The economics of safe stocking rates in Central Australia

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

6-2025

Conference Title

XII International Rangeland Congress 2025: Working Together for our Global Rangelands Future

Place of Publication

Adelaide

ISBN

978-0-646-72121-7

Keywords

economic, herd, modelling, safe stocking rate, infrastructure

Disciplines

Agricultural Economics | Environmental Monitoring | Natural Resources and Conservation

Abstract

In the semi-arid rangelands of Central Australia, research undertaken at the Old Man Plain Research Station (OMP) has shown that managing stocking rate at a safe utilisation level allows land condition improvement given two La Niña years in a row. The first year provides a high rate of vegetation growth and consequent seed and the second-year results in a recruitment event from the first year 's seed bank. The aim of this paper is to contrast the economics of OMP grazing strategies to an industry business-as-usual scenario. A bioeconomic model has been developed which encompasses a pasture growth model ; the GRASs Production (GRASP) model linked to herd structure modelling using Breedcow and Dynama. The herd performance and other baseline data was derived from industry consultation, whereas the OMP data was derived from published data from the research station. The analysis shows that there are economic incentives to run safe stocking rates. Besides the unequivocal environmental (land condition) benefits of running a safe stocking rate, the economic benefits are dependent o n the initial status of the station and how it transition s to a safe stocking rate. The analysis concludes that there are economic benefits of running safe stocking rates, however implementation should be carefully managed by pastoralists to maintain a positive cash flow.

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS