News Room

Making the most of those welcome rains

[ 05/02/2007 ]

It rains only once in a blue moon on many pastoral properties in central Australia – and when it does, can producers maximise it to their best possible advantage?

That is the focus of a Grazing Land Management Workshop for pastoralists in Alice Springs next month. "The timing could not be better for this workshop after the recent rains in central Australia," said Ellena Hannah of the Department of Primary Industry, Fisheries and Mines (DPIFM).

"This workshop gives pastoralists a great opportunity to assess the response from the recent rains: was their land rain-ready or in poor condition? It can be hard to tell the difference, but we will explain how."

Pastoralists are urged to register for the three-day workshop by 12 February. Miss Hannah, grazing land management officer, said subjects would include:

• determining the optimum way to graze pasture, balancing good land condition with production and profitability;
• land condition and stability - the ability of land to respond to rainfall and produce useful forage;
• understanding the dynamics of the land system and matching this to producers’ observations and knowledge to enable more informed and effective management decisions – and better outcomes;
• focusing on how you can affect land condition, rather than climate and land types that are outside your control.

Miss Hannah said: "This is a course tailored for central Australia. Pastoralists will be able to learn from other people’s experiences and come up with their own framework for planning grazing land management and costing infrastructure development."

Registration forms are available from Miss Hannah on 08 8951 8143 or ellena.hannah@nt.gov.au. The workshop, on 11 - 14 March, is being organised by the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association and DPIFM and is supported by the National Landcare Program.

Enrolment is $2500 with a 25 per cent reduction in course costs available to subsequent attendees from the same business. FarmBis may provide a subsidy of up to 80 per cent for eligible pastoralists.