Victorian grain grower Tim Rethus describes his family as ‘moisture farmers’. “Moisture is critical for us,” he says, “Rain dictates yield, so managing seasonal variability depends on being able to conserve every bit of moisture we get.” While many of the tools and practices they’ve adopted are commonplace, it is their one hundred percent commitment […]
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Matching the nutritional needs of your livestock to the annual pasture cycle is important, particularly in northern Australia where periods of feed deficiency can persist for extended periods. Many cattle producers use the ‘green date’ to identify the start of the growing season and help time their cattle’s production cycles to match peak feed availability. […]
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Every week the Bureau of Meteorology releases updated climate outlooks for the weeks, fortnights, months and seasons ahead (Figure 1). The climate outlooks show the odds of the upcoming period being wetter or drier, and warmer or cooler, than usual. These outlooks are different to weather forecasts. While weather forecasts can tell you what the […]
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The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is a global circulation system that can bring big rains to northern Australia during the wet season, but it doesn’t always deliver. Essentially, it is a very large-scale wave in the atmosphere that can bring a ‘pulse’ of cloud and rain. It travels from west to east circling the globe near […]
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When a season fails, the decision to maintain livestock or to sell can have a big impact on cash flow, but when one ‘tough’ season turns to two or more, the consequences can become far reaching. This is one of the most significant challenges identified by industry reference groups from the Southern Red Meat and […]
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