerable effort has been, and is currently being, applied by public-sector organisations to encourage producers to reduce grazing pressure from beef cattle across Queensland’s pastoral lands. A better understanding of the relationships among stocking rate, land condition and profitability of beef-grazing enterprises is imperative to better inform cattle producers and policy makers. The present study assessed the effect of grazing pressure and land condition on the productivity and profitability of a steer-turnover enterprise utilising buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) pastures in central Queensland. A property-level, regionally relevant herd model was used to determine whole-of-business productivity and profitability over a 30-year investment period. Growth paths for steers from weaning to marketing were developed for 16 scenarios encompassing a range of pasture-utilisation rates (30%, 35% and 50% of annual biomass growth), land condition (A, B and C) and market targets (feedlot entry at 474 kg or slaughter at 605 kg). The economic effect of each scenario was assessed by comparison to a base scenario of 30% pasture utilisation and turn-off of slaughter steers. Our analyses demonstrated a large economic advantage from increasing grazing pressure above 30% utilisation for buffel grass pastures, even with assumptions of declining land condition and animal performance. For instance, producing slaughter steers under a 50% pasture-utilisation regime with a continuous decline in land condition from A to C (and, hence, productivity) over Years 10–30 was AU$21 772/annum more profitable than was a 30% pasture-utilisation strategy, which is widely recommended as closer to a long-term, safe utilisation rate. The present research has provided insights into the relationship between grazing pressure and economic returns of beef producers over the medium term. However, it should be considered as a scoping study due to the paucity of data for effects of utilisation rate on the productivity of buffel grass pastures and, hence, on land-condition rating. Further research is required to better understand the effects of utilisation rate of buffel grass, and other sown pasture grass and legume species, on plant biomass production, plant-diet quality for cattle, land-condition decline and cattle productivity.

Embryogenic Callus Production, Plant Regeneration and Transient Gene Expression Following Particle Bombardment in the Pasture Grass, Cenchrus ciliaris (Gramineae)

1995 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 193 ◽  
Author(s):  
AH Ross ◽  
JM Manners ◽  
RG Birch
Keyword(s):  
Particle Bombardment ◽  
Embryogenic Callus ◽  
Transient Gene Expression ◽  
Production Plant ◽  
Cenchrus Ciliaris ◽  
Embryogenic Calli ◽  
Pasture Grass ◽  
Buffel Grass ◽  
Regenerated Plants ◽  
Shoot Production

Callus initiated from surface sterilised, mature seeds of buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris L.) gave rise to an embryogenic form when cultured on Murashige and Skoog's nutrient medium supplemented with 3% sucrose, 5% coconut water and 4 mg L-1 2,4-D. Multiple green shoots regenerated on 20% to 50% of embryogenic calli after transfer to hormone-free medium and incubation in the light. Variations in cytokinin concentration and light intensity during regeneration did not significantly increase the regeneration frequency or the number of shoots produced. Regenerated plants developed normally when transplanted to soil. A high frequency of transient expression of the β-glucuronidase gene resulted following transfer into embryogenic callus by particle bombardment. This is a promising system for production of transformed buffel grass plants, if the frequency of shoot production can be increased.

METHODS OF ASSESSMENT THE LEVEL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC EFFECT DUE TO THE USING OF LOW-SPEED INDIVIDUAL VEHICLES, BY THE EXAMPLE OF THE TOWN OF SERPUKHOV

2019 ◽  
pp. 81-90
Author(s):  
Olga Leptiukhova ◽  
Marija Utkina
Keyword(s):  
Positive Impact ◽  
Economic Effect ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Operational Parameters ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Low Speed ◽  
Standards Of Living ◽  
Complex Criterion ◽  
Electric Bicycle

For more than half a century bicycle transport demonstrates its effectiveness as one of the elements of the transport network of the city. Currently, vehicles with low-power motors such as electric bicycle, electric scooter, gyrometer, segway, wheelbarrow, scooter motor and others are gaining people's attention. These vehicles can be combined into a group of low-speed individual vehicles (hereinafter - NITS) with similar re-quirements for the operational parameters of urban infrastructure. From the urban point of view, the interest in NITC is that the number of its users has increased significantly in recent years. The article presents the results of a sociological survey of residents of Serpukhov, allowing to assess the current and potential readi-ness of the population to use NITC. The growing popularity of NITC has led to an increase in the environmen-tal and economic effect, which is manifested at a particular level of development of the movement on NITC. The ecological and economic effect of the use of NITC has an extremely positive impact on the improvement of the urban environment. This article provides a list of indicators that reflect the growth in the standards of living of society from movement by the NITC, and the calculation of one of them - the increase in entrepre-neurial activity on the streets with increased traffic to the NITC. Indicators are necessary for calculation of complex criterion of efficiency and safety of street network due to development of the movement by NITC. The result will allow public authorities authorized to make decisions on the strategy of transport policy of cities to quantify the ratio of economic benefits from the development of infrastructure of the NITC with the cost of its construction and operation.

scholarly journals Buffel grass in Queensland's semi-arid woodlands: response to local and landscape scale variables, and relationship with grass, forb and reptile species

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa J. Eyre ◽  
Jian Wang ◽  
Melanie F. Venz ◽  
Chris Chilcott ◽  
Giselle Whish
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Grazing Pressure ◽  
Critical Threshold ◽  
Hierarchical Partitioning ◽  
Grass Cover ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Buffel Grass ◽  
Remnant Vegetation ◽  
Reptile Species

Buffel grass [Pennisetum ciliare (L.) Link] has been widely introduced in the Australian rangelands as a consequence of its value for productive grazing, but tends to competitively establish in non-target areas such as remnant vegetation. In this study, we examined the influence landscape-scale and local-scale variables had upon the distribution of buffel grass in remnant poplar box (Eucalyptus populnea F.Muell.) dominant woodland fragments in the Brigalow Bioregion, Queensland. Buffel grass and variables thought to influence its distribution in the region were measured at 60 sites, which were selected based on the amount of native woodland retained in the landscape and patch size. An information-theoretic modelling approach and hierarchical partitioning revealed that the most influential variable was the percent of retained vegetation within a 1-km spatial extent. From this, we identified a critical threshold of ~30% retained vegetation in the landscape, above which the model predicted buffel grass was not likely to occur in a woodland fragment. Other explanatory variables in the model were site based, and included litter cover and long-term rainfall. Given the paucity of information on the effect of buffel grass upon biodiversity values, we undertook exploratory analyses to determine whether buffel grass cover influenced the distribution of grass, forb and reptile species. We detected some trends; hierarchical partitioning revealed that buffel grass cover was the most important explanatory variable describing habitat preferences of four reptile species. However, establishing causal links – particularly between native grass and forb species and buffel grass – was problematic owing to possible confounding with grazing pressure. We conclude with a set of management recommendations aimed at reducing the spread of buffel grass into remnant woodlands.

No Business Like FIRC Business: Foreign-Imposed Regime Change and Bilateral Trade

2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 749-782
Author(s):  
Paul Zachary ◽  
Kathleen Deloughery ◽  
Alexander B. Downes
Keyword(s):  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
Economic Effect ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Foreign Firms ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Average Decrease ◽  
Regime Changes ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Cast Doubt ◽  
Synthetic Controls

Scholars argue that states undertake foreign military interventions for economic reasons, yet few have investigated whether intervention produces economic benefits. This article answers this question in the context of US foreign-imposed regime changes (FIRCs) in Latin America. Because FIRCs install leaders who are sympathetic to the intervener’s interests, economic arguments maintain that these interventions should increase bilateral trade between the targets and imposing countries. Yet security-based arguments assert that FIRCs should have little economic effect, as regime changes target threats rather than generate economic benefits. A third perspective argues that FIRCs reduce trade by generating political instability, which causes foreign firms to cut back on their involvement and domestic firms to experience difficulty getting goods to market. To test these competing arguments, this study employs a novel dataset on bilateral trade (1873–2007) compiled through archival research in Washington, DC. Using a gravity model and synthetic controls, it finds that FIRC produces an average decrease of 45 per cent in the dollar value of bilateral trade. Further analysis of archival sector-level data and case studies cast doubt on alternate explanations.

Looking back in time: can safe pasture utilisation rates be determined using commercial paddock data in the Northern Territory?

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dionne Walsh ◽  
Robyn A. Cowley
Keyword(s):  
Carrying Capacity ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Safe Level ◽  
Grazed Pasture ◽  
Utilisation Rate ◽  
Land Condition ◽  
Land Types

A ‘safe’ pasture utilisation rate is defined as the proportion of annual forage growth that can be consumed by domestic livestock without adversely affecting land condition in the long term. Pasture utilisation rates are thus a cornerstone of a sustainable grazing industry because they directly determine livestock carrying capacity. Until now, it has only been possible to determine utilisation rates in the Northern Territory via expensive and time-consuming grazing trials. Reliance on this method has limited the validation of safe utilisation rates for the range of land types used for pastoral production. This study tested an alternative cost-effective method for calculating utilisation rates based on an approach used previously in Queensland. The method retrospectively calculates utilisation rates using cattle records and modelled pasture growth from commercial paddocks in good land condition. The assumption underpinning the method is that paddocks in good land condition, with a long history of grazing, must have been managed in such a way as to achieve a safe level of pasture utilisation. Utilisation rates were calculated for 10 commercial paddocks on three properties in the Barkly Tableland region of the Northern Territory from 1999 to 2009. Animal intake for each paddock was calculated from detailed cattle records held in property databases. Pasture growth was estimated using simulation models and cross-checked with field measurements. An average utilisation rate of up to 25% of annual pasture growth was found to be safe on highly uniform, grey cracking-clays supporting Mitchell grass (Astrebla F. Muell. spp.) pastures. However, this level of utilisation had negative impacts on land condition on less resilient and preferentially grazed pasture communities in paddocks with a mix of land types. The implications of the results for carrying capacity, animal productivity and seasonal risk management are explored in this paper.

scholarly journals Growth Performance and Plasma Metabolites of Grazing Beef Cattle Backgrounded on Buffel or Buffel-Desmanthus Mixed Pastures

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2355
Author(s):  
Felista W. Mwangi ◽  
Christopher P. Gardiner ◽  
Glen Walker ◽  
Trevor J. Hall ◽  
Bunmi S. Malau-Aduli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acids ◽  
Weight Gain ◽  
Beef Cattle ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Metabolite Profile ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Plasma Metabolites ◽  
Buffel Grass ◽  
Esterified Fatty Acids ◽  
Plasma Metabolite

Dietary crude protein and dry matter digestibility are among the major factors limiting feed intake and weight gain of cattle grazing native and improved pastures in the subtropics of Northern Australia during the dry season. Incorporating a suitable legume into grasses improves pasture quality and cattle weight gain, but only a limited number of legume pastures can establish and persist in cracking clay soils. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of Desmanthus inclusion in buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) pastures on the plasma metabolite profile and growth performance of grazing beef cattle during the dry season. We hypothesised that backgrounding steers on buffel grass-Desmanthus mixed pastures would elicit significant changes in plasma glucose, bilirubin, creatinine, non-esterified fatty acids and β-hydroxybutyrate, resulting in higher liveweight gains than in steers on buffel grass only pastures. Four hundred tropical composite steers were assigned to buffel grass only (n = 200) or buffel grass oversown with Desmanthus (11.5% initial sward dry matter) pastures (n = 200) and grazed for 147 days during the dry season. Desmanthus accounted for 6.2% sward dry matter at the end of grazing period. Plasma metabolites results showed that changes in β-hydroxybutyrate, creatinine, bilirubin, glucose and non-esterified fatty acids were within the expected normal range for all the steers, indicating that with or without Desmanthus inclusion in the diet of grazing steers, animal health status was not compromised. It was also evident that Desmanthus inclusion in buffel grass pastures had no impact on the plasma metabolite profile, liveweight and daily weight gain of grazing steers. Therefore, our tested hypothesis of higher changes in plasma metabolite profile and higher liveweight gains due to backgrounding on low-level buffel grass-Desmanthus mixed pastures does not hold.

scholarly journals SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF NATURAL RECREATIONAL RESOURCES CLASSIFICATION

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1(78)) ◽  
pp. 41-50
Author(s):  
O.S. GOLIKOVA
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Economic Effect ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Nature Protection ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Current State ◽  
Recreational Resources ◽  
Recreational Use

Topicality. The current state of socio-economic development demonstrates awareness of the need harmonious solving economic and environmental issues that arise as a result of recreational nature-use management; necessitates the search for scientific approaches to the classification of natural recreational resources, as well as the transformation and diversification of the recreational and tourist sphere functioning. Aim and tasks. Aim: deepening and analysis of scientific approaches to the classification of natural recreational resources in the context of rational nature use and the recreational and tourist activities development. Tasks: to classify natural recreational resources on the grounds of exhaustibility, renewability, reproduction, setting restrictions on forms and property rights and their possible diversification in recreational and tourist activities. Research results. The state of socio-economic and ecological interaction, the increase of society's needs in recreational resources and facilities cause the need for targeted use of natural resource capital to meet the needs of the population - in recreational nature-use management. Three functions of recreational nature-use management (social, economic and nature protection) are defined, their maintenance is opened. The distribution of environmental elements on natural resources and natural conditions, which is quite conditional, has been studied. According to the review and analysis of classification criteria and characteristics, approaches to classification are systematized, namely: physical-geographical aspect, economic effect, economic-legal, environmental and social factors. The classification of natural recreational resources is given in context of ownership relations and economic interests between the subjects of recreational and tourist sphere and from the possible diversification side of natural recreational resources use. Conclusion. Thus, since the classification of natural recreational resources and conditions allows to identify patterns of different resources combination, determine the economic benefits of their use, opportunities for alternative, including recreational, use, as well as draw conclusions about the rational use, conservation and prospects of diversification, prospects for territory development priorities and communities located on them.

scholarly journals Implementation of energy service contracts in Russia

2019 ◽  
Vol 91 ◽  
pp. 03009
Author(s):  
Elizaveta Markovskaya ◽  
Sergey Ryabichenko ◽  
Elena Znamenskaya ◽  
Galina Dyakova
Keyword(s):  
Net Present Value ◽  
Economic Effect ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Careful Study ◽  
Internal Rate Of Return ◽  
Energy Audit ◽  
Service Contracts ◽  
Energy Service ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Careful Management

The article discusses the features of energy service contracts as one of the types of state-business interaction in the form of a public-private partnership. The purpose of the article is to analyze the main problems accompanying the implementation of energy service contracts on the basis of a case analysis and to develop recommendations for those who are at the stage of concluding such agreements. The following causes of problems between the parties to the energy service contracts are highlighted: methodological, organizational and financial. The following recommendations are developed based on the experience of participation in forensic examinations: 1) careful study of the methodology for calculating savings using energy audit; 2) the method of calculating the economic effect should be an integral part of the energy service contract; 3) careful management of documents in order to be able to begin to resolve the conflict in the pretrial order according to the Civil Code; 4) the contractor must make sure that there are economic benefits based on detailed calculations of indicators such as payback period, net present value of the project, internal rate of return, which it is mandatory to compare with the cost of financial resources used in the project.

Supplementary Feeding of Sheep and Beef Cattle

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
David G Hinton
Keyword(s):  
Beef Cattle ◽  
Economic Effect ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Supplementary Feeding ◽  
Poor Growth ◽  
Under Nutrition ◽  
Nutrient Value ◽  
Nutritional Needs ◽  
Key Topics

This practical guide is a tool designed for graziers to use in their day-to-day decision-making about livestock nutritional needs, feeding options, condition and health. Pasture supplements are expensive and should not be wasted, yet under-nutrition has an even greater economic effect resulting from low conception and progeny survival rates, poor growth rates, failure to meet market targets and tender fleeces in sheep. Supplementary Feeding of Sheep and Beef Cattle shows how to get the nutritional balance right and avoid costly repercussions from incorrect or inadequate feeding. The key topics covered will be particularly useful in drought situations, but also in seasonal pasture shortages, when the nutrient value of pastures is low. Practical tables and worksheets are provided as key tools, enabling livestock producers to make timely and cost-effective decisions about supplementary feeding.

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