An increasing trend is for pastoral properties to send lighter animals to the southern region to be ‘backgrounded’, or grown out, to heavier weights to enable access to the live export trade or entry into feedlots for future abattoir supply. However, the success of this approach revolves around reducing the amount of weight that is lost in the transition phase during transport from station and settling into the backgrounding property. The aim of this project was to quantify weight gain/loss in backgrounding systems for the first two months following induction in the West Midlands region.
Data was collected on cattle that were transported to the backgrounding region in 2018 and 2019 from multiple properties within the Pilbara and Northern Rangelands regions of WA, with the backgrounding properties located near Badgingarra in the West Midlands region. The cattle in this study were transitioned in the May to October period of each year and individual animal performance data was collected to monitor weight gain from induction at the backgrounding property for a period of approximately two months.
Water repellent gravelly sands may require different management to water repellent sands to improve grain yield. An increase in gravel content can increase soil organic carbon, decrease the amount (kg/ha) of soil phosphorus and potassium and potentially increase leaching of nitrate. The sandy gravels of the Badgingarra area typically have gravelly soils in the higher parts of the landscape and deep sands in the valleys which may have different soil constraints for crop growth. This transect study was completed to quantify which factors are most important for grain yield in a sandy gravel soil.
To understand the financial benefit of the many ameliorations options, it is vital to know how long the productivity gains from their implementation are likely to last. In this trial, large-scale on-farm strip trials with repeated controls using grower seeders and harvesters were applied. This trial deonstrated one-off mouldboard ploughing, rotoary spading and claying.
This trial aimed to establish how claying of sands alters crop nutrient management. Subsoil clays used for clay amendment of sands vary greatly in properties. The trial determined testing subsoils for key properties best ensures a positive response to investment in clay amendment. Two of the field experiments were studied at Badgingarra on a site with low levels of water repellence.
Over the past five years considerable research has been undertaken assessing options for water repellent sands but less has been done for the gravel soils. The aim of this research is to look at soil water repellence management options for sandy gravel soils over a four year period (until December 2018). This research consisted of on-farm strip trials comprised of five different treatments for water repellence (Control, Paired row, minimal disturbance and two types of wetting agents) in combination with two cultivation treatments (modified one-way plough or no plough). The first year study showed that the adoption of a strategic tillage practice (one-way plough) provided a significant improvement in terms of crop establishment and grain yields on a moderately repellent sandy gravel.
One-off soil inversion and deep soil mixing can ameliorate repellent soils, incorporate nutrients and remove some compaction. Trials to date have shown benefits in crop productivity and yield but a more detailed understanding of the changes in soil properties and crop performance over time is required to better understand the drivers of changes in productivity and implications of buried topsoil. This trial was located in Badgingarra on pale, yellow and deep water repellent sand.
Strategic deep tillage can be used to ameliorate soil water repellence and subsoil constraints. One-way disc ploughs have a low capital cost and are relatively cheap to modify into a simple but robust tool for partial soil inversion. In this demonstration one-way disc ploughing was compared to rotary spading, a proven amelioration option for repellent sands and a number of deep ripping approaches, including some of the newer very deep rippers.
This trial was conducted on gravelly loam soil in Badgingarra by Bayer Crop Science. It was designed to compare the efficacy of Aviator® Xpro® to commercial standards for sclerotinia control and to compare yield and return on investment/ha. All treatments significantly reduced sclerotinia infection levels compared to the untreated. This trial also showed increasing the rate of fungicide increases early activity on active disease but will also increase the length of protection from reinfection.
This report outlines results obtained from soil and plant sampling in 2015 and 2016 and gives an overall analysis of the changes in soil fertility factors with time.The trial was designed to determine the long term effects of 1980 P treatments on soil fertility and was conducted in Badgingarra on deep, grey over pale yellow sand.
Clay spreading is a proven method for the amelioration of the water repellence and the improvement of productivity but it requires high initial capital investments and the outcomes can be quite variable.The aim of this trial is to identify the best combination/s of clay application rate and the subsequent method of incorporation in the topsoil (in combination with deep ripping) in order to increase the cost-effectiveness of this soil amelioration option in the northern region.Overall, tillage methods had a significant and negative effect on yield, with only the one-way plough tillage having a positive effect in comparison to the control treatment. Yields increased with increasing incorporation of subsoil clay, although the result was not statistically significant.