Rain Gauge: Forecasting for a profitable future – Katherine pilot workshop

With a declared El Niño looming, producers may start to ask questions such as…

“Do I have the feed to keep these cows for another year?…”

“Are we in a position to access a market if we need to destock?… ”

“When will I need to start supplementing?”

To be on the front foot with answering these questions, producers will need to understand and be able to interpret climate data.

The ‘Rain Gauge: Forecasting for a profitable future course’ was developed by the Northern Australian Climate Program (NACP) and Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) as a Profitable Grazing Systems (PGS) climate specific training course.

‘Rain Gauge: Forecasting for a profitable future’ PGS, aims to give producers the tools to be able to interpret climate forecasts and use historical data to navigate future trends. The goal of this course is to give producers the confidence to integrate climate forecasts into their business decision making activities for herd, pasture and land management.

The first delivery of these pilots in Australia were held in Banana, Central Qld, and the Katherine Research Station, NT, during October. Facilitated by NACP Climate Mates Dan Rea, Elsie Dodd, Emily Hinds and Anne Marie Huey along with support from UniSQ and Bureau of Meteorology climate scientist, Dr Andrew Marshall.

The course was attended by producers and industry stakeholders and feedback has been highly positive.  Future courses are currently open for registration and will be held in Chinchilla, QLD (14 November), Barcaldine, QLD (16 November) and Broome, WA (29-30 November).

Red meat producers from QLD, the NT and WA, are taking part in the pilot to provide practical feedback, with the remainder of the pilot course modules being delivered in 2024.

For more information and to get involved please contact:

NT
Emily Hinds, Emily.hinds@usq.edu.au

WA
Anne Marie Huey, Annemarie.huey@usq.edu.au

QLD
Vicki Mayne, Vicki.mayne@usq.edu.au