Beef cattle production is the most important agricultural sector in northern Australia. This review addresses concerns about the low rate of adoption of research-proven practices to improve reproductive performance in northern breeding herds. Needs and gaps in research and development are analysed, and options to increase adoption and implementation of research outcomes are recommended, in three targeted areas: breeding herd management, feedbase management, and management of environmental sustainability.

Genetic evaluation of Australian sheep is conducted for millions of animals for more than 100 traits. Prediction of genetic merit of animals includes correcting observed phenotypes for environmental effects to allow fair genetic comparisons among animals, and is conducted by using old sheep data solutions because it was hard to fit these effects in each analysis. In the current scenario with more computing power, fitting all effects together and accounting for flock by sex by age interaction improves the utility of the model in predicting the performance of future progeny for weight traits.

This study compared once-daily with alternate-day feeding of ewes during the mating period and found no change in rates of pregnancy, twinning, lambs raised per ewe or wool production, although alternate-day feeding increased weight loss. The findings indicate that producers can reduce labour requirements by feeding at 2-day intervals, but increased monitoring and management intervention may be necessary to maintain liveweights when fed long term.

Optimum utilisation of abattoir by-products in poultry feed can reduce production cost and the need for waste disposal. Heat-processed bovine blood, rumen digesta and vegetable oil concentrate was examined as a partial replacement for soybean meal in poultry diets. Replacement of up to 50% of soybean meal improved liveweight gain and feed conversion efficiency of broilers, additionally providing cost and environmental benefits.