Grazing Decisions: Australian Farm Journal - 06'02

Low pasture dry matter targets are poor message for grazing sustainability

by Patrick Francis

There is growing evidence emerging that grazing management often referred to in agricultural science circles as sustainable may not be so. Commonly accepted parameters of sustainability based on livestock and pasture growth performance are coming under increasing scrutiny from outside the meat and wool production sector.

Take for instance a recent contract tender advertisement by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. The tender was for the Department’s Grazing for Biodiversity and Profit project which ‘aims to increase biodiversity to achieve a more socially acceptable balance between biodiversity and agricultural productivity in on-farm Victorian grasslands and grassy woodlands".

The advertisement continued: "Because research and extension workers have been identified as a key market for the project's products, a study is proposed into what will influence them into incorporating its messages". This seems to be an admission that there are misgivings about farm advisors ability to provide holistic advice to livestock producers about how they should best graze their stock.

Another extraordinary reflection on grazing industry’s sustainability is made in the recently released ‘Australia State of the Environment 2001’. The Environment Australia report’s key findings on ‘Land’ states under "favourable developments since the last report in 1996, reduced sheep numbers (by 30%) since the late 1980’s". The next "favourable development" is "reduced rabbit numbers from rabbit calicivirus disease".

A third example that grazing management is missing the point about sustainability is provided in the recently released Murray-Darling Basin Commission Landmark Policy Discussion Paper – How to encourage sustainable land use in dryland regions of the Murray-Darling Basin. The Paper acknowledges that while significant progress has been achieved in managing the Basin’s natural resources, much remains to be done.

"Landscape-scale change is needed in the use and management of the Basin’s resources to achieve healthy ecosystems and profitable broadacre agricultural industries in the long-term," the Paper says.

These examples provide a negative perspective on livestock grazing, but are not surprising given the types of pasture management messages presented to graziers. Readers of Department of Agriculture newsletters and the Sustainable Grazing Systems Prograzier magazine are often confronted with inconsistent messages about grazing management.

The topic that probably causes most confusion amongst graziers looking to adopt a grazing method that meets sustainability requirements is, maximum and minimum dry matter levels. While many northern NSW and Queensland advisors have come to grips with this issue, mainly because of enormous soil erosion caused by thunderstorms falling on bare ground, in southern Australia advice generally directs graziers towards low levels of litter and pasture crowns in other words low amounts of pasture dry matter. This advice is usually provided in the context of achieving higher levels of livestock performance, better weed control and improved pasture insect control. This is despite the fact that land and water degradation as demonstrated in the National Land and Water Resources Audit is continuing virtually unabated.

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