QDAF’s Craig Lemin with a young stand of Redlands on a trial site in 2017.

The Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF), in partnership with Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), will present the results of the live weight trial with ‘Redlands’, a new variety of leucaena, at a field day for cattle producers later this month.

The field day will be held on Tuesday, 28 May, at Pinnarendi Station on the Kennedy Highway 52km south west of Mt Garnet.

“Leucaena is a valuable, highly productive feed source that can add enormous value to grass pastures,” said DAF Research officer Craig Lemin.

“The trial results of the new Redlands variety show that leucaena can provide significant benefits to northern beef producers by doubling annual live weight gains and reducing age of turnoff.

“The great thing about this new variety is that it is resistant to psyllid attack, which can be a real issue for other types of leucaena, particularly in north Queensland.

“Another benefit of leucaena is that it takes nitrogen out of the air and adds it to the soil, to improve growth and that of surrounding pastures.”

There are a number of factors to be taken into consideration, before planting leucaena and these will be presented on the day. As well as presentations, producers will be able to view the 60 hectare grazing trial where the productivity of the newly-released psyllid-resistant Redlands is being evaluated in comparison to the existing commercial variety Wondergraze.

Scientists and researchers from Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), the Leucaena Network and the University of Queensland will be on hand and producers will be able to order seed.

The Pinnarendi leucaena trial complements a wider DAF – MLA evaluation program of promising grass and legume species across 12 sites in central and northern Queensland.

To attend the field day, please register at pinnarendi-field-day-tickets or email craig.lemin@daf.qld.gov.au