Premise has a proud history of supporting and growing successful agricultural enterprise in Australia.
For more than 20 years, our dedicated Agriculture team has focused on providing ethical, innovative and practical solutions that enable producers to improve profitability and efficiency.
Last week, Premise Agriculture was front and centre at the Intensive Ag Conference 2018.
The event, held in Dalby from February 28th to March 1st, brought together Queensland’s leaders in intensive agriculture, along with Local Government and enterprise organisations.
The Intensive Ag Conference drives collaboration across the agricultural sector, with the purpose of sharing industry knowledge and fostering innovation.
This year’s conference covered a range of topics, including environmental and animal welfare, waste management concepts, water advocacy and updates from Local Government and regional specialists.
Dr Peter Watts, Premise’s Principal Agricultural Engineer, presented his findings on the management of intensive feedlots within Australia today.
According to Dr Watts, feedlot management has markedly improved over the last 30 years, owing mainly to the industry’s introduction of a self-regulating scheme.
“In the past, feedlots were managed very poorly”, Dr Watts told ABC Radio during the conference.
“Feedlots were developed close to human residences and buildings, which presented a range of issues such as odour control, and gave feedlots a negative reputation within the community”.
“Today, the industry’s National Feedlot Accreditation Scheme (NFAS), has encouraged feedlot operators to comply with standards that minimise environmental impacts and improve animal welfare”, Dr Watts said.
“The NAFS has been widely adopted by the industry, although there are occasionally ‘bad eggs’ who do not maintain best practice operations”.
Water use efficiency has also improved, and whilst energy use remains high, changes in the digestibility of cattle feed can help reduce waste emissions from feedlots.
For more information, visit Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise online.
