Livestock Industries 2025 recap
This year the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Livestock Industries team has worked on many key research and extension activities across the NT.
Highlights for 2025 include:
Two Greenfeed units installed at Douglas Daly Research Farm, a first in the Territory, kicking off our part in the ZNE-Ag CRC funded project which is investigating whether we can breed cattle with lower methane emissions.
At our Manbulloo lease paddocks near Katherine, the MLA funded Mooternal project commenced, where 100 cows were fitted with GPS collars and accelerometer ear tags to monitor maternal behaviour and its links to calf survival. On the theme of technology, we tested Virtual Fencing collars at Manbulloo, Kidman Springs and on a commercial station, using them to control grazing distribution –keeping cattle where we wanted them to graze, or excluding them from areas we didn’t want grazed (funded by CRCNA).
We added to our rangelands research with the federally funded NT Sustainable Pastoral Carrying Capacity project, which established new SWIFTSYND sites and continued monitoring of existing sites in the Victoria River District and Central Australia, providing pasture data across more land types to inform carrying capacity recommendations. Also, in Central Australia, the new AridGraze project, funded by the Future Drought Fund through the Northern Hub, will see producers working with DAF to trial management strategies on Old Man Plains research station and continue long-term Paddock Challenge trials on commercial stations
It was an exciting year in the extension space, with Livestock Industries playing a key role in many events including the collaborative Farm to Feed Forum in Katherine, the MLA BeefUp forum in Alice Springs, and the DAF Barkly Herd Management Forum held at Alexandria Station.
With funding from the Northern Hub, our extension team delivered 14 Rangeland Management Courses on stations across the NT, attended by 124 station and pastoral industry staff that represented 76,000km2 of pastoral land. Also funded by the Northern Hub, the StationSmart project began in the Katherine Region, which is supporting a commercial property to implement management changes, documenting the process, benefits and challenges of doing so.
Work continued for ongoing projects including Shruburn (now in its 31st year!), Crops for Cattle (CRCNA funded), studies on the impact and management of Buffalo Flies, and FutureBeef (collaboration with QDAF, WA DPIRD & MLA). We also wrapped up some big ones, including the MLA funded SweetSpot project identifying pasture utilisation rates for optimum breeder performance.
Planning has started for 2026 with a few exciting events in the pipeline, including field days at Douglas Daly Research Station (April), Beatrice Hill (July TBC), Kidman Springs (August TBC) and Old Man Plains (September TBC).
Some new research activities in Central Australia are also on the cards. A full list of Livestock Industries projects can be found at Livestock industries projects and project updates are regularly shared through FutureBeef - your one-stop shop for northern Australian beef information.
