Kangaroo grazing and co-production

Kangaroo management options in the Murray Darling Basin

(Hacker, McLeod, Druhan, Tenhumberg, & Pradhan, 2004)

High total grazing pressure in the rangelands of the Murray-Darling Basin, including from domestic livestock, kangaroos and feral goats, has been a chronic problem for many decades…….The main focus of this project was to evaluate how well particular kangaroo management options might satisfy a range of interests.  

The results of the modelling indicated that ways do exist to manage kangaroo populations to the satisfaction of all stakeholders but it requires the joint manipulation of harvest rate and harvest sex ration.  According to these models the best compromise between stakeholder interests would be achieved by a harvest rate of 20 per cent with males comprising 70 per cent of the harvest.

Constructing the Social life of the Kangaroo: A Commodity Study

(Young, 2017)

Potential conservation benefits from kangaroo harvesting (workshop report)

(Grigg & Lunney, Dan, 1994)

Climate change and food security: cattle and kangaroos

(Stephens, 2019)

In this article Tanya provides an overview of the issues surrounding kangaroo management including: animal welfare, impact of TGP and influence of various stakeholders.  Tanya concludes that low methane emitting, environmentally friendly kangaroos are a good source of protein. It could be argued that to sustainably feed the projected 9 billion people by 2050 and maintain good animal welfare practices, countries should look at harvesting animals that are best suited to the environment of that country. Climate change is predicted to affect areas of Australia that are currently suitable for livestock production, so there is even more reason to examine the possibility of co-producing kangaroos alongside livestock. Kangaroos could be a source of international competitive advantage for Australian ‘livestock’, especially with the growing consumer demand for a clean, green and natural product. At the moment this valuable resource is going to waste.

Total Grazing Pressure

(Bestprac, 2013)

Summarises the impact of kangaroos and feral goats in managing total grazing pressure and the importance of gaining control of all herbivores. Refers to Western NSW and work that Cathy Waters did investigating the impact of TGP fencing with either rotational grazing or set stocking management regimes

Where are the roos in your rotation?

(RCS Australia, 2017)

A survey was conducted in April and May 2009 by RCS on a property near Charters Towers that had been managed under time control grazing for 7 years.  The previous 12 months had been very wet.  The planned rest period at this time was 90 days.  Early morning observation of roo numbers were made along transects in paddocks and later observations of roo grazing, scats and tracks were made.  The noticeable thing was that these particular roos were targeting the shorter grown plants that had previously been grazed by their own species.  The author concluded that the roos and cattle were eating the same species of plants and legumes but targeting different stages of growth and the kangaroo is not necessarily in competition with the cow but with the grazing manager’s ability to rest plants.

Building Cooperation and Collaboration in the Kangaroo Industry – towards a role for landholders

(Ampt & Baumber, 2010)

This report documents the Barrier Ranges Sustainable Wildlife Enterprise Trial undertaken by the Future of Australia’s Threatened Ecosystems (FATE) Program from UNSW between June 2006 and June 2009.

Commercial and Sustainable Use of Wildlife (Suggestions to improve conservation, land management and rural economies)

(Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, 2008)

This report examines some of the regulatory issues impacting on the RIRDC Sustainable Wildlife Enterprise (SWE) trials, which aim to test whether commercial sustainable use of wildlife in several rangeland sites can provide incentives for conservation and habitat restoration.

Sustainable Wildlife Enterprise Trials

(Wilson, Woodrow, & Edwards, 2008)

This report summarises progress, lessons learnt and opportunities identified in the Sustainable Wildlife Enterprise (SWE) trials which were testing if commercial value of wildlife could be an incentive for changing on-farm land management practices.

Native wildlife on rangelands to minimize methane and produce lower-emission meat: kangaroos versus livestock

(Wilson & Edwards, 2008)

This paper explores the opportunity for Australian landholders to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by shifting from standard livestock to low-methane producing kangaroos, particularly in Australia’s rangelands.

The kangaroo conundrum: home range studies and implications for land management

(Viggers & Hearn, J P, 2005)

This research studied the home range of Eastern grey kangaroos Macropus giganteus across different types of land use and in relation to population density and pasture availability.

Kangaroos – a better economic base for our marginal grazing lands?

(Grigg, 1987)

An address by Gordon Grigg to the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Wildlife Forum Series, this paper argues that the best way to counter the spread of deserts in Australia’s marginal grazing lands may be to initiate a marketing drive for kangaroo products to encourage graziers to reduce traditional livestock in favour of free-range kangaroos.

Sharing Skippy: how can landholders be involved in kangaroo production in Australia?

(Cooney, Baumber, Ampt, & Wilson, 2009)

This paper explores arguments for increased landholder involvement in kangaroo production to reduce GHG emissions, better manage total grazing pressure, reduce land degradation and improve vegetation and biodiversity outcomes.

Integrating Kangaroo (Macropus sp.) and other wildlife with agriculture in Australia.

(Wilson G. , 2004)

This paper described the plans to implement the Sustainable Wildlife Enterprise trials that took place in the following years on the basis of helping to shift the paradigms of pastoral production and natural resource management in Australia.

Kangaroos in the rangelands: opportunities for landholder collaboration

(Baumber, Cooney, Ampt, & Gepp, 2009)

This paper outlines the  3 year Future of Australia’s Threatened Ecosystems (FATE) Program’s approach to explore conservation through sustainable use of wildlife/kangaroos.

Energy, water and space use by free-living red kangaroos Macropus rufus and domestic sheep Ovis aries in an Australian rangeland

(Munn, Dawson, McLeod, Dennis, & Maloney, 2012)

Pasture grazing by black-striped wallabies (Macropus dorsalis)

(Baxter, Moll, & Lisle, 2001)

A park with a kangaroo problem

(Cheal, 1986)

Investigates population management of kangaroos in Hattah-Kulkyne National Park in Victoria, Australia, to preserve important vegetation communities. The vegetation in the Park has suffered from overgrazing, and the rehabilitation programme includes culling kangaroos. Population management of this kind often generates controversy, and the author, a research botanist, explains why it is necessary in this Park.

The kangaroos of Yan Yean: history of a problem population

(Coulson, Alviano, Ramp, & Way, 2000)

The catchment of Yan Yean Reservoir is situated on the rural fringe of Melbourne and supports a large population of Eastern Grey kangaroos.  These kangaroos have been considered a problem within the catchment and its agricultural matrix for a long time.  This article outlines the development of an interdisciplinary study into the ecology of the kangaroo population, impact on vegetation and kangaroos in the catchment and interactions with the rural matrix.

Changes in vegetation condition following kangaroo population management in Wyperfeld National Park

(Cowans, Gibson, Westbrooke, & Pegler, 2006)

Report on annual western grey kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus) management programs that were implemented in Wyperfield National Park, Victoria, as part of a strategy for the conservation and rehabilitation of vegetation communities.  Due to public sensitivity to the culling of native animals it is essential to demonstrate that such actions result in environmental improvement. 

Practical and theoretical implications of a browsing cascade in Tasmanian forest and woodland

(Hazeldine & Kirkpatrick, 2015)

Building connections between kangaroos, commerce and conservation in the rangelands

(Ampt & Baumber, 2006)

Sympatric prey responses to lethal top-predator control: predator manipulation experiments

(Allen, Allen, Engeman, & Leung, 2014)

Introduced and native herbivores have different effects on plant composition in low productivity ecosystems

(Travers, Eldridge, Dorrough, Val, & Oliver, 2017

The plants eaten by sheep and by kangaroos grazing together in a paddock in South-Western Queensland

(Griffiths & Barker, 1966)

Addressing feed supply and demand through total grazing pressure management

(Waters, C 2018)

Land managers’ and service providers’ perspectives on the magnitude, impact and management of non-domestic grazing pressure in the southern rangelands of Australia

(Atkinson, Hacker, Melville, & Reseigh, 2020)

Total grazing pressure – a defining concept for extensive pastoral systems in the Southern rangelands of Australia

(Hacker, Sinclair, & Waters, 2019)

Prospects for ecologically and socially sustainable management of total grazing pressure in the southern rangelands of Australia

(Hacker, Sinclair, & Pahl, 2019)

Macropods, feral goats, sheep and cattle. 1. Equivalency in how much they eat

(Pahl L. , 2020)

Macropods, feral goats, sheep and cattle. 2. Equivalency in what and where they eat

(Pahl L. , 2019)

Balancing stakeholder interests in kangaroo management – historical perspectives and future prospects

(McLeod & Hacker, 2019)

Water use and feeding patterns of the marsupial western grey kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus melanops) grazing at the edge of its range in arid Australia, as compared with the dominant local livestock, the Merino sheep (Ovis aries)

(Munn, Skeers, Lauren, McLeod, & Dawson, 2014)

Insights on the relationship between total grazing pressure management and sustainable land management: key indicators to verify impacts

(Waters, McDonald, Reseigh, Grant, & Burnside, 2019)

The foraging behaviour of the Arid Zone Herbivores the Red Kangaroo (Madcropus rufus) and the Sheep (Ovis aries) and its role in their competitive interaction, population dynamics and life-history strategies

(McLeod S. , 1996)

Seasonal changes in diet preferences of free-ranging red kangaroos, Euros and sheep in Western New South Wales

(Ellis, Russell, Dawson, & Harrop, 1977)

Impact of red kangaroos on the pasture layer in the Western Australian arid zone

(Norbury, Norbury, & Hacker, 1996)

Feeding biology of two functionally different foregut-fermenting mammals, the marsupial red kangaroo and the ruminant sheep: how physiological ecology can inform land management

(Munn, Dawson, & McLeod, 2010)

How much do kangaroos of differing age and size eat relative to domestic stock?? Implications for the arid rangelands

(Dawson & Munn, 2014)