introduction

new hope grazing trial Case study

BackgroundNNew Hope Group is engaged in mining coal in the Surat basin region of Queensland. The New Acland mine is central to the operaons of New Hope Group in Southern Queensland. Mining is undertaken predominately through open cut techniques that require rehabilitaon of land following mining to return the land to commercial beef producon. Acland Pastoral Company (APC), a fullfully-owned subsidiary of New Hope Group, manages the pastoral business surrounding the New Acland mine site. The focus of the APC is on beef cale producon, however approximately 10% of available land is cropped annually.

In 2012 APC engaged Outcross to develop and implement a project to assess the producvity and sustainability of rehabilitated mining land returned to commercial cale producon.

ObjecvesTheThe objecve of the project is to provide APC and the New Hope Group with commercially relevant research outcomes to enable them to quanfy the performance of

Outcross & Acland Pastoral staff collecng data on trial cale.

the rehabilitaon program in terms of producvity and of producvity and sustainability.

TheThe project was designed to compare the performance of rehabilitated mining land based on three key areas of interest. Cale performance is the primary measure of interest as the ulmate land use for the Client is beef cale producon. In addion, we measure indicators relang to pasture agronomy and soil science and then perform stascal analysis to understand the interrelaon between kekey variables.

Methods

BenchmarkingOutcross has performed a review of literature to provide an understanding of what is achievable in regard to key variables, parcularly in relaon to beef producon in southern and central Queensland, grazing sub-tropical pastures. In addion we have gained access to commercial data from industry and APC to calculate expected benchmarks for key performance indicators (KPIs).

At Outcross we understand the importance mining companies place on returning mined land to a useable state. We understand how vital it is for rehabilitated mining land to be viable, producve and sustainable. Outcross provides expert knowledge in primary industries in addion toproject design and managementservices. Outcross has theprofessional soluon to measure and impimprove the producvity and sustainability ofyour rehabilitated grazing land.

This brochure demonstrates our experience and available services using the New Hope Coal Grazing Trial currently being managed by Outcross as a case study.

“Precision Livestock Management”

Monitor & Improve your rehabilitated grazing land

“Precision Livestock Management”

Pilot TrialInIn a pilot trial conducted by outcross during 2012, two sites were selected to be part of a closely monitored grazing trial. The selected trial site contained rehabilitated mining land sown down intosub-tropical pasture in 2004. Another site of unmined land was chosen as the control site, due to its established sub-tropical pasture that contained similar species to those those found on the trial site.

A total of 281 cale, that had been grazed as a cohort at Acland for five months prior to the commencement of the trial, were randomly split into a trial and control group and inducted into the trial. Outcross calculated equivalent stocking rates for each site.Fourteen breeds of cale were represented in the trial with the majority (73%) possessing a high percentage of Bos Taurus genecs and thethe minority (27%) possessing a high content of BosIndicus genecs.

The animals were predominately milk and two-tooth in age and weighed between 240 and 410kg. This is typical of cale being backgrounded or grown out in the district and desned to be fed for 100 days prior to slaughter for the grain-fed beef market. All trial cale were weighed on entry into the sites and were grazed on the sites for a period of 47 days, based on the calculaon of available grgrazing days.

Following the grazing period, cale were weighed on exit from the sites. Performance of the cale connued to be monitored on entry into the feedlot and exit of the feedlot for slaughter. Liver biopsies were collected post slaughter to be tested for contaminants.

Pasture samples were taken both pre and post grazing, using the median quadrant method. This method was used to assess and compare the quanty and quality of the pasture on both sites. Pasture samples were weighed and dried to enable calculaon of kilograms of dry maer per hectare for each site. These samples were then sent

to the SGS Food and Agriculture Laboratory in Toowoomba where further plant ssue tesng was conducted to gather more detailed informaon on the quality of the pastures.

AA total of 20 soil samples were collected from 10 locaons on the control site and a further 10 locaons on the trial site. These samples were bulked together and sent for laboratory preparaon and analysis. Samples were tested for the major elements including Nitrite, Phosphorous, Potassium and Sulphur. Further tests were carried out on the samples to gather informaon on the soil pH, electrical conducvityconducvity and caon exchange capacity of the soils present in each site.

ResultsComparison of the average daily weight gain (Kg/day) shows that the cale in the trial paddock (0.67) performed beer than those in the control paddock and benchmark data respecvely. (0.06, 0.60).

Average daily weight gain comparison

The weight gain for the trial group was higher than that of the control group and the benchmark data for the area, indicang that rehabilitated mining land can be as producve as land that has not been mined.

PPasture analysis revealed that the trial site was more producve than the control site in terms of pasture quality, further supporng the potenal for mined land to be rehabilitated to a commercial level of producvity.

For more informaon on how Outcross can assist your organisaon please contact: Tom Newsome: 0409 580 732tom@outcross.com.au

www.outcross.com.au

Outcross services

Soil scientests collecon soil core samples during stage 2 of the trial.

As demonstrated in our work with the New Hope Group, Outcross can provide a range of services to assist with development, implementaon and management of your project from the me of incepon right through and even beyond compleon of your final project report

Project design and implementaon

OuOutcross staff will take the me to get to know you and your organisaon to gain a full understanding of exactly what outcomes you’d like to achieve from your trial. In consultaon with you, Outcross will develop a comprehensive project focused on achieving your outcomes and providing your organisaon with meaningful data. Outcross will then work with you and your staff to implemeimplement your project.

Project Management and administraon

With extensive experience in project management, Outcross will manage all aspects of the project, including, development of an extensive and accurate budget, ensuring project tasks and deadlines are completed efficiently and on me, facilitaon of effecve communicaon between all involved pares and coordinaon and collaboraon of all major project reports and mileand milestone updates.

Provision of skilled and expert staff

Outcross acts as a third party project manager, allowing the rehabilitaon work to be assessed at ‘arms length’ from the Client. If addional experse is required for a field within the project, Outcross has experience in sourcing and appoinng expert personnel to assist and add rigour to the project. Outcross will manage all sub-contractors on your behalf meaning you only need to deal directly with OuOutcross.

Stage 2FFollowing the analysis of the pilot trial results and the provision of recommendaons from Outcross, the APC and the New Hope Group sawvalue in extending the project across a minimum of five years. The extension of the project aims to further demonstrate connued agricultural land use on rehabilitated landscapes to gain a beer understandingof producvity and commercial viabilityviability of these landscapes across a range of seasons and years to provide further evidence on the sustainability of rehabilitated landscapes.

Outcross is currently working with New Hope in stage 2 of the Cale Grazing Trial with the assistance of industry experts including pasture agronomists, soil sciensts, a veterinarian and an independent stascian.

The methodology for Stage 2 has been broadened to include the following addional cale, soil and pasture performance indicators:

• Faecal Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS)• Veterinary supervised animal health protocols• Swisynd and Botanal pasture assessment measurements•• Stocktake land condion assessment• Soil structure and ferlity measurement• Water mapping