Using high quality forages to meet beef markets in the Fitzroy River catchment

This guide brings together information on:

• the selection, agronomy and management of suitable forages
• indicative forage yields at key sites across the Fitzroy River catchment
• expected content of principal nutrients in the forages and their relationship to cattle performance
• indicative cattle growth rates from a range of high output forages
• approaches to incorporating high-output forages into feed plans to produce the target growth rates and liveweights required to meet market specifications
• non-nutritional factors that can affect liveweight gain
• example economic analyses at key sites across the catchment to provide objective comparisons of various forage options
• spreadsheets to allow calculation of the economic performance of key forage systems using the user’s own input variables.

Authors: Maree Bowen, Stuart Buck and Rebecca Gowen, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010.

Download a copy of Using high quality forages to meet beef markets in the Fitzroy River catchment (PDF, 2 MB).