P.PSH.1310 - NB2: QDAF delivery of Pathway to Practice pillar of Northern Breeding Business (NB2) program

Summary

The ‘Pathway to Practice’ pilot delivery of the Northern Breeding Business (NB2) program was designed to address key issues limiting long-term viability and sustainability in the northern beef industry (low weaning rates, high mortality rates and low turn-off weights) through increasing adoption of proven management practices and technologies. 

Northern Australian beef breeding businesses interested in exploring options for improved performance (through the collection and analysis of production and business data), were recruited for the program in groups of 5–10 businesses, supported by facilitators, to engage in benchmarking, peer learning and development.

The results and recommendations resulting from this pilot project provide the foundation for ongoing delivery of the NB2 program across northern Australia.

Objectives

The objectives of the pilot project were to support small groups of producers with:

• collection of standardised herd, feedbase and financial datasets to provide objective information for a practical beef business analysis
• independent analysis and reporting on achieving individual beef business key performance indicators
• producer group completion of training packages and/or skills development activities to inform decisions and enable management interventions suited to their situation
• validate the delivery of peer-to-peer group learning activities that initiate practice change for improving breeding herd reproductive efficiencies.

Key findings

• 46 businesses across Queensland, the NT, and WA participated in the pilot project, representing an area of 13,747,931ha running 436,441 breeding cattle.
• Collection of production and business data in standardised formats was difficult to achieve for businesses whose existing recording systems were not aligned to providing the data required.
• The project found facilitated, peer-to-peer learning effective in achieving adoption of proven management practices and technologies.

Benefits to industry

Through its successfully tested methodology of standardised collection and analysis of business and production data, the NB2 program has provided a framework for self-identification of interventions for northern beef businesses.

Delivery within a producer peer group was confirmed as the delivery format most likely to achieve sustained practice change.  Completion of the pilot has delivered a range of recommendations to guide ongoing delivery of NB2, and has provided comprehensive training manuals for future facilitators, coordinators and group members.

MLA action

MLA is continuing to support new peer groups through the NB2 framework.

Future research

Collecting herd production data in standardised templates was more difficulted than originally anticipated in the delivery of the pilot project. Although many current herd recording systems meet current needs of northern beef producers, many are not able to provide the breadth and accuracy of data required for the production analysis templates used in the NB2 program. Future extension and adoption investment is recommended to establish effective herd recording systems more widely across the northern beef industry.