The impact of livestock on paddock health

Jessica Crettenden 1 and Roy Latta 2
1 South Australian Research & Development Institute (SARDI), 2 Dodgshun Medlin
Peer review: Nigel Wilhelm 1

Key Messages
• After seven years of data, the results have shown no suggestion of any soil health or production loss issues in response to grazing, irrespective of whether crop or pasture inputs were increased or maintained similar to a district practice system.
• The 2014 higher input systems portrayed how increased inputs and costs throughout the season can result in increased productivity and subsequent profitability.
• Soil organic carbon levels remain largely unchanged in 2012 and 2013 from the initial 2008 measurements. Soil organic carbon changes are long term. Whether the 2014 figures are a long term trend which could be attributed to less production, thus more biomass decomposed and subsequent cycling in the soil or a short term anomaly will be determined in subsequent years.