Potential economic benefits to the Australian wool industry from improving pastures in the hill country of eastern New South Wales

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 161 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. T. Vere ◽  
M. H. Campbell

Large areas of undeveloped pastures in non-arable hill country in eastern New South Wales could be improved by aerial methods. The potential economic benefits of pasture improving a portion of the hill country area were evaluated in terms of the economic welfare changes in the Australian wool industry. Hill country wool producers and international wool consumers would derive nearly all of the benefits from this process. Other Australian and international wool producers would lose economic welfare because of the reduced price from increased regional wool production. For conservative anticipated levels of pasture improvement adoption, the overall benefits to the Australian wool industry had 15-year mean present values of between $30.2 million and $122.1 million, depending on whether the introduced pasture was predominantly perennial grass or legume based. The value of this analysis is that it provides improved economic information for planning investment in new pasture technologies in the Australian livestock industries.

2002 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 143
Author(s):  
D. L. Michalk ◽  
M. H. Campbell

Aerial sowing is the only option for introducing improved pasture species into much of the non-arable, acid soil rangelands in central New South Wales. However, low germination of seeds in serradella pods is a major problem causing poor establishment. Sowing different combinations of pod and seed was investigated as a means of improving germination and subsequent persistence in an experiment between 1993 and 1997. Results indicated that a pod:seed mixture of 75:25 was the most suitable ratio for establishing yellow serradella (Ornithopus compressus) when broadcast into native grassland on hardsetting, non-arable, acidic hill country. Nodulation failure observed at this cold tablelands site confirmed the need for a more winter-active inoculant for yellow serradella.


1986 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
M.D Young ◽  
R.J Delforce

Sixty licensed kangaroo shooters were interviewed in New South Wales to determine their social characteristics, incomes and shooting preferences. Two groups of shooters were identified: those who take kangaroos only for immediate, maximum short term economic gain and those who attempt to husband local kangaroo populations to their long term benefit. Amongst the latter group there is both a lack of agreement and a general uncertainty about the optimal shooting strategy to achieve the long term economic benefits they desire. New directions in research and extension are suggested with a view to rectifying this dilemma. Data on the strategies used to take kangaroos for commercial purposes and the accuracy of certam information reported to the National Parks and Wildlife Service are also described.


2004 ◽  
Vol 44 (12) ◽  
pp. 1165 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Bowman ◽  
W. Smith ◽  
M. B. Peoples ◽  
J. Brockwell

Total productivity and legume nitrogen fixation (N2 fixation) in dryland pastures were examined in a 2 year study (1999–2001) on 118 farms in central-western New South Wales. Pasture exclosure cages, placed at 217 on-farm sites, were harvested on 7 occasions and the foliage hand-sorted according to species in order to measure shoot dry matter (DM). The separated legume shoot material collected in spring 1999 (52 different legume samples) and 2000 (76 different legume samples) from a subset of representative pastures (41 cages on 28 different farms in 1999, 32 cages on 25 different farms in 2000) was also analysed for concentration of nitrogen (%N) and 15N natural abundance. These data were subsequently used to calculate the proportion of the legume shoot N derived from atmospheric N (%Ndfa), comparative measures of the relative efficiency of N2 fixation (kg N fixed/t DM accumulated) and the amounts of shoot N fixed (kg N/ha). The survey encompassed 8 common pasture types, and 5 others that were less common, ranging from native perennial grass pastures with little legume content to lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) pastures with and without companion clovers. Fifteen legume species were found in the pastures, some only occasionally. Lucerne and white clover (Trifolium repens L.) were the only perennials. Mean spring estimates of %Ndfa were similar in 1999 and 2000 for lucerne (72 and 81%, respectively), rose clover (T. hirtum All., 82 and 77%) and annual medics (Medicago spp., 89 and 86%). For the remaining 12 legume species, measures of %Ndfa ranged from 64 to 95% and averaged 83%. Shoot %N contents were greater for lucerne than for the other 14 legumes and this was reflected in the comparative measures of N2 fixation which ranged from 14.5 kg N/t DM for rose clover to 25.7 kg N/t DM for lucerne in 2000. The most productive pasture type comprised lucerne plus balansa clover [T. michelianum Savi var. balansae (Boiss.) Azn.], white clover or arrowleaf clover (T. vesiculosum Savi), but all pasture types that contained lucerne were highly productive. Spring was the most productive season and summer the least. Lucerne was overwhelmingly the most productive legume and was responsible for >83% of the fixed N in those pastures that contained both lucerne and other legumes. Lucerne productivity was approximately uniform throughout the year whereas, for other pastures, especially those based on rose clover or subterranean clover (T. subterraneum L.), there were sharp peaks in spring and little or no dry matter production over summer. The presence of lucerne in pastures significantly (P<0.05) reduced broadleaf weeds. It was concluded that, where there are requirements in central-western New South Wales agriculture for uniform forage production throughout the year and a high input of fixed N, lucerne is substantially superior to other species.


2006 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 495 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Jones ◽  
P. M. Dowling ◽  
D. L. Michalk ◽  
W. McG. King

There have been significant declines in the perennial grass (PG) content in native and sown pastures across temperate Australia. Not only has this reduced agricultural productivity, it has contributed to more serious degradation, such as loss of soil and biodiversity, decreasing water quality, and dryland salinity caused by rising watertables. Results from the Sustainable Grazing Systems Key Program (SGS) research undertaken at Carcoar on the Central Tablelands of New South Wales were reported by Michalk et al. (2003). This research indicated that grazing management tactics can be used to manipulate pasture composition, thereby changing animal production and water-use patterns. The main grazing tactic investigated was termed a summer grazing rest, where resting was imposed in late spring if PG composition was <50%. Reported in this present paper is an economic framework for valuing the long-term benefits of grazing management tactics. The framework involves the development of a bioeconomic modelling system that links a dynamic programming model with biophysical models for water and environmental processes, soil fertility, pasture growth, livestock energy requirements and the change in pasture species composition. The study concludes that long-term economic returns are improved by strategies, e.g. a summer rest, that lead to an increase in PG composition over time. The study also determined that environmental factors, such as deep drainage, runoff and soil loss, are reduced as perenniality is increased.


1990 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
ND Macleod

Uany pastoral leases in western New South Wales are too small to ensure that viable pastoral enterprisu will persist in the medium to longer term. Apart from attendant welfare problems for leaseholders and their dependants, there is some evidence that this has exacerbated overgrazing problems which creates undesirable and potentially irreversible degradation of vegetation and soil resources. Arguably, the small size problem has sufficiently weakened the economic welfare of many lessees to make private acquisition of additional areas andl or adoption of conservation oriented management practices non-economic. The future scenario is then one of greater public involvement in property adjustment measures; or a growing population of non-viable pastoral enterprises with its attendant efficiency, welfare and resource conservation problems. The paper examines trends in property enterprise size, structure and concentration and the existence and extent of size economies for wool and livestock production in western New South Wales. Several issues are addressed concerning the economic viability of pastoral properties and several public policy prescriptions are presented for addressing the sizehiability problem.


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