Value Chain Economics for Leucaena
| Project start date: | 18 March 2020 |
| Project end date: | 01 August 2023 |
| Project status: | In progress |
| Livestock species: | Grass-fed Cattle |
| Relevant regions: | Queensland, Northern Territory |
| Site location: | Far North Queensland: Mount Garnet; Forty Mile / Northern Territory: Douglas Daly |
Summary
To demonstrate the productivity and financial return for Northern Australian beef producers of leucaena-grass pastures from alternative pathways to high value markets.
Objectives
By June 2023 the PDS activities will:
1. Quantify the live weight gain productivity of established leucaena-grass pasture systems at the three sites located in North Queensland and the Northern Territory.
2. Determine the economic benefits on a whole of farm basis, of the inclusion of leucaena – grass pastures for the three sites at turn off for the alternative markets of slaughter (~600kg), feeder cattle (~450kg) and live export (~350kg) for dissemination to industry.
3. 10% of observer producers will have adopted leucaena-grass pasture grazing systems.
4. 70% of observer producers will have increased their knowledge and skills of the establishment and management of Leucaena-grass pasture grazing systems as measured through pre and post event surveys.
Progress
Leucaena offers the opportunity for producers to dramatically improve their productivity and increase stocking rates resulting in increased economic security and enterprise viability; as well as expanding the options for turnoff into supply chains where weight requirements were unable to be met due to feed availability or quality.
This Value Chain Economics for Leucaena in Northern Australia project aimed to demonstrate both productivity and financial returns at the producer level.
Three demonstration sites (Mt Garnet and Pinnarendi in North Queensland, and Douglas Daly in the Top End of the Northern Territory) undertook live weight gain trials with established Leucaena grass pastures.
The economic outcomes of three demonstrations undertaken across Northern Australia
were modelled. The primary purpose was to understand Leucaena profitability for each geographical area which generally target different cattle markets.
The demonstration site outcomes were complementary to the productivity gains experienced in the more established Leucaena growing areas. The project determined that average daily live weight gains throughout the year ranged from 0.605kg/head to 0.515kg/head compared to native pastures in these regions which ranged from 0.03kg/day to 0.05kg/day. The introduction of Leucaena into an appropriate grazing system has the potential to improve the enterprise’s gross margin by up to 324%.
