Sustainable Beef Production To Adapt To Climate Changes

1. Sustainable Beef Production To Adapt To Climate Changes

2. SustainableFarming Sustainable food and fibre production is about finding more effective ways to produce crops, pastures and livestock with less pests and invasive species and counter threats to biosecurity, while maintaining biodiversity, replenishing soil fertility, reducing greenhouse gases and minimizing our use of water and non-renewable fuels at all stages of the production chain, from paddock to plate.

3. How do we know which heifer is the best one? Pedigrees Weights Performance Herd recording Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) Farmers need to adopt innovative management practices that help them reduce their water and carbon footprints and maintain a healthy environment, while boosting productivity and improving food safety and quality.

4. How to achieve Sustainable Beef Production • Minimise chemical use – Use less herbicide and pesticides to kill weeds and pests • Reduce the amount of water used – It takes 103 and 515 litres of water to produce a kilogram of beef live weight in Australia. • Use conservation farming methods to grow more pasture

5. ManagementStrategies • Improving weight gains- Growth promotantshelp boost growth rate and feed efficiency. Achieve market weights faster less methane into the atmosphere (E.g. Ralgro ear implant) • Maintaining health of cattle • Drenches and vaccines prevent and treat pests and diseases. This improves productivity. • Have highly efficient beef cattle – cattle which have high feed conversion rates

6. (Amount of beef being produced compared to the amount of feed being eaten). – Selecting cows that emit less methane (methane is gases from belching and passing wind). This can be tested by scanning a herd of cows with a laser beam. Approximately 10% of Australia’s total greenhouse gases comes from the emissions of Australia’s livestock. Invest in drones and automatic platforms to check and monitor cattle remotely without having to go to the paddock . The drone is a remote controlled helicopter with a camera. With automatic platforms the cattle walk through the gate way and over the automatic platforms to get to the water source their electronic ear tags are scanned to check all cattle are healthy and walking to water each day. The information is sent to a computer where it can be analysed.

8. What diseases are we trying to keep out of Australia? • Mad cow disease • Hendra virus • Foot and mouth • Rabies • Avian influenza These diseases are kept out of Australia and have been found in other countries.

9. Over view of Beef Sustainability As caretakers of nearly half (47 per cent) of Australia’s landmass, cattle and sheep farmers aim to continually improve their land management practices. This is to ensure they can continue to produce food sustainably in a changing environment for the world’s growing population. By the year 2050 we will have to double the amount of food which we produce.

10. Target 100 and Beef Target 100 is an initiative by Australian cattle and sheep farmers, along with the broader industry, to deliver sustainable cattle and sheep farming by 2020.Every day cattle and sheep farmers across Australia are doing simple things to improve their environmental sustainability, whether it is installing solar panels, fencing off dams to increase biodiversity on their properties or using different stocking strategies to improve soil health and groundcover.  For Australia’s cattle and sheep farmers sustainability isn’t only about the environment, it’s also about good animal welfare, contributing to their local communities, and ensuring that cattle and sheep farming is economically viable for future generations.Target 100 outlines 100 research, development and extension activities covering soil, water, energy, pests and weeds, biodiversity, emissions and animal welfare. Target 100 is about sharing what’s going on every day of year on cattle and sheep farms, and helping to connect the community with how their beef and lamb is produced.

11. Grazing Management • Matching stocking rates to the carrying capacity of the land is the • most important factor for success. Farmers need to regularly • adjust grazing strategies to the changing needs of the pastures • and livestock. • Some grazing strategies are:- • Continuous grazingon extensive areas of land, with pastures never or rarely spelled is successful where stocking rates are conservative. • Rotational grazing gives you control over when, and for how long, a pasture will be grazed then rested. It involves moving stock between paddocks, destocking and resting also known as spelling a paddock after use. This allows for pasture regrowth. • Cell grazing is a form of rotational grazing, where small paddocks are heavily stocked for short periods, followed by a long spelling. This is management-intensive, requiring extra fencing and watering points. The livestock are moved according to the needs of the pasture. This has proven to increase pasture productivity. • Forage budgeting -inspecting paddocks and estimating standing pasture available for grazing, then adjusting stock numbers to meet residual • yield and groundcover targets of pastures. • Supplement feeds – If pastures are insufficient for livestock needs feed extra feed i.e grain, hay or silage. This reduces pasture intake by animals and reduces grazing pressure on the pasture, allowing a more sustainable pasture. • Complementary feeds – these increase animal grazing of a pasture e.gwhen grazing older pastures or stubbles. Provide urea and molasses to increase livestocksgrazing of the pasture.

12. Sustainable Beef Welfare • Whether cattle are being produced through broad acre grazing or in intensive feedlots, owners and managers have a duty of care to ensure that the animals basic needs are being met. They have a responsibility to provide: • sufficient food and water • appropriate living conditions • an opportunity for cattle to display normal behavioral patterns • protection from injury or disease and treatment if required • appropriate handling according to the codes of practice

13. Beef Farming of the Future We live and operate in a globally interconnected and complex food system. Environmental, social, economic and political factors influence the way food is produced, distributed and consumed. Boosting productivity, quality and equitability is essential if we are to meet the increase in the demand for food as the world population approaches the estimated nine billion by 2050. This year is the UN International Year of soils. Waste products from beef production made of manure and urine; contain precious nutrients and are important for soil conditioning. Organic materials applied in bulk can improve soil texture, promote better absorption of moisture, reduce run-off, reverse deterioration in soil structure and prevent crusting of the soil surface. Improved use of manure benefits crop production, which in turn provides flow-on benefits to livestock yields and this in turn increases the income of farmers. Healthy soils are critical for global food production. Healthy soils play a vital role in the carbon nitrogen and water cycles, storing and filtering water, and improving resilience to floods and droughts, as well as recycling nutrients into forms useful for agricultural purposes.

14. Future Farming Strategies:- • Increased ground cover and biochar in soils to sequester carbon from the atmosphere • Majority of farmers closely measuring and adjusting management practices using electronic software packages i.e the stocking rate calculator and in yard data collection tools. • Less methane being produced through use of feed additives like algae extracts and Grapemarc and selective breeding. Vaccines are being researched to reduce methane • Virtual farm tours and interactive games which promote beef as a product and portray a realistic vision to the wider community of the journey their beef has taken before it reached their plate. • Wider adoption of nutrient cycling within beef enterprises. E.gmanure and urine as pasture fertiliser. • Farming sustainably requires good information, adaptability, support networks, and passion to strive forward even when the odds are not in your favour. • Holistic management is operating with a birds-eye perspective. It involves a comprehensive, anticipatory design approach. In extensive grazing systems this means working with, not against, the resources within the property boundaries and beyond.