Shifting cattle from grazing extensive pastures to floodplain pastures in the Northern Territory: Effect on rumen microbial communities

Abstract

The majority of beef cattle production in northern Australia is extensively grazed on unimproved pastures
and aged cows are often preferentially culled from breeding herds, as they are at increased risk of mortality. The sale of these surplus to breeding requirement cows (culled cows) is often an important contributor to the overall revenue generated by the beef enterprise. Aged cows are often low in body condition at the time of culling and relocating them to the higher-quality floodplain pastures to increase liveweight and improve carcase characteristics has been identified as having the potential to increase profits.