Brian Pastures Research Facility

Site Details

Overview of the site

Brian Pastures Research Facility is owned by AgForce and leased and operated by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF). Brian Pastures is situated 18km East South East of Gayndah in the sub-coastal Speargrass region of South East Queensland and has a safe long-term carrying capacity of 500 adult equivalents. The majority of Brian Pastures Research Facility is undulating, rising to hills with sound areas of black-soil flats and alluvial soils in areas that front Barambah Creek. The main native grass is Black Spear grass and Forest Blue grass. Improved pasture grasses and legumes have been planted over a large proportion of the facility. Grasses include Creeping blue, Gayndah buffel, Purple pigeon, Desmanthus, Green panic and a selection of Rhodes grasses. Legumes include Seca stylo, Fine-stemmed stylo, Siratro, Vetch, Wynn cassia and Burgundy bean.

Several of the improved pasture paddocks are contoured and 40ha can be irrigated through the present irrigation licence from the Barambah Creek. The facility also has 100ha of leucaena legume paddocks dispersed over the property in strategic locations.

Brian Pastures Research Facility provides an atmosphere suitable to the diverse requirements of intensive and semi-intensive environments of beef-cattle research and development with some cropping and horticulture capacity.

Facilities

General facilities

Office and visitor accommodation

The main administration and office complex comprises office accommodation suitable for 10 staff. Fully self-contained and serviced quarters comfortably accommodate up to 6 “short stay” guests and 5 on-site residences.

General

Purpose-built mechanical workshop, extensive machinery, equipment storage and a chemical storage shed.

Specialised infrastructure

Individual animal pens

The undercover intensive animal pens adjacent to yards have 44 individual pens, manual drafting systems, integrated feed preparation, sample processing areas, storage shed, hay sheds, 50 tonne molasses storage tanks and grain silos, an air-conditioned laboratory and staff amenities. The pens provide for research development and extension activities in nutrition, animal behaviour and further trial activities needing separation of animals.

Laboratories, processing facilities

Laboratories

The facility has:

• 2 dry laboratories, suited to processing samples for entomology, pathology and agronomy
• 2 laboratory drying ovens
• one cold room.

Livestock handling facilities

The main yard has a 500 adult equivalent capacity, manual drafting systems and livestock exclusion zones, covered work areas, veterinary crush, weighing facility and NLIS race side reader, veterinary chemical storage shed and staff amenities.

Conference room

The Brian Pastures Research Facility conference room has the capacity to seat 50 people, kitchen facilities, outdoor dining area, and amenities.

Irrigation

Barambah Creek—an electric 60hp pump drives the travelling irrigator.

Water storage

Stock and general use water is drawn from Barambah Creek and reticulated from a series of strategically located storage tanks which gravity feed to most outlets. Storage capacity is around 527,000 litres.

The office precinct including residences are supplied with both rainwater and creek water, with rainwater storage capacity around 160,000 litres.

Research work

Research and development work currently being undertaken on or from Brian Pastures includes:

• accelerated improvement of female reproduction in tropical breeds
• pasture dieback trial
• Indian cooch invasion trial: scope, production impacts and management options
• SWIFTSYND: pasture monitoring for input into pasture modelling software (Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation)
• Forestry hardwood cultivar trial: range of hardwood crosses to evaluate production of hardwood trees for timber (DAF).