Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation

Research Compendium 1993 - 1994

Research Project

DEFINING STOCKING RATE STRATEGIES FOR VIABLE AND SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION

Objectives

• To use the knowledge of producers and scientists to develop an objective set of strategies for setting stocking rates for grazing industries in Australian rangelands, in the context of market and climatic variability.
• To define and report on how this decision framework could be used by producers.

Background

The key management tool of arid zone farmers is the setting of stocking rates. Deciding what stocking rate should apply in a paddock at a particular time is complex. Various systems exist but there is no overall framework to help managers use the packages.

Research

Producers and extension personnel will be widely consulted and then a workshop will be held to analyse existing, future and potential approaches to stocking rates.

Outcome

From consultations with producers, key influences on stocking rate decisions were identified as: climatic zone; vegetation type; distance to market; distance to fodder sources; property structure; and socio-cultural factors such as age.

These factors formed a basis for discussion and recording of further factors regarded as important for stocking rates, at a national technical workshop held in March 1993.

Implications

The consultations and workshop will assist manager-level decision-making in all industries concerned with setting stocking rates in the rangelands.

RIRDC Project No: CSW-28A

RESEARCHER: Dr Mark Stafford Smith

ORGANISATION: CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ecology

PHONE: 089 52 4255

PUBLICATIONS:

Stafford Smith, D.M. and Foran, B.D. 1988. Strategic decisions in pastoral management. Austr. Rangel. J. 10: 8295.

Stafford Smith, D.M. and Foran, B.D. 1990. RANGEPACK: the philosophy underlying the development of a microcomputer-based decision support system for pastoral land management. J. Biogeography 17: 541546.

Last updated: 10 October 1996
Copyright © RIRDC
Index of RIRDC Projects URL
http://www.rirdc.gov.au/pub/compendium/93-94/index-b.html