Local Land Services Western Region

Cobar, Australia

An Overview Of Our Solution

New South Wales rangelands are potentially a substantial reservoir of biodiversity, 300,000 square km in extent, but the opportunity is presently lost through widespread unmanaged grazing impacts that suppress vegetation condition. Traditional livestock fencing fails to restrict the movement of increasing numbers of feral goats, so pastures become overgrazed and grassy habitats lost. Feral goat numbers increased from 500,000 in 1999 to 4.2 million in 2016. Over the past decade, Local Land Services has provided incentives for landholders to adopt improved fencing and management systems to control the combined grazing pressure of feral goats, domestic stock and native kangaroos. The result has been a significant improvement in biodiversity in conjunction with benefits to pastoral productivity and enterprise resilience. To date, over 1mill ha have come under mgmt.

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Rural

Organization type

Pemerintah

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Deserts

Grasslands

Population impacted

The landholder population is small, possibly 1000

Size of agricultural area

Individual property size ranges from 10,000 ha to 40,000 ha

Production quantity

n/a

People employed

Each landholding is generally operated as a family unit of two working people

Describe your solution

Over the last decade, innovative landholders have developed practices to manage total grazing & Local Land Services has encouraged uptake of innovations through incentive funding programs. The solution has involved (i) construction of broadscale fencing capable of controlling the movement of goats and to a lesser extent kangaroos (ii) removal of unmanged animals from fenced areas (iii) implementation of grazing management regimes based on providing periods of pasture rest. Gaining control of total grazing pressure can be transformational for enterprise viability & biodiversity. For the landholder, it provides the opportunity to progress from marginal wool enterprises with income buttressed by the harvest of free-ranging goats, with production constrained by seasonally-fluctuating low condition pastures. Landholders implementing total grazing pressure management can develop higher value goat or sheep meat & fibre production underpinned by increasingly perennial pastures. Managed grazing pressure provides landholders with benefits such as better control of stock disease, ability to generate fuel loads for prescribed fire as well as greater resilience to drought. For communities, it provides a positive future for pastoral industries, encouraging the retention of resident landholders. The biodiversity outcomes are evident as increased groundcover, greater pasture diversity, perenniality and biomass. This leads to increases in invertebrate populations, bird/reptile abundance

Describe your implementation

The solution has been underpinned by the innovation of landholders prepared to recognize the production and biodiversity value of improved grazing management as well as motivated to persist in developing fencing practices to control goats on broadscale areas. Fencing project scope is often in the order of 50-100 kilometers in length. Improvements in mesh fencing products and steel infrastructure have facilitated the innovation and rendered fencing large areas feasible. However, as well as fencing, gaining control of unmanaged goat populations requires the erection of efficient but humane trap facilities around stock watering points as well as focused mustering activity as feral stock are elusive. Once unmanaged stock are removed, successful projects have implemented rotational grazing practices based on managing for palatable perennial grasses. This has resulted in the return of perennial grass species such as red grass (Bothriochloa macra) that have been locally unrecorded or uncommon for many decades. Adoption of the solution has been encouraged by the use of financial incentives covering half of the cost of fencing materials and erection. The intent of the incentive is to overcome the perceived significant financial barrier to adoption. Applications for the incentives are required to submit a comprehensive plan for technical assessment and competitive ranking, a process necessarily subject to high standards of governance. Successful applicants are required to commit to a ten year management agreement based on the implementation of improved grazing practices. Auditing of compliance with management is a significant difficulty, especially when drought intervenes and landholders are tempted with returning to traditional practices based on high levels of pasture utilization. Currently the use of remotely sensed groundcover assessments is being investigated as a means of monitoring the outcomes of funded projects.

External connections

Since western NSW has a low population and few urban centres, there are few industry partners or support groups working with primary producers within the regional environment. Key government partners include Australian Government which has provided funding through a range of umbrella programs, the NSW Department of Primary Industries which has undertaken peer-reviewed research on the impact of change of grazing practices and the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage in developing groundcover assessment methodologies. Commercial entities have been engaged from time to time to provide training to landholders on property planning and grazing management, although the Department of Primary Industries has also been actively engaged in this field. Landholder partners include Western Landcare, an affiliation of smaller local Landcare groups who have strongly supported the program for improved grazing management and has at times brokered funding programs. As similar issues extend across the southern rangelands of Australia, informal collaboration exists with interstate practitioners and this is being developed through a recent program initiated by an industry group, Meat and Livestock Australia. In terms of policy, the threat to biodiversity posed by unmanaged goats is formally recognized at the Australian Government and NSW Government level as a key threatening process. However, there is a gap in policy in establishing the pest status of free ranging goats.

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

Western New South Wales (NSW) occupies approximately 300,000 square kilometers and consists of semi-arid rangelands with highly variable rainfall. While the vegetation remains in a natural state, it is in poor ecological condition with consequent reduced habitat value. The poor condition results from sustained high grazing pressures. Domestic stock are a factor in grazing pressure, but a significant component also arises from the impact of feral goats and two native species of kangaroos. Landholders are unable to manage the grazing pressures of goats and kangaroos as traditional fences fail to contain these animals. Consequently land cannot be rested from grazing and stocking rates cannot be adjusted to suit vegetation growth. Goat and kangaroo populations remain high due to the suppression of predators and expansion of water points associated with pastoralism. Commercial harvest of both goats and kangaroos is male-biased and has limited impact on population dynamics.

Describe the context in which you are operating

Primary production on western NSW rangelands is based on extensive management systems to produce mainly meat sheep and wool on individual property holdings of 10,000-30,000 hectares operated as family units. Stock and pasture management commonly operates at a paddock scale of up to 4000 hectares. Since settlement in the mid-1800s, the region has faced several degradation events affecting biodiversity including erosion and woody thickening. Present change largely dates from declining economics in the wool industry two decades ago, an associated decline in property infrastructure and an exponential increase in feral goat numbers. Absentee landholding and a decline in the intensity of management have contributed to the increase in goat abundance. The harvest of unmanaged goats has proven to be a lucrative low-input enterprise with rising goat meat values. However unmanaged goats have a marked impact on biodiversity through direct competition and impacts on vegetation, especially loss of grass cover. Native fauna, especially small mammals such as the kultarr (Antechinomys laniger) are also heavily impacted by feral cat and fox predation.

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

Goats are browsing animals, but they selectively graze best available pasture species to meet nutritional requirements. In western NSW, goats can access an abundant supply of nitrogen and protein in shrubs, but a balancing supply of digestible energy as grass is limiting. Since they can digest a wider range of species than other herbivores, goats are able to use pasture and survive until the landscape is bare. The biodiversity improvement resulting from fencing to control total grazing pressure involves a transformational response from pastures rapidly evident within initial growing seasons even in the presence of managed grazing. There is a vast improvement in groundcover, which in turn improves rainfall infiltration and slows erosion. A doubling of groundcover is readily achievable. This is accompanied by a significant improvement in biomass of up to 600% on some land types. Within five years a doubling of pasture plant diversity has been recorded. Once the lower stratum vegetation recovers, a recovery of fauna slowly unfolds, firstly with invertebrates, followed by reptiles and birds. In the long term, we anticipate recovery of small mammal populations.

Language(s)

English

Water

Water is a critical resource for biodiversity in semi-arid rangeland environments. Riparian areas and natural surface water sources are often heavily impacted by unmanaged goats leading to contamination, sedimentation and loss of plant diversity as well as competition for access to the resource. Gaining control of unmanaged goat populations is a key measure to improve the management of these areas.

Food Security/Nutrition

Rangeland grazing systems can be effective at producing food and fibre as well as preserving landscape character and biodiversity. In the situation where grazing animals are unmanaged, both security of supply and biodiversity are at risk. Australia has a rapidly developing export goat meat industry based on sought-after carcass characteristics and a largely organic production system. The opportunistic harvest of a feral resource presents risks to this industry as supply can rapidly fluctuate a

Economic/Sustainable Development

When landholders can more effectively control pasture production, they have access to a wider choice of grazing management regimes and enterprises. Effective grazing management can result in improved carrying capacities and provides impetus for the development of enterprises based on more valuable stock. Where goats have been controlled by fencing, many landholders have introduced Dorper meat sheep which have higher growth rates and returns. Diversification of income through different enterprise

Climate

Habitat degradation by feral goats is major ecosystem stress in western NSW and significantly increases the vulnerability of biodiversity to the negative effects of climate change. The availability of refugia during periods of stress, especially drought, is key to the survival of many species, but goats degrade many refuge habitats. For landholders, the implementation of a managed grazing system once goats are controlled allows for proactive implementation of strategies to accommodate seasonal

Sustainability

Competitively-based incentive programs funded through the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program have been important in initiating management change & these have covered 50% of fencing costs for selected landholders, linked to a 10 yr management contract. However increasingly landholders are identifying that fencing has a commercial rate of return and are implementing projects at their own cost. The economics are driven by the increase in the perennial grass component of pastures as well as improved biomass, which is substantially higher on paddocks fenced to total grazing pressure control standard. There is also the attraction of running higher value stock or using Boer goat genetics to improve productivity of feral goat herd

Return on investment

Costs of implementing improved management are approximately AU$10 ha-1in an environment where land values are of the order of AU$70ha-1. Factors influencing cost include the configuration & area of paddocks to be fenced. Large project areas, for instance 5000 ha, are cost effective to fence but the removal of all goats is an arduous and time consuming task especially if the landscape supports scrub. The last unmanaged animals must be removed if recovery is to be maximized as they selectively graze on the most palatable vegetation. On the other hand, smaller paddocks of less than 500ha have a higher cost/ha but are more likely to respond to more intense management. Pastoralists w experience believe investment is recouped in approx 2yr

How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

This solution could be replicated across the southern rangelands of Australia where sheep are produced, occupying approximately 25% of the continental area. Unmanaged grazing pressure from feral goats and kangaroos add to domestic stock impacts across this zone, degrading soils and suppressing the full expression of biodiversity. The control of grazing intensity in more intensive grazing management has the potential to minimize drought and climate change impacts and contribute to community resilience at this continental scale. Allowing continental scale adoption requires a consistent recognition across jurisdictions of the role of management of total grazing pressure and the linkages to resource condition including biodiversity, adequate on-ground demonstration & implementation sites, training on alt grazing management strategies and identification of the importance of incorporating periods of pasture rest as well as incentive mechanisms to overcome financial barriers to adoption

Overview