Learning From History to Survive in the Future: Management Evolution on Trafalgar Station, North-East Queensland.

1998 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 104 ◽  
Author(s):  
RG Landsberg ◽  
AJ Ash ◽  
RK Shepherd ◽  
GM Mckeon

Managing rangeland enterprises requires balancing socio-economic goals within a production environment characterised by ecological complexity and large climatic variability. Trafalgar Station in north-east Queensland, has been trying to maintain this balance over a period of 80 years and three generations of the one family. This paper explores how management on Trafalgar Station has gone through four evolutionary phases and examines the advantages and disadvantages of each of these stages of development. The first 50 years of management was a technologically constrained era of low stock numbers and poor productivity but there were few resource management problems. Next followed a 20 year period of production maximisation which was made possible by improved cattle genetics and nutritional technologies. With drought feeding occurring more frequently and loss of perennial grasses and soil becoming more evident, there came the realisation that this high stocking strategy was unsustainable. The management of Trafalgar then embarked on a new philosophy based on conservative stocking (similar to historical levels) and increased emphasis on herd, pasture and financial management. This new management philosophy required a transitional phase where stock numbers. and income, were very low to allow pasture condition to improve. Current herd management focuses on maintaining quality rather than quantity, strategic use of supplements for production, and developing a diverse range of markets for sale cattle. Conservative stock numbers have increased opportunities in pasture management with 15 to 20% of the property now annually rested from grazing. Fire has been reintroduced to restrict "thickening" of native woody plants and to control exotic woody weeds. Together with long-term financial planning, these improvements in management are reducing economic risk. The perceived benefits of the current management philosophy are supported by simulation modelling studies of pasture and animal production and analyses of property economics.

2007 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 87 ◽  
Author(s):  
John G. McIvor

The effects of a range of pasture management options (introduced legumes and grasses, superphosphate, timber treatment, cultivation before sowing and stocking rate) on the basal cover of perennial grasses were measured from 1982 to 1991 at two sites, ‘Hillgrove’ and ‘Cardigan’, near Charters Towers, in north-east Queensland. Colonisation and survival of eight native and exotic grasses were followed in permanent quadrats in a subset of treatments. Overall, there were significant changes in total basal cover of plots between years and with tree killing, but no significant differences in sown pastures, fertiliser or stocking rate. Basal cover increased when defoliation levels were less than 40% but increases were smaller at higher levels of defoliation and basal cover often declined when defoliation was greater than 60%. Basal cover declined when growing seasons were <10 weeks, remained static with 10–15 weeks growth, and increased when growing seasons were 16 weeks or longer. There was some colonisation in all years but large differences between years. The differences in colonisation between systems were generally small but there was a general trend for higher colonisation at higher stocking rates. Bothriochloa ewartiana (Domin) C.E.Hubb. and Chrysopogon fallax S.T.Blake had low, Heteropogon contortus (L.) P.Beauv. ex Roem.&Schult., Cenchrus ciliaris L. and Aristida spp. had intermediate, and Bothriochloa pertusa (L.) A.Camus and Urochloa mosambicensis (Hack.) Dandy had high colonising ability. Survival of individual species was generally similar at both sites except for Urochloa mosambicensis. Heteropogon contortus and U. mosambicensis at ‘Hillgrove’ were short-lived (<10% survival after 4 years), B. ewartiana, Themeda triandra Forssk. and Aristida spp. had intermediate survival (10–50%), and C. ciliaris, C. fallax, B. pertusa and U. mosambicensis at ‘Cardigan’ were long-lived (>50% survival). Annual survival rates increased with plant age, were higher in good growing seasons than in poor seasons, were higher for large plants than small plants, and were lower at high defoliation levels than where defoliation was less severe. The differences between species in ability to colonise and survive, and the small influence of management compared to seasonal effects on survival, are discussed to explain species performance in pastures.


2000 ◽  
Vol 79 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 335-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz ◽  
Karen Luise Knudsen ◽  
Peter Kristensen

AbstractThe marine Eemian (marine oxygen-isotope substage 5e: MIS 5e) is represented by shallow-water deposits in southern and western Denmark, while relatively deep-water environments occurred to the north and north-east, where complete interglacial successions seem to be present. We present an overview of the marine Eemian deposits in Denmark, and discuss in more detail indications of climate variability, both for the late Saalian and within the Eemian.


Author(s):  
Teresa Montero-Romero ◽  
Magdalena Cordobés-Madueño

The non-profit sector is interested in elaborating reliable and clear financial accounting information to achieve several objectives: to know the real volume of activity in each organization, to use it to make financial and investment decision (financial management), and to contribute to improve the management system. This chapter shows the characteristics to identify the financial management and the management accounting in non-profit organizations. This information is used to define how to build an appropriate information system to provide the decision makers with reliable, transparent, and timely information. Besides the above, it also shows the usefulness of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), focusing on its definition, advantages, and disadvantages, as well as developing explanations of the major free software ERP and open source systems.


This chapter deals with the principles of finance as applied in the foodservice industry. It discusses the concept of revenue management, financial analysis and reporting, financial control, principles of budgeting, and forecasting. Specifically, it discusses finance in general and of the financial system and the meaning and application of financial management. It introduces the basics of the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of organizations. The important topics presented are the relationship of finance to other business disciplines, basic financial information in decision-making, understand financial statements, and financial ratios. It applies several analysis tools and techniques to learn about the time value of money, interest, and interest rates.


2006 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 993 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Robertson

The impact of different management strategies on production and profit can be evaluated with knowledge of how sheep production responds to changes in the available feed base and sheep or pasture management. This study aimed to quantify on-farm pasture and sheep production in mixed sheep and cropping systems in the Victorian Mallee of south-eastern Australia (325 ± 50 mm annual rainfall) as a prelude to computer simulation modelling. During 2001 (average rainfall) and 2002 (extreme drought) pasture production, the feed base and sheep production were monitored in 15 paddocks on 5 properties located across the region. Crop stubbles were the major source of feed for 6 months of the year, enabling ewes to maintain liveweight. There was more variation in pasture parameters between paddocks at the 1 location than between locations. The botanical composition, plant density, soil fertility and management were key variables associated with between-paddock variation in pasture production. Variation in pasture production between years was larger than within-year differences. In contrast, stocking rates were not much lower in the drought year of 2002 than in 2001. This study suggests there is potential for management to improve pasture production, and demonstrates the importance of feed sources other than annual pasture for sheep production in environments where the annual pasture growing season is short.


Author(s):  
Ileana Andreica

Abstract: A financial management eficiently begin, primarily, with an accounting record kept in the best possible conditions, this being conditioned on the adoption of a uniform forms, rational, clear and simple accounting. Throughout history, there have been known two forms of accounting: the simple and double entry. Romanian society after 1990 underwent a substantial change in social structure, the sector on which put a great emphasis being private, that of small manufacturers, peddler, freelance, who work independently and authorized or as associative form (family enterprises, various associations (owners, tenants, etc.), liberal professions, etc.). They are obliged to keep a simple bookkeeping, because they have no juridical personality. Companies with legal personality are required to keep double entry bookkeeping; therefore, knowledge and border demarcation between the two forms of organisation of accounting is an essential. The material used for this work is mainly represented by the financial and accounting documents, by the analysis of the economic, by legislative updated sources, and as the method was used the comparison method, using hypothetical data, in case of an authorized individual and a legal entity. Based on the chosen material, an authorized individual (who perform single entry accounting system) and a juridical entity (who perform double entry accounting system) were selected comparative case studies, using hypothetical data, were analysed advantages and disadvantages in term of fiscal, if using two accounting systems, then were highlighted some conclusion that result.


2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-86
Author(s):  
Ram Krishna Mandal

The North-East Region (NER) of India which comprises of eight states, namely Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura shares most of its boundary with China, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar. The NER accounts for about eight per cent of the country's geographical area and about four per cent of population. Tribals account for more than 30 per cent of the total population of NER. Inadequate and poor infrastructure, inhospitable terrain and a com¬paratively late start in the development process are some of the reasons for economic back¬wardness of the region. However, the NER has certain strengths in different angles to achieve economic development in easy way. From the geo-political angle, the NER is located in a strategic location as it is bounded by these several foreign countries. Naturally it has got both advantages and disadvantages due to its location. So far advantages are concerned it is connected with the South-East Asian countries mainly China, Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia and Indonesia etc where almost half of the world’s population live. There is no doubt that this vast population could have great advantage for establishing any kind of trade and commerce. But the vary geographical condition basically the rivers and mountains of the country stand as a barrier and create geo–political tensions which ultimately act as most disadvantages factors in creating a conducive atmosphere in the path of developing trade relation among those countries.


2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 346 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Reid ◽  
A. M. Ridley

This paper reports on the social and business profiles of 39 landholders (in three groups) in north-east Victoria, participating in an Environmental Management Systems (EMS) project, and their motivations for participating in EMS. The level and type of record keeping, formal monitoring, use of electronic technology, and interest or capacity to monitor their environmental performance were also assessed because this is a crucial part of the EMS process and one that research has not reported on to date. Landholder participation in EMS was mostly for reasons of wanting to better account for sustainability issues in farm management. Most participants recorded rainfall, soil test results, production measures and chemical use (in total 69–97%); however, 31% kept no chemical records. Few kept records of remnant native vegetation, pasture management, weeds, pest animals or native fauna. Electronic record keeping systems were used by 26% of participants. Almost all owned a computer and over 70% used the internet and email. To assess interest and capacity to monitor environmental performance, participants were introduced to a water balance calculation tool (this being a locally relevant issue) and asked to calculate their own values. Most participants needed two to three visits to gain confidence to perform the calculations and most did not view the tools as being of much relevance. This was in strong contrast to previous work carried out in the southern Riverina of New South Wales. We conclude that environmental monitoring is more important for catchment management authorities (CMAs) and state agencies than for landholders. If CMAs are to assess how on-farm actions lead to improved environmental performance, there is a need to collect information remotely, invest in monitoring or provide incentives for farmers. There appears to be insufficient record keeping and monitoring by landholders to trace chemical residue problems. This, in addition to a lack of environmental monitoring, means that farmers in north-east Victoria cannot substantiate either ‘clean’ or ‘green’ claims. Future work should focus on awareness and education in natural resource management, as well as improved record keeping and monitoring. Some form of recognition will be needed if the majority of farmers are to participate in environmental programs. Introductory EMS training provides a means of improving business outcomes, documentation and improving environmental management.


1995 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 23-25
Author(s):  
A. Anon

One of the main objectives of pasture management is to meet the annual feed demand of stock by manipulating the annual feed supply from pasture. This challenge is probably greatest for high country runholders because long cold winters and often dry summers severely disrupt the continuity of pasture growth and create a mismatch between supply and demand. Within each high country run there is generally a diverse range of landscapes environments whose integration with planning, and an appropriate choice of pasture species, and selective management, can help overcome this mismatch.


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