2006/Q04 Production Feeding for Profit

Summary

The project was run over a two year period and aimed to measure and compare improved pasture and production feeding options in the Atherton Tablelands to identify the cheapest cost per kilogram of live weight gain. This aim was facilitated by: 1. Improving producer record keeping to enable comparison of production feeding options; 2. Ongoing group discussion of profitable and efficient production feeding strategies; 3. Documentation of results for release to the broader beef industry in far north Queensland; 4. Utilisation of the Kairi Research Station to compare three groups of cattle consuming a standard urea mix (M3U) with a M3U production ration plus 15% grain and a new Ridleys product for molasses feeding called MFC plus grain to determine intake levels, costs and liveweight gain; 5. Improving the criteria that group members use to select cattle for production feeding; and 6. Collating kill sheet data to assess the success of meeting target market specifications