Economic Evaluation of Leucaena at Pinnarendi Station

In 2016 a project, led by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, was initiated to compare the growth of cattle grazing on Wondergraze leucaena and the newly released Redlands cultivar, which is resistant to the leucaena psyllid insect. The project also aimed to assess the viability of adopting leucaena on arable red earth soils, which have low fertility but cover a large area of similar cleared land types in northern Queensland. This trial was conducted at Pinnarendi Station near Mount Garnet, with co-funding from Meat and Livestock Australia through the ‘Redlands for Regions’ project. This case study analyses data collected during the project to assess the profitability of two scenarios transitioning from a rundown stylo-buffel grass pasture to either:

1. A renewed stylo-buffel pasture improved through regular fertilisation and wet season spelling or,
2. Establishing leucaena into the rundown pasture, also with regular fertilisation and spelling.