Redesigning Animal Agriculture

and most beef is produced under extensive
systems on large properties that have relatively
low levels of infrastructure (dams and
fencing). Stocking rates are generally in the
range of one animal unit per 5–10ha (Quirk
et al., 2004; Bortolussi et al., 2005). Semiextensive
beef production and dairy systems
also occur but these are located on the
relatively higher rainfall areas closer to the
coast. Within the extensive systems livestock
productivity is primarily determined
by rainfall and its interaction with soil
characteristics (nutrients and hydrological
properties).
The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is the
largest system of coral reefs in the world.
It includes approximately 3000 reefs and
covers an area of approximately 350,000 km 2
on the north-eastern Australian continental
shelf (Craik, 1992; Wachenfeld et al., 1998).
The reef ecosystems have a complex interdependent
relationship with the adjacent
coastal river catchments. Some 30 major
rivers and hundreds of small streams drain
into the GBR lagoon. The linkages of the
catchment to reef continuum are not simply
downstream, but also involve migrations of
many species, such as fish, between coastal
marine habitats and inland waterways and
wetlands. The water quality of the coastal
zone of the GBR is adversely impacted by
increasing sediment, nutrient and other
pollutants and by significant alterations to
the hydrodynamic regime of the floodplain
(freshwater, estuarine, and marine) (Haynes
and Michalek-Wagner, 2000). Tourism is a
major employer in Queensland and with
the flow-on effects associated with the use
of the reef, it underpins a significant portion
of Queensland’s regional economy
(Productivity Commission, 2003). Most
urban areas in Queensland’s coastal zone are
also experiencing significant growth (Anon.,
1999); as a consequence, local governments
along the coast face the challenge of balancing
the demands of economic development
associated with changes in land use,
shifts in agricultural activity and urban and
industrial expansion with maintenance of
healthy coastal and reef ecosystems. An
integral component of healthy coastal and
reef ecosystems is protection of local water
Reef Safe Beef 173
quality and maintenance of aquatic habitats.
There are also indirect values provided
by the GBR, such as ecosystem services
(e.g. shoreline protection, maintenance of
biological diversity, waste assimilation and
reception, visual amenity, and lifestyle values),
existence (moral requirement to protect
natural ecosystems) and bequest (still
around for future generations) values.
The GBR catchments have been extensively
modified since European settlement
through forestry, urbanization and agriculture
(Lukas et al., 1997; Furnas, 2003). At
the end of the 19th century a much smaller
proportion of the rangelands were grazed
compared with today, mainly because of the
constraints on animal movement by the position
of watering points and rivers. However,
with the sinking of bores and the replacement
of the European breeds (Bos taurus) with hardier,
drought- and tick-resistant (Frisch and
O’Neill, 1998) Brahman breeds (Bos indicus),
the proportion of the landscape that remains
ungrazed is now small as most water-points
are now within 10 km of each other (Abbott
and McAllister, 2004). Consequently beef
cattle numbers in the catchments of the GBR
are approximately 4,500,000, with the highest
stock numbers occurring in the Fitzroy
catchment.
While grazing is the largest single land
use in the catchment, cropping, mainly of
sugarcane, and urban/residential development
are located on the sensitive coastal
floodplain (Gilbert et al., 2003) and greatly
influence the GBR. Hydrological modification
of the coastal floodplain has resulted
in loss or degradation of wetland systems
in most of the GBR catchments (e.g. Tait,
1994). Loss of riparian vegetation in both
rangelands and cropping lands and agricultural
expansion into areas of acid sulphate
soils that drain into the reef has also been
extensive (Anon., 1999). The sugarcane
cultivation area has increased steadily over
the past 100 years with a total of 390,000
hectares reached by 1997 (1% of GBR catchment
area). Sugarcane cultivation uses a lot
of fertilizer, so with increasing sugarcane
cultivation there has been a rapid increase in
fertilizer use (Mitchell et al., 2001). In addition
to sugarcane, both the cotton and horti-