Meat and Livestock Australia

36 Keith is also an avid user of machinery, having some areas of cultivation that are opportunistically used to produce forage crops. While no crops have been planted for some time, 400 ha of silk sorghum was sown in late 2017, an increase from 140 ha of cultivation in 2011. Apart from providing a high value feed source, Keith sees his cropping program as a means of improving country that was once dense INS. Keith currently undertakes this program by chaining (depending on vegetation type), deep ripping to 11 inches and then seeding. He is currently getting a heavy duty disk plow made up that he hopes will reduce the need for ripping and allow areas of regrowth to be effectively sown. There is also 800 ha of historical cultivation on Darling Downs that Keith will plant to silk sorghum. Going forward, his intention is to have upwards of 2,000 ha sown to silk sorghum and a mix of sorghum, premier digit grass and various clovers within the next five years. In the long term, native grasses will begin to reappear and supersede sown species, with sorghum lasting no longer than seven years. This integrates with Keith’s goat enterprise by providing high quality feed on which goats can be finished quicker. It also provides clean pastures to wean young goats onto in order to break worm cycles. Forage cropping allows land to become transformed from being dominated by woody vegetation to a productive, diverse pasture. In somewhat of a contrast to Keith’s plans for the rest of the property, in 2016 he successfully established a Carbon Farming project on 60 per cent of Tindarey. This allows continued grazing but prohibits clearing and burning. While reducing the area Keith is able to undertake management of woody vegetation, this project has allowed both the expansion of his business and the ability to focus more resources on improving other areas. Keith intends to run Darling Downs under the same management principals as Tindarey. It will however be operated as a separate business. Looking forward Keith’s plans for the future are largely centered on the development of Darling Downs and subsequent expansion of his goat enterprise. Land management is also a priority in order to regenerate areas of dense and re-growing INS to create a more productive property. Regarding the management and marketing of goats, Keith is content to continue as is. Industry direction In terms of the broader industry, Keith still feels there could be improvement in communication from industry bodies, specifically with reference to the use of levies. Tractor used to sow sorghum, which will also be used to pull the new disc plow