Goals and Strategies for Aboriginal Cattle Enterprises.

In recent years Aboriginal people have regained ownership of large areas of rangeland, and in many cases are considering pastoral enterprises in their move towards self-sufficiency. New developments in research and extension must be made accessible to them. Rangeland researchers have recognised the need to focus much more on integrating scientific results with a better social understanding of managers' goals. Recent research indicates that goals and strategies in the commercial industry are often neither optimal nor singular. This applies particularly to Aboriginal communities; these have an even broader range of land use goals relating to traditional and non-traditional elements, the latter stemming partly from the introduced pastoral industry. Past assessments of Aboriginal pastoral projects have paid scant attention to identifying Aboriginal management goals and considering how they may interact with the project or conflict with each other. Attitudes to risk and production stability have rarely been determined, and consequently the impact of climatic variability has not been adequately considered. This has lead to the imposition of inappropriate management strategies and an over-optimistic view of potential returns. Based on goals that Aboriginal communities may have, this paper shows in principle how a pastoral enterprise study could take account of climatic variability in assessing stability and risk. One major set of alternative management strategies has been modelled with RANGEPACK Herd-Econ. This highlights certain features of low stocking approaches which may be lower in risk, more stable in turn-off, and more compatible with other Aboriginal community goals. Assessment of Aboriginal pastoral projects should place more emphasis on identifying what the goals of the communities and managers really are, how these goals interact, and consequently what form of enterprise is most appropriate. Some important points for the assessment of options are suggested. Some case studies need to be undertaken to document the interaction between community aspirations and a range of enterprise types, and hence to evaluate the potential effectiveness of these approaches to assessment.