Kidman Springs BeefUp forum highlights

Guest speakers, attendees, sponsors and industry reps gathered at Kidman Springs for the industry-meets-research event of the year in the Victoria River District (VRD) of the Northern Territory (NT).

Kidman Springs (also known as Victoria River Research Station) hosted a jam-packed two-day BeefUp Forum on 20–21 August. The event was opened by Deputy CEO of Agriculture, Fisheries and Biosecurity division, Jed Matz, followed by a welcome from Senior Executive Director of Agriculture, Phil Hausler.

Photo of Phil Hausler at lectern with microphone inviting people to the Kidman Springs BeefUp forum. — Phil Hausler (Senior Executive Director of Agriculture) welcomed everyone to the BeefUp forum.

Photo of Tim Schatz standing in front of seated forum participants with microphone. — Tim Schatz (Livestock Industries Director) was the event MC.

The forum kicked off with a markets and export session with a live export update from Meat & Livestock Australia’s (MLA) program manager Peter Dundon followed by a markets panel facilitated by Kari Moffat (AAM Investment Group). Panel members included Rodd Dyer (FocusGroupGo Asia), Dr Ross Ainsworth (NT Department of Agriculture and Fisheries), Peter Dundon (MLA), and Ceny Hussie (NT Cattlemen’s Association).

The Territory Governments Senior Rangelands Officer Robyn Cowley led a brilliant panel session discussing the ‘Sweet Spot’ for pasture utilisation and the effect this has on breeder performance. Robyn was joined by Dan Chapman (AACo.), Dr Steve Petty (Clean Agriculture and International Tourism) and Mike Bailey (Newry Station). There were plenty of questions from the audience which were met with open and practical responses from the industry members on the panel.

Photo of Robyn Cowley standing in front of forum participants with microphone giving her presentation. — Dr Robyn Cowley gave a presentation about the findings from the Sweet Spot project before the panel joined her on the stage and talked through the results from a property management perspective.

A convoy of Toyotas and bulldust saw the attendees tour the paddocks of Kidman Springs to first hear from Gretel Bailey-Preston about the Select Brahman herd. Then, Rodd Dyer and Robyn Cowley reminisced about the beginnings of the Shruburn project and summarised the findings of the long running project while standing amongst the visibly different treatment plots. The afternoon tea doubled as a 30^th birthday celebration for the project (cake was involved!).

A photo of forum participants standing in the paddock in front of tent and displays listening to a presentation by Robyn Cowley. — The Shruburn project site on the paddock tour where Robyn and Rodd talked about the beginnings of the project and what questions it aimed to answer for industry.

A visit to the legume establishment plots gave a visual representation of the trial process with the NTDAF Principal Agronomist Arthur Cameron providing an agronomic perspective on the first year of data collected from the plots. DAF Research Officer Tim Schatz gave an overview of the Crops for Cattle project, with Kidman Springs being one of the 10 properties feeding weaners and assessing the profitability of different feeding strategies.

To finish off day one, we were greeted back at the homestead with a drone display from Alex Kaiserman (AK Sky Services) and everyone heard the latest on virtual fencing from Gallagher’s Nat James.

Photo of two people in a paddock watching a drone taking off. — The drone demonstration from AK sky Services was a big hit.

Day 2 of BeefUp began with a Cattle Australia update from Kari Moffat (Cattle Australia NT Rep) and an animal wellbeing update from Michael Laurence (MLA).

Gretel Bailey-Preston (NTDAF) facilitated a genetics and reproduction panel where Elsie Dodd (UQ), Brad Inglis (Sturt Plains Station), Peter Letchford (Pastoral Veterinary Solutions) and Whitney Dollemore (Northern BreedAssist) covered all aspects from bull selection, visual and EBV traits, climate adaptability and herd management.

NTDAF’s Tim Schatz delivered a presentation about the findings from the Easy P project that he has been leading for the past four years. The data not only highlights the importance of phosphorous (P) supplementation but suggests the “Easy P” method results in the same, if not better breeder performance than traditional wet season P supplementation. The Easy P method involves including P in dry season supplement and putting all the wet season supplement out before the rains start so that supplement does not have to be delivered during the wet season.

Photo of Tim Schatz giving his presentation to a group of forum participants seated inside a shed. — Livestock Industries Director for NTDAF, Tim Schatz discussed finding from the Easy P project.

Ben Wratten from AAM Investment Group took attendee’s through the company’s current feeding strategies at Legune and Maryfield Stations including the challenges that they faced, goals that have been kicked and future aspirations for the cropping and feeding programs.

Photo of Ben Wratten giving his presentation to a group of forum participants seated in a shed. — Ben Wratten from AMM Investment Group talking about Legune and Maryfield Station feeding programs.

Mary Williams (NTDAF) spoke about the findings from the legume establishment plots that were visited on the paddock tour the day prior, as well as results from trial plots on commercial stations in the VRD. She discussed weight gain data from the two heifer cohorts at Kidman Springs, one in a control paddock and the other in a paddock with a higher content of naturalised stylo species.

Rusty Richter (Heytesbury Pastoral Company) facilitated a session on improved pastures. The panel consisted of Dan Chapman (AACo.), Arthur Cameron (NTDAF) and Matt Dennis (E.E Muirs), who covered the history of improved pastures in the NT, where improved pastures are heading and what potential hurdles to expect in the VRD.

Dr Ross Ainsworth (NTDAF) gave a Foot and Mouth and Lumpy Skin Disease update from the perspective of a vet who has spent a lot of time in Southeast Asia and seen the impacts of these diseases firsthand. This provided valuable information to NT producers about what to expect if an outbreak does occur.

Photo of Ross Ainsworth giving his presentation on Lumpy Skin Disease to forum participants. — Ross Ainsworth (NTDAF) giving a Foot and Mouth and Lumpy Skin disease update.

Christie Pearson (NTDAF), the final speaker for the BeefUp forum presented the findings of the Paddock Power project which looked at infrastructure developments to maximise paddock utilisation by increasing watered area and therefore decreasing distance to water for cattle, resulting in more even grazing. The calculator tool developed by Dionne Walsh (formerly NTDAF, now RangeIQ) allows different infrastructure combinations to be compared before a final decision is made.