Production of 1,000 kilograms Beef Live-weight per Hectare on a Whole Farm Basis.

Summary

Animal production benchmarks in terms of annual live weight gain per hectare are not well established for the red meat industry. Some data is available from collection and analysis of business records through specific benchmarking activities but these serve only to quantify current production rather than potential production that can be achieved through adoption of best practice pasture production and management. Work conducted on small (1.8ha) plots in the 1000mm rainfall area of Tasmania indicates annual potential live weight production is at least 1000kgiha. Producers are sceptical of this data because it is not based on whole farm management systems. 
In an effort to dispel such scepticism the work reported here was undertaken on a 160ha site at Cressy Research and Demonstration Station that receives and average annual rainfall of 630mm. Unfortunately the first year of this project was atypical in that the station only received 368mm of rainfall making it the driest year at Cressy since records began over thirty years ago. Despite this impediment the project resulted in production of 410.2kg live weight gain/ha during the 2006-07 financial year. Although this result is only about half that achieved in other areas with higher annual rainfall it does demonstrate potential production under drought conditions and therefore sets the minimum benchmark for the Cressy environment. 
 Although individual producer benchmarking is not universally undertaken the results from this work can provide an aspirational target for those undertaking such work and perhaps encouragement to those not currently making such measurements. The results are applicable to production systems based on temperate perennial pasture species. It is recommended that this work is repeated under more normal climatic conditions and the results integrated with those from the industry benchmark project.