Land Condition Guides – your invaluable guides to the carrying capacity of major pastoral land types in the Northern Territory
Ever wanted to know how many animals a land type can carry over the long term? The Sturt Plateau, Barkly and Victoria River Downs (VRD) Land Condition Guides are a fantastic resource to estimate carrying capacity for important pastoral land types and how land condition affects it. The guides were written by Caz Pettit and incorporate decades of research by the Department of Tourism, Industry and Trade’s (the department) Rangelands team.
They include:
- how to recognise land condition changes
- how land condition affects pasture growth and carrying capacity
- how this varies with rainfall in the region
- map of the land systems in each region with pastoral lease overlay.
Inform your day-to-day management
Understanding the safe carrying capacity of your land not only assists day-to-day stocking rate decisions, but can provide insights into how much your pasture will grow with better or poorer land condition. Will it pay to spell to increase pasture condition? Will it pay to destock to preserve pasture condition in dry times?
Inform your long-term investment decisions
How much should you invest in infrastructure development, pasture improvement and pastoral stations? Should you pay less for degraded country? YES! It doesn’t grow as much. Past stocking rates are not always indicative of sustainable carrying capacity. Assessing carrying capacity based on the current land condition will ensure you are valuing land based on its current productivity. You can also calculate potential productivity if recommended grazing management practises are implemented and land condition improves.
More information
Get your Land condition guides now!
For more information about how land condition affects productivity contact