6.1 Management practice options
6.1.1 Grazing lands and best management practices A vast amount of technical information is available for guiding grazing land management in the Burdekin region which can be applied to the BBB catchment . This is synthesised by McIvor ( 2012 ) in Sustainable management of the Burdekin grazing lands : A technical guide of options for stocking rate management , pasture spelling , infrastructure development and prescribed burning to optimise animal production , profitability , land condition and water quality outcomes . The guide contains detailed information and references for further reading , and is recommended for advisors working with producers to improve grazing management in the grazing lands of the Burdekin catchment . The key land management aims for the region are summarised in Table 5 .
Table 5 . Key land management aims for the Burdekin grazing lands . Source : McIvor ( 2012 ).
Aim Situation Factors to consider
1 . Maintaining land in good ( A and B ) land condition
2 . Improving land in poor ( C ) land condition
3 . Stabilising and recovering land in very poor ( D ) land condition
4 . Managing frontage country and wetlands currently
• Pastures are mainly in A or B land condition .
• Such pastures will change in appearance depending on seasons , with ample feed for the whole year in good years , adequate feed for the whole year in average seasons and possibly inadequate feed towards the end of the year in poor years .
• There may be a few overgrazed patches with low ground cover and the presence of less desirable species ( C land condition ).
• Continued overgrazing of these C condition patches increases their size and frequency . If continued over a period of years , the average land condition goes from A-B to C .
• Most of the paddock or preferred land type / s is in C condition .
• There are still some 3P grasses but they are widely spaced and may be small with low vigour .
• Persistent patch grazing is occurring .
• Ground cover is highly seasonal and generally poor towards the end of the dry season with substantial loss of water through runoff .
• There is a high proportion of annual grasses , forbs or undesirable species .
• Highly nutritious feed may be available for short periods after rain , but feed shortages can develop quickly in dry periods .
• Significant soil erosion including gullying .
• Substantial weed infestation .
• Very low to no ground cover .
• Very few or no 3P grasses .
• Often approaching desertification in appearance .
• Bare soils .
• Gullies .
• Poor vegetation including weeds .
• Eroding streambanks .
• Pugging .
• Highly turbid water and / or algal blooms .
- 44 -
• Indicates a history of good grazing management .
• Temporal variability in pasture growth rates between years , during years and on different parts of the property leads to variation in feed supply .
• Compounded by limited flexibility to vary cattle numbers within and between years ; breeder enterprises have the least flexibility of all .
• Drought .
• Chronic and sustained excessive grazing pressure .
• Selective use of land type or portion of paddock .
• Can be exacerbated by intense wildfires .
• Chronic and continued overgrazing .
• Loss of 3P grasses and ground cover .
• Invasion of aggressive weeds .
• Concentration of stock in these preferred areas .
• Selective grazing .
• Weed invasion .
• Vegetation clearing or death through intense fires .
• Pigs .