Agriculture Commons^™

The Productivity Of Western Australia's Wheat And Sheep Industry, Tim Coelli, Ross Kingwell

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

A popular economic lament is that Australian industries and workers are not as productive as they should be. Politicians and economic commentators preach the need for productivity improvement and workplace reform, and criticise inefficiency and lack of endeavour. Can such criticism be fairly levelled at farmers and agricultural scientists? What is productivity and how is it measured? What is the productivity of Western Australia's main agricultural industry — wheat and sheep farming? This article addresses these questions and shows that our wheat-sheep industry can be moderately proud of its productivity record

Coping With Brown Spot And Root Rots Of Lupins, Mark Sweetingham

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

There is increasing concern that brown spot and root diseases may limit the long term viability of lupin cultivation in close rotations in the agricultural areas of Western Australia. Research has found several useful strategies to reduce the impact of brown spot and Pleiochaeta root rot so that losses can be kept to a minimum. Rhizoctonia has proved more difficult to combat. Although less widespread than Pleiochaeta, it has caused severe losses and appears to be increasing in incidence, particularly in the northern wheatbelt. Research has vastly expanded our knowledge of the strains of Rhizoctonia present in our soils and …

Economics Of Interceptor Drains : A Case Study, Andrew Bathgate, Ian Evans

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

This case study determines the most likely rate of return to capital invested in constructing seepage interceptor drains to reduce the effect of waterlogging on crop and pasture yields. The analysis of a farm in the Denbarker region, west of Albany, determined what increases were needed in pasture growth to justify the cost of constructing drains across four adjacent paddocks. The benefits of changing rotations to include lupins were also determined, as growing lupins was unprofitable before the construction of drains.

Eradication Of The Liver Fluke In Dairy Cattle, Dave Muirson

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

In July 1987, a meat inspector found liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica) in a cow at an export abattoir at Waroona. This was the first evidence of the liver fluke completing its life cycle in Western Australia. Fortunately, the Department of Agriculture is reasonably confident that a comprehensive drenching programme has eradicated the liver fluke. The establishment of liver fluke in the south-west coastal areas could cause a serious problem for cattle producers and the small number of sheep producers. Stock would need additional drenching, and if it was not carried out effectively production could be lost or stock could die. …

Economic Impact Of Growing Phomopsis-Resistant Lupins, J M. Warren, Jeremy Allen, Wallace Cowling

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The planting of Phomopsis-resistant lupins will increase net farm income. They will also alter the traditional blend of pastures and cropping, depending on grain and wool prices. In mixed farming areas of Western Australia's southern wheatbelt, they will allow more land to be sown to lupins rather than cereals on farms in which the lack of sheep feed over summer severely restricts wool production.

The benefits of Phompsis-resistant lupins arise from a reduction in sheep deaths due to lupinosis, a longer safe grazing period (free from lupinosis) on lupin stubbles, a decrease in the need for supplementary sheep feed over …

Finishing Kimberley Cattle In The South-West, Brian L. Mcintyre, Bill Ryan, Neville Macintyre

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The idea of integrating the Kimberley cattle industry with that in the south-west of Western Australia is no new, but until recently it had not been critically evaluated.

Over the past eight years the Department of Agriculture's Beef Cattle Branch has been assessing the performance of Kimberley cattle transported south for finishing in the agricultural areas.

This research has show that Kimberley weaners can be finished in the south, and that under the present (December 1988) economic conditions it is more profitable than running breeding cattle in the south-west and comparable with fattening store steers.

Prospects For Leucaena On The Ord, D Pratchett, Tim Triglone

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

For the past few years, the Department of Agriculture has been fattening cattle on the forage shrub leucaena which is grown under irrigation with pangola grass. About 400ha of leucaena is under commercial production in the Kimberley.

Cattle grazing leucaena show promising growth rates but other problems need to be overcome before its use is more widely adopted. Leucaena establishes slowly. It is also costly to transport fattened cattle to southern abbatoirs.

The Effect On Farm Profit Of Conserving Stubble To Prevent Wind Erosion, A D. Bathgate

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Over-grazing of stubbles is a major cause of winf erosion on WesternAustralian farms. Stubble contributes to the 'roughness' of the paddock; as the roughness is reduced, the risk of winf erosion is increased.

The risk of lupinosis in sheep has previously reduced the likelihood of lupin stubble being over grazed, but the development of Gungurru, a phomopsis-resistent variety of lupin, has increased the potential for over-grazing and hence the probability of wind erosion.

This article describes the economic benefit (or cost) of conserving stubble at the conservation standards.

Trees In The Peel-Harvey Catchment, C S. Peek, Richard Silberstein

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The peel-Harvey catchment has been the focus for an intensive research and extension programme to reduce phosphorous run-off flowing into the Peel Inlet and Harvey Estuary, while maintaining agricultural productivity.

One of the proposed management strategies is to plant large areas of trees on the catchment's leaching sands. Farmers would be encouraged to take this option if growing trees was at least equal, in financial return, to the present agricultural land uses.

Preliminary data indicate that growing Eucalyptus globulas (Tasmanian bluegum) for woodchipping may be at least as profitable as agriculture. Tree plantations also have the added potential to reduce …

Weighing Scales For Sheep Do Pay, W D. Roberts

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Sheep producers can improve production by using weighing scales and keeping accurate records of weights.

Withiut some objective measurement, such as weighing, producers have no accurate method of identifying the heaviest, lightest and average weight of a group of sheep.

They could try to esstimate weight by eye - but most people are poor judges of body weight.

Closer Spaced Crop Rows And Type Of Farm Machinery : Viewpoint, R B. Doyle

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.

1080 Does Not Threaten The Northern Quoll, D R. King

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The poison 1080 is used in baits to control animal pests such as dingoes, rabbits and, indirectly, foxes. There is always the risk that some "non target" animals, particularly our native animals, might eat the baits and die, although investigations indicate that many southern native mammals are tolerant of 1080. The compound 1080 is found in many native plants growing in southern Western Australia, in the genera Gastrolobium and Oxylobium, and over the centuries native animals have built up resistance to its effects. Until recently the tolerances to 1080 of only a few animals from the pastoral areas were known. …

New Wool Prices Beg Higher Stocking Rates, K M S Curtis

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

In the past few years, increases in wool prices have varied, depending on fibre diameters. In 1987-88, fine wools (19 micron) were selling for as much as twice the price paid for coarse wools (26-27 micron). A wool producer can alter the fibre diameter of the wool produced through breeding and by management. This article discusses the effect of changing stocking rate on wool production, using WOOLMODEL to do the calculations (Curtis, 1986,1988). WOOLMODEL can also be used to examine the effect of changes in phosphorus application rates.

Btec Campaign Ends In 1992, Carole A. O'Dwyer

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

BTEC, the national brucellosis and tuberculosis eradication campaign, is funded jointly by cattle producers and the Commonwealth and State Governments. When the campaign was launched on July 1,1970, its aims were to remove a potential export trade barrier and to improve the level of herd health. The campaign should be substantially completed by the end of 1992.

The Kimberley region of Western Australia was declared free of brucellosis in April 1980, and the entire State was declared free in 1985, the first mainland State to achieve this status.

All parts of Western Australia south of the 20th parallel were declared …

Grazing The Rangeland : Towards An Understanding, Alec Mcr Holm, Donald Burnside

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Western Australia's rangelands are those parts of the State, excluding deserts, where inadequate rainfall prohibits their development for a cultivated agriculture. About 980,000 sq. km of these rangelands are held as pastoral leasehold land, with a total of 450 individual station businesses. These native pasture lands support about 2.5 million sheep and 850,000 cattle. The rangelands can be divided into three main natural regions, each of which has a distinct climate and vegetation. These are the Kimberley region; the north-western spinifex region, which includes the Pilbara; and the Acacia shrubland region of the Gascoyne, Murchison, Goldfields and Nullarbor areas. This …

Wheat Payments And Protein Content, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

In recent years there has been increasing support from within the Australian wheat industry for the principal of wheat growers recieving payment for their grain according to market value.

Individual loads are now tested for quality characteristics such as hectolitre weight, unmillable material and moisture content.

At present, technology is not sufficiently advanced to enable rapid and accurate analysis of individual loads for all important quality factors.

A more practical system of quality assessment would be one based on allowances for various basic measures (such as hectolitre weight, unmillable material and moisture content), variety (to allow for genetic differences in …

The Awassi Fat Tail Sheep Project, R J. Lightfoot

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Australia's first Awassi fat tail lambs arrived at Kununurra in January 1987, completing the first major step in an ambitious project to establish a fat tail sheep breeding industry in this country.

Fat tail sheep bred in the Middle East attract much higher prices than merino wethers imported from Australia. The question to be resolved through our product development and market research is what premiums will Middle Eastern buyers pay for fat tail sheep bred in Australia and exported to the region.

The Department of Agriculture believes that there is potential for Sustralian producers to enter these new markets without …

The Potential For Skeleton Weed, John Dodd, F. D. Panetta

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Since its introduction into Australia during the 900s skeleton weed has become one of the most economically significant weeds. Its presence in cereal crops in south-eastern Australia has caused suvere yield reductions and harvesting problems.

Skeleton weed was first found on a Western Australian farm in 963. Since then it has been the subject of an intensive eradication campaign organised by the Agricultural Protection Board and funded by an annual levy on wheat growers. Such campaigns, which rely mainly on volunteer searchers, do not exist in eastern Australia because the weed is so widespread it would be impossible to eradicate. …

Australian Economy, R S. Kingwell, Juliann Lloyd-Smith

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The Australian economy has experienced some dramatic changes in economic conditions over the lasdt few years. Low or falling export prices for our main exports, greater volatility in exchange rate movements and an underlying depreciation of the Australian dollar, high real interset rates, high inflation rates compared with our trading partners and a burgeoning foreign debt, are all features of Australias economic situation.

The economic environment affects the rural economy and has major implications of the prospects of Australia's rural industries. Therefore it is important to understand not only the main economic conditions facing Australia, as well as some of …

Eradicating Fruit Fly From Carnarvon, Kingsley Thomas Fisher

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Late last year the Mediteranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata Weidemann) was eradicated from Canarvon, Western Australia by using an intergrated programme of sterile insect releases and bait spraying.

The eradication marked the end of a four-year study on the use and effectiveness of the Sterile Insect Technique, a biological control technique which uses an insect pest against itself. such a study can be used as a basis for treating other threatening insect pests, such as the serious cattle pest screw-worm fly, should they be found in Asustralia.

Being a biological control method, the Sterile Insect Technique is an exellent …

Farm Debt In The Wheatbelt : 1984 Survey Results, Ross Kingwell

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

In recent years many farms in Western Australia's wheat-growing areas have experienced adverse seasons. For example, the 1983-84 season was characterised by a late start, dry spring and wet harvest which resulted in many farms suffering a combination of low yields and the downgrading or dockage of their grain.

Poor seasons and poor profitability prospects for wheat-growing caused some concern about farm indebtedness in these areas.

In late 1983, a Parlimentary select committee was appointed to inquire into rural hardship. The State Minister for Agriculture also announced that the Department of Agriculture would conduct a farm survey to determine the …

New Grape Varieties For Premium Wines, A C. Devitt

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The quantity and style of wine consumed in Australia has changed dramatically since the 960s.

Besides the increase in consumption from 9 to 19.9 litres per head in the past 10 years, the major changes have been the greater importance of table wine, particularily white table wine, and the more exacting standards set by consumers and wine producers.

Also more importance has been placed on distinctive regional and varietal wines and the role of premium varieties.

The Secretive Silvereyes, I J. Rooke

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Durinf the past five years the agricultural Protection Board, in co-operation with scientists from CSIRO's Division of Wildlife Research and the University of Western Australia, had studied the biology and control of the silvereye in the South-West of Western Asustralia. The project was partially funded by a voluntary levy on vignerons in the Margaret River and Mt Barker areas.

The first part of the study investigated the bird's bioloogy - its food requirements, reproductive rate, how it interacted with other birds and its seasonal movements, It was hoped that this knowledge would help develop effective techniques for either controlling the …

Preventing Vineyard Damage By Silvereyes, I J. Rooke

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

In the previous article, Dr I Rooke outlined the studies which helped to devise practical ways of controlling attacks by silvereyes on vineyards in the South-West of Western Australia. The preventative methods vignerons can use are discussed here.

Keeping Starlings Out Of W.A, John L. Long

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

In Europe and North America huge flocks of starlings cause millions of dollars worth of damage to grain and fruit crops each year and large sums of money are spent trying to control them.

Starlings were introduced into australia in the late 1890s when more than 200 birds were released near Melbourne. They are now well established over much of eastern Australia, ranging from central Queensland, south to Tasmania and along the Great Australian Bight to the South Australian-Western Australian border, occasionally crossing it and sometimes moving as far west as the Esperance region on the south coast.

Some people …

Beating Soursob, J R. Peirce

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.

Avondale Research Station : Representing 150 Years Of Western Australian Farming, D A C Johnson

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Avondale Research Station is open to the public as a 1979 Anniversary Year contribution by the Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the Primary Industries Committee of W.A.Y. 1979

How To Select A Tractor, W T. Brown

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

A look at some of the factors to be considered when choosing a tractor for your farm. There is no one answer

Matching Tractors And Implements, I W. Grevis-James

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Tractor and implement matching involves balancing implement load characteristics with tractor output characteristics to obtain the best output from the combination. Too much or too little can be costly.

Doublegee Control In Pasture : What Is It Worth, D J. Gilbey, R. J. Lightfoot

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

A recent study showed that the cost of spraying to control a heavy doublegee infestation can be recovered in the first year of the spraying.