CSIRO's Lansdown Research Station is one of five national demonstration sites set up to help primary producers with practical methane management on-farm.
Woodstock, Qld (Lansdown Research Station)
CSIRO's Lansdown Research Station in tropical Queensland facilitates scientific research to improve the productivity and sustainability of the northern Australian beef industry.
Summary
Lansdown Research Station provides state-of-the-art facilities for field research aimed at delivering practical on-farm solutions to improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of the northern Australian cattle industry.
Facilities
Lansdown Research Station comprises 638 hectares of coastal mixed woodland country. Pastures range from open country to lightly wooded and support a mixture of native and improved pasture species, including Urochloa, Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana), Queensland bluegrass (Dichanthium sericium) and desert bluegrass (Bothroichloa ewartiana).
Pasture at Lansdown Research Station includes woodland.
The property has a stock carrying capacity of approximately 150 adult equivalents and is currently stocked with Brahman and tropical composite Belmont Red weaner cattle.
The Station houses research offices, support buildings, welfare-friendly cattle yards and other infrastructure including:
Research activities
Lansdown Research Station is one of five national demonstration sites established through an Australian Government initiative – Australia's Farming Future – to help primary producers adapt and respond to climate change.
As part of this program, research at Lansdown is aimed at showing the cattle industry and others how methane emissions from livestock in extensive grazing systems can be measured and controlled.
The research involves developing methods to measure methane emissions from cattle under their normal grazing conditions in the field and validating these against the 'gold standard' method using respiration chambers.
Lansdown Research Station also supports a multi-disciplinary science program that aims to better understand the interactions between cattle and their grazing environment.
This research focuses on studying the grazing behaviour of livestock, particularly in extensive systems, through the use of a wireless sensor network.
By monitoring animal movement, grazing behaviour, methane emissions and pasture characteristics, researchers can build a complete picture of the animal and its environment. This will help cattle producers achieve improved animal health and productivity, lower methane emissions and more productive and sustainable pastures.
Staff and partners
The Station has a permanent staff complement of two and the Station Manager lives on-site.
Lansdown Research Station primarily underpins the research of CSIRO scientists based at the Australian Tropical Sciences and Innovation Precinct, located on the James Cook University campus in Townsville, Queensland.
The research also involves key collaborations with scientists at other CSIRO sites, James Cook University, the University of Melbourne and elsewhere.
Research at Lansdown is funded by the Australian Government’s Climate Change Research Program, Meat & Livestock Australia and CSIRO.
Location
Lansdown Research Station is located on the Flinders Highway 45 km south-west of Townsville and 94 km north-east of Charters Towers in North Queensland.
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Read more about research within CSIRO's Sustainable Agriculture Flagship.
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