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Background
The rangelands are dominated by grazing (cattle, sheep and goats), as well as indigenous enterprises and mining which support a population of some 600,000 people. The sustainable livestock carrying capacity required to maintain resource condition is strongly dependent on rainfall and temperature. Australia’s rangelands have the most variable rainfall in the world. The use of management strategies and technology will assist rangelands producers to improve grazing management, pasture regeneration and water use efficiency and thus become more resilient to drought.
Utilising digital precision mapping technologies at the property scale, demonstration sites will be analysed using property utilisation and land condition tools to develop a plan for future management and infrastructure changes that could be implemented to improve drought resilience.
The Project
High resolution photos captured from drones can provide a wealth of information about the health and condition of a paddock, such as the amount and distribution of pasture and weeds, as well as the location of roads, cattle pads, fences and watering points.
Southern Gulf NRM, James Cook University and MaxusAI, supported by the TNQ Drought Hub, have been trialing the potential of this new technology on the identification and classification of Mitchell grass tussocks in the Southern Gulf rangelands areas.
The final report is due in early 2024.
Learn more about the project below.
This collaborative project is a part of the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund ‘Managing Rangelands for Drought Resilience project’ which brings together six Drought Hubs to showcase technologies and techniques that use mapping to improve rangeland management across Australia.
