Northern Territory Grazier John Khan writes:
G’day fellow Agmates. My family are cattle farmers in the Batchelor area 100km South of Darwin in the Northern Territory (NT). This region has the most intensive growth of Gamba grass in the Top End.
There is an assured rainfall every year and it could be one of the most productive areas in Australia, but we have always suffered from the governments’ apathy and stubborn resistance.
(Photo of John Khan out checking cattle on his families property ‘Kita Lagoon’.)
I came to the Top end more than 40years ago after working on stations in others parts of NT, Western QLD and Northern SA. At that time cattle grazing was not very successful in the Top End.
The carrying capacity was very low due to the useless native grasses (predominantly Spear Grass) and the long Dry season, and the cattle were stunted and un-thrifty.
(This is a photo of native Spear Grass (sorghum intrans) which is the most worthless weed in the Top End.)
Three things have allowed grazing cattle to become a viable business in the Northern Territory
1. The introduction of Bos Indicus cattle:
(Steers Grazing out from Supplement Feeder on our property Kita Lagoon.)
2. Supplementary feeding of cattle (especially with urea) as seen in the photo above.
and
3. The introduction of the improved tropical pasture Gamba grass.
(These are our cattle grazing on Gamba Grass at Kita Lagoon.)
There was not much Gamba around twenty years ago but since then it has spread naturally over a large area replacing the native Spear grass.
(Below is Gamba Grass under Grazing conditions in the Northern Territory.)
About ten years ago a group of people formed a conspiracy to eradicate farming in Northern Australia, and return the savanna to a “pristine” wilderness.
These radicals hid under the cloaks of the Darwin University, CSIRO and the multitude of government departments and other organizations calling themselves conservationists.
They knew that the only way to realize their goal was to use “the salami slicing” method and they selected “land clearing” for the first slice.
This stopped new farms being developed but it did not affect the farms already cleared so the second slice was Gamba.
(Our Cattle love Gamba grass. See in this photo how around this watering point they are eating it under the fence of the adjoining paddock.)
Gullible local residents were steadily brainwashed with lies and propaganda about Gamba grass and then a wonderful opening presented itself to them.
A Batchelor rural resident, John Earthrowl, on a twenty acre block had a bush fire stopped fifty meters from his house. He blamed Gamba for the fire and made a lot of noise so the radicals set him up as the front man. Earthrowl organized and chaired a meeting in Batchelor to discuss what should be done with Gamba.
The meeting was totally set up, orchestrated and rehearsed with many of the speakers being radical. They whipped up hysteria with their outrageous lies and prophecies and the radicals shot out of the cupboard.
They enlisted the aid of the loony left, the suburban trendies, the poison pumpers and the hungry media and the campaign started in earnest.
My grand daughter Rashida and I had been researching Gamba for some time so we hit the Minister for Environment and the Government departments concerned with enough facts and information to almost shut them up for two years.
For example one of the lies they propagate is that Gamba is totally invasive, choking out every other species of grass. Gamba forms about 30% of the pasture mixture on our property. Here is a photo of Gamba co - existing with Stylo (a legume) on Kita Lagoon.
Under pressure from these anti - farming, anti development green groups Western Australia which has practically no Gamba at all, brought in legislation to ban and eradicate it.
Now these same groups are pressuring the Queensland Queensland Government to do the same.
The Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland has teamed up with the Queensland Conservation Council and the Wilderness Society demanding that the Queensland government declare Gamba a noxious weed. Click here to see their current Newsletter article declaring Gamba Grass as “Australia’s Worst Weed”
If Gamba is declared a weed they will go for the next slice- probably Buffel, then Leucaena, Calopo, Stylo, Para grass until every useful pasture grass is banned. Be warned, their real agenda is to rid Northern Australia of Agriculture.
THESE RADICAL “WEED WARRIORS” MUST BE STOPPED NOW!!
John Khan
Have your say - Should the Queensland Government cave into the outrageous demands of radical green Conservation groups or listen to the responsible view of farmers and farm lobby groups like AgForce? Tell us what you think? - leave a comment.
I note with interest that the Country Life has picked up this story today along with some ABA news - Letters to the editor. Is it a coincidence that these letters are now getting a run in the mainstream media when before they struggled to get acknowledged. Keep up the good work.
John,
Congratulations on coming out and dispelling some of the myths about Gamba Grass. All too often I think agriculturalists (farmers & graziers) take what they currently have for granted, and quite often are slow to react when their potential livelihood come under threat.
For the northern grazing industry to survive, we need more people like John to speak out about the benefits introduced pasture species offer to producers.
Some of you may have heard about the idea of some British girls for people around the world to buy all the carrots on the shelves of supermarkets on May ??, to create a worldwide shortage of carrot. While this may not have any real influence to the world carrot price, I wonder how many grass fed graziers out there would be prepared not to supply cattle for slaughter for say a week as a mark of protest. I know it is radical and left field. But how else can we gain maximum exposure about the potential plight facing the Queensland & Northern Territory grazing industry. Let’s fight fire with fire. The only reason the Environmental movement have had some much publicity is because of the fear factor. Why not place some fear back into the Australian consumer.
You have all lost the plot. It is people like you who give farmers a bad name (and the reputation for stupidity). If any of you were to actually look at the research on this plant you will see the obvious need for it to be illegal. Next you will tell me that the world is flat or that cane toads are good for australia. Crazy Bigots.
As the definition of A bigot (in modern usage) is a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from their own, I can only assume the use of Crazy Bigots at the end of Reginalds comment is his way of signing himself off.
In response to Reginalds comment, regarding research, I would like to say that the research most often presented comes from one institute (CDU incorporating Savanna research CRC here in the NT), and if you look at the Author list it is generally the same five people in rotating order.
Some of the research that we have taken the time to find and read comes from international sources such as the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture Columbia, Wageningen University of the Netherlands who are doing research in West Africa and also documents from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada just to name a few.
The sad part of this is that none of the “good” research is done in Australia due to tropical research funding being used to outlaw our grasses. What we provide are also our own experiences and observations in our local area.
Reginald I can also provide you with some fairly good research to assure you that the world is not flat and that cane toads are a pest, however I’m a bit busy at this point researching the crude protein % intake and metabolisable energy conversions of cattle on Gamba Pastures.
I can also only assume you do not live in an area where Gamba grass is the life blood of your business.
Rashida,
Excellent comments. I am glad to hear that there is people out there so passionate about Gamba Grass.
The lack of research on tropical pasture savanna’s in Australia is near none existent. Recently, we tried to find data on carbon storage of tropical pasture species, with Gamba Grass being the main focus and low and behold all the information was all overseas work.
Unfortunately, if anyone want this type of data they have to do it themselves, and then have justify their results, because it wasn’t conducted independently.
The problem is the independent organizations such as State and Federal Government and Industry Funded Bodies, don’t have the balls to do this research because they might be surprised at the outcomes.
I would be interested to hear how your research goes with the Gamba Grass feed efficiency.