What’s in the pipeline: New PDS projects in 2024–25

This project aims to overcome lime-induced manganese (Mn) deficiency on three demonstration sites, thereby increasing the adoption of liming to:

• counteract soil acidity
• educate the next generation on the importance of monitoring and managing trace elements to boost pasture and livestock productivity.

Soil acidity affects over 200,000ha (70%) of Kangaroo Island (KI) farmland, costing $7 million annually in lost production. While lime application is common, sandy ironstone soils (70,000ha) show Mn deficiency post-liming, with 80% of soil pits having Mn levels below 10 mg/kg. This deficiency reduces productivity for up to five years. About 25% of producers have stopped liming due to Mn tie-up, though some have seen positive results with manganese sulphate.

This project also addresses the loss of knowledge between generations, as many young producers on KI have never included trace element mixes in their fertiliser regime. It includes leaf tissue and soil testing for all trace elements, feed tests for metabolisable energy, and field days to guide producers in sampling, data interpretation, and developing trace element management strategies to maximise pasture growth and livestock health.

The gastrointestinal parasite challenge in beef cattle is reasonably predictable within different regions, although a heavy reliance on single active drenches has seen the emergence of drench resistance. The development of anthelmintic resistance in cattle has been slower than in sheep, probably due to less frequent dosing and more refugia on pasture. However, while the effects internal parasites have on animal health are well known, the development of anthelmintic resistance is an inevitable consequence of using the same drenches every year.

​​This project will demonstrate the prevalence and scale of anthelmintic resistance in weaner cattle on a subset of properties across Victoria. This will then support producer decision-making with anthelmintic selection for parasite control on their farm while also aiding in slowing the emergence of drench resistance for these producers and, more broadly, the beef cattle industry across southern Australia.  Three to five demonstrations sites will be established during the project’s duration.

Mediterranean environments such as the Great Southern region of Western Australia are characterised by hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. This climate leads to a mismatch between on-farm feed supply and feed demand, and filling the summer/autumn feed gap is challenging and usually expensive.

​​The aim of this Producer Demonstration Site is to demonstrate the optimal economic use of saltland pasture and standing fodder crops as out-of-season feed within the whole-farm system and enhance adoption through the application of the Farm Optimiser Platform at four sites.

Mandatory use of NLIS Electronic Identification (EID) tags for all sheep producers across Australia came into effect on 1 January 2025. This requirement aims to enhance biosecurity measures by providing authorities with an effective tool to trace sheep during biosecurity risks or outbreaks, such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

Using eID tags will enable rapid tracing and a more effective emergency response, significantly mitigating the impact of diseases on the Australian livestock industry. Beyond biosecurity, eID tags offer numerous benefits for producers willing to adopt the technology. By implementing the correct equipment and utilising the data collected, producers can improve management practices, enhance animal health and make more informed decisions. This can lead to better tracking of genetic improvements, more accurate sale specifications and overall improved efficiency in sheep enterprises.

Undertaken across three sites, this project aims to demonstrate the potential management, financial and biosecurity outcomes of utilising eID. It also sets out to support the technological and data management requirements of implementing eID to generate positive, sustained management and decision-making change in sheep enterprises in the face of compulsory eID tag adoption in WA.

Despite favourable conditions and abundant grass, many producers are not achieving the expected post-weaning growth rates in cattle. This issue impacts the number of heifers reaching critical mating weight and the sale weights of steers. Contributing factors include significant mineral deficiencies, inadequate anthelmintic practices, increased fluke prevalence, and a lack of routine testing for worms, fluke and forage quality. Producers often cannot pinpoint the exact cause of poor growth rates. Investing in better management practices and technologies can help address these issues. This includes using longer-acting mineral supplements, conducting routine worm egg counts, testing for fluke and adopting comprehensive growth monitoring. These measures can improve animal health, achieve higher growth rates and reduce the carbon impact of cattle production.

The project will establish seven sites to demonstrate that managing mineral deficiencies and internal parasites – along with improved nutrition based on a better understanding of the energy, protein and neutral detergent fibre of available feed – results in improved weaner growth rates in south-east Australian pasture-based systems.

The objectives include establishing current growth rates and identifying issues such as drench resistance and liver fluke, improving growth rates through targeted interventions, conducting a cost-benefit analysis, and implementing training to increase producer knowledge and adoption of best practices. The project aims to improve growth rates by 0.2kg/day for the first six months after weaning in at least 3,000 young stock by 2026.

Many producers in the Northern/Central Highlands regions of Tasmania have integrated irrigation into their cropping and lamb-finishing systems to optimise animal growth rates and ensure profitability. However, high capital costs have driven them to adopt more cost-effective strategies, moving from irrigated ryegrass pastures to leguminous-based forage options like clover and lucerne, which enhance lamb growth rates and carrying capacity.

Approximately 90% of lambs processed in Tasmania graze on irrigated pastures, with 80% on legume-based swards. However, a predominantly legume diet has led to high lamb mortality rates, often due to conditions like red gut, pulpy kidney or frothy bloat, collectively known as sudden death syndrome (SDS). Red gut, caused by a deficiency in dietary fibre, results in fatal intestinal torsion.

To combat SDS, producers have:

• diversified their feedbase
• included roughage
• adopted intermittent grazing strategies, though with varying success.

This project will establish four demonstration sites to evaluate and demonstrate the effectiveness of diverse diets, with over 25% roughage mitigating red gut in lambs. Producer participants will use diagnostic testing to manage occurrences of the condition, supported by autopsy and laboratory sampling to identify causes of death. Economic impacts will be assessed through cost-benefit and gross margin analyses.

The project also aims to achieve high adoption rates of demonstrated practices among producers, improve knowledge and skills in identifying and managing red gut and other SDS conditions, and conduct annual field days to share results and encourage practice adoption. Outputs will include case studies, a ready reckoner tool, economic analyses, field day presentations, and a factsheet on conducting autopsies and identifying SDS symptoms.

The increasing proportion of ewes carrying triplet lambs in Australia is due to the adoption of more fecund genetics and better ewe management practices. This trend has led to higher lamb marking rates and increased profitability, especially for non-Merino sheep. However, it also brings challenges, such as higher mortality rates for triplet-bearing ewes and their lambs. Surveys show that triplet-bearing ewes die at double the rate of twin-bearing ewes, and triplet-born lambs have a lower survival rate. This project aims to educate producers on managing triplet-bearing ewes separately to improve their survival and productivity.

Triplet-bearing ewes face greater nutritional stress in late pregnancy, leading to higher mortality rates. Triplet lambs are born lighter and face more metabolic challenges, compromising their survival. By following MLA's 'Best Practice Guide for Triplets', producers can improve the production and welfare outcomes for triplet lambs, addressing the risks associated with higher reproductive rates.

The Girl Power Group initiated a Producer Demonstration Site in late 2020 to address critical issues affecting maiden heifers in the extensive rangelands of Queensland. Participating beef producers engaged in facilitated sessions and on-property management changes to improve the performance of their maiden heifers, focusing on critical mating weight and pregnancy testing. Despite achieving high pregnancy rates in the first join through improved management practices, bad mothering and calf loss between pregnancy testing and weaning, along with low re-conception rates, remain significant challenges for producers in the region. The data collected showed first-calf losses up to 25% and re-conception rates as low as 30%, impacting productivity, income, and herd rebuilding.

The Girl Power Group has now initiated the MATERIX project which aims to showcase management practices that enhance:

• mothering outcomes
• calf survival through to weaning
• re-conception rates of maiden heifers in self-replacing beef breeder herds.

The goal is to increase the knowledge, skills and confidence of participating producers, leading to the adoption of the demonstrated practices.