Protein lick project boosts heifer weight and fertility at Rocklands

Rocklands Station, located 200 kilometres north west of Mount Isa, in conjunction with the University of Queensland and Meat and Livestock Australia, are conducting a project called Calf Alive, which works to increase the reproductive performance of a herd.

Three hundred Angus heifers are subjects in the trial with half receiving normal dry lick and the other half receiving a high protein lick.

The University of Queensland associate professor Luis Silva said the project was working to find ways to increase the nutrition of pregnant heifers and lower calving mortality rates.

"All the cattle stay in the same paddock, eating the same pasture and the only difference is the supplement that we are giving to the pregnant heifers," Mr Silva said.

"We put the protein lick out for six weeks around the time of calving. We are trying to help the heifers to go through the transition from being a pregnant heifer to a lactating heifer.

"It is a very stressful time for them and that happens at the peak of the dry season when the forage quality is lower, so that's when they need a lot of nutrients to finish the pregnancy and stat lactating."

Mr Silva said the project had seen significant changes in the livestock.

"We saw overall a 30 kilogram increase in the total live weight production, so the heifer is losing less weight during the dry season," Mr Silva said.

"Other other things we are seeing is an increase in the fertility rate of these heifers.

"During this stressful period we are also expecting the heifers to become pregnant again.

"So the bulls are put back with the animals and they have three to four months to become pregnant again so they can have a calf every year."

Mr Silva said the cows were a "higher risk group" as they not only require the nutrients for the pregnancy and lactation, but are also still growing.

"They're only teenagers. So they need nutrients for their growth and that is usually where you see higher number of calves dying shortly after birth and lower fertility rates because they need more energy and protein then the mature cows," he said.

"The project has been focusing on this group to see if we can decrease this problem."

Mr Silva said there were other lines of research associated with this project.

"We are also trying to identify the more efficient animals. Even with the harsh conditions there are always some animals that do well, are fertile and don't lose a lot of weight and they can handle the environment better then the others," he said.

"We have developed a tail hair test to identify these animal early in life.

"We are also monitoring the animals response to heat stress and trying to identify the animals that handle heat stress better. To do that we are using GPS collars to monitor the behaviour of the animals during a heatwave, with the idea of the animals that are more resistant will continue to graze while others are seeking shade. So we are keeping an eye out for changes in animal behaviour.

"And the final part is the genetics. We want to use all this information to develop genetic markers that we can use to select animals that are more efficient, more resistant to heat stress and are more fertile and productive."

Rocklands Station is one of 12 properties across Queensland and the Northern Territory taking part in the project, with almost streamline results seen across the project.

"Overall trend for the first year of the project is exactly what we are seeing at Rocklands, increase in weight and increase in re-conception rates," Mr Silva said.

"The other thing that is important is the season variations. One of the thing that we like about this project is that we get to monitor all these properties for three different years.

"In 2022, it was a very wet year and this year is a dry year, so we will get to see the seasonal variation which will be important to us."

Mr Silva said findings from each year were shared with graziers and industry bodies.

"We have been running an annual meeting, which we just had in Mount Isa. We had 70 producers and extension agents with us and discussed the results from the 2022-23 season," he said.

"Next year in November when we have correlated all the results from the 2023-24 season we will have another meeting."