Koala-friendly beef may be next big thing in farm sustainability

Pointing out that about 95 per cent of Queensland's koala numbers are found in farming areas outside the state's South East, Dr Bill Ellis is keen to promote the concept of "koala-friendly beef".

It's more than just a potentially catchy marketing theme.

Dr Ellis wants to see more proactive farm-based conservation initiatives and farmers rewarded for maintaining and aiding koala populations.

Many beef holdings had long been sanctuaries with surprisingly strong evidence of koala stability, despite the landscape being much changed by pastoral activity in the past century.

In fact, sensibly grazed environments - even grazed state forests and crown land - appeared to be favoured by koalas, he said.

Dr Ellis said while koalas were now a rarity in much of Australia, including many parts of Queensland, surprisingly resilient populations of the endangered national icon continued to be found, and encouraged, on many pastoral properties around the state.

The University of Queensland researcher specifically recalled, for example, discovering "cattle property after cattle property with good koala numbers" during a 2017 investigation inland from central Queensland's Clarke-Connors Range.

Although agriculture had dramatically altered traditional refuges and habitat, he said many producers were still careful to maintain specific tree species for koalas, which had been inhabiting the same areas for generations.

Frustratingly, however, the vast majority of Queensland's koala conservation budget focused on well intended initiatives to protect areas where most of the human population lived.

The true koala habitat in the agricultural areas was either overlooked, or became the focus of heavy-handed conservation rows.

Dr Ellis was part of a beef business and environmental management seminar hosted by AgForce at Beef 2924.

Cattle Australia director and Miriam Vale beef producer, Adam Coffey, also addressed the forum about biodiversity initiatives, tree and pasture planting innovations and subsequent soil moisture retention and productivity achievements on his property, Boreelum.

"Very early on we recognised pasture diversity and intensive grazing were improving our soil - it's since become rather addictive for me, because it works," he said.

Co-grazing by koalas and cattle appeared to work, too, if a sufficient scattering of the right trees remained, Dr Ellis said, partly because producers were keeping feral prerdators out of the farm environment.

The right biodiversity mix of riparian and vegetation conditions for koalas also supported other native animals.

He noted around Nebo, south west of Mackay, locals had observed the return of koala numbers as wild dogs had declined.

However, he said cattle producers could not be expected to simply turn their properties over to become koala reserves at the expense of their livelihoods.

They deserved a better share of the conservation budget to recognise the cost of maintaining koala trees, which in the Ipswich shire had been calculated by UQ research at costing between $9500and $68,000 per koala in lower productivity areas, and up to $95,000.

He believed the community and biodiversity markets would eventually "put a value on koala country".

Meanwhile, he said popularised arguments that beef cattle were likely to chase and kill roaming koalas were overblown.

"I think cattle are probably one of the more miniscule risks to a koala's life."