THE LEUCAENA NETWORK NEWS

The Leucaena Network News
DECember 2009
Phone 07 3878 4398 Mobile 0418 411 351
Email leucaenanetwork@bigpond.com Website www.leucaena.net
Interest in leucaena around the world is increasing rapidly
not only for livestock production but also to learn more
about the advantages it offers to help manage natural
resources, this issue of the Newsletter will try to cover as
many of the topics that can be shared with you.
TLN Conference and AGM
The Leucaena Network 2009 Conference and Annual
General Meeting was a great success and our appreciation
goes to all who were able to support it, especially
Landmark for their generous sponsorship.
A special thank you is extended to George Watkin,
Landmark’s Regional Manager based at Townsville for his
help in arranging his company’s support.
Members attending the two days took the opportunity
to ‘network’ with the researchers, agronomy extension
specialist and fellow leucaena growers to learn more about
the many benefits the tree has to offer in helping manage
our natural resources and increasing livestock production
levels.
Well known Emerald district leucaena grower Lawrie
Duncombe was very pleased that he attended the 2009
Conference and said whenever he is able to attend a
Leucaena Network Conference he always takes away with
him some useful information for managing his pastures
and cattle and this year was no exception.
In this issue…
• leucaena in Latin America
• John Wilden remembered
• pasture for leucaena
• using silk sorghum
• soil carbon sequestration
• Thailand delegation
• Leucaena Info Days
Don Heatley speaking about chopping leucaena on his
property Byrne Valley, Home Hill.
Meat & Livestock Australia personell were heavily
involved throughout both days; once the formalities
on the first morning were completed Dr. Mick Quirk
outlined MLA’s extensive investment in leucaena research
and development.
Dr Ed Charmley from CSIRO covered the research in
reducing methane emissions from livestock and the role
of leucaena.
Managing the seed set of leucaena is one of the priorities
facing our industry while many long-term and new
leucaena growers want to find out more about the benefits
of ripping paddocks in comparison to not ripping them,
both of these topics were addressed by Stuart Buck from
Queensland Primary Industries & Fisheries.
Ernie Young from QLD Sustainable Agricultural Solutions
has been working with leucaena growers across Central
Queensland and he shared with the participants an insight
of on-farm tree utilisation.
Kelly Payne from MLA was kept busy over the two days
taking us through the benefits of MSA grading and
demonstrating new beef cutting and presentation options.
Then he handed the different steaks over to Dr. Mick
Quirk who re-enforced that the MLA slogan ‘turn the
bloody steaks once’ delivers mouth-watering results.

The Heatley family have
used a modified cane
harvester to chop standing
leucaena.
Members showed their support for The Leucaena
Network Executive by voting to retain them in their
positions for another term. Andrew Lawrie was elected as
President, Bryant Ussher, Vice-President, Ruth Wagner,
Treasurer and Ken Murphy as Minute Secretary. They
were all elected unopposed.
Following the election of office bearers, President Andrew
Lawrie delivered the current Code of Practice – and its
reason for being. After Andrew’s presentation, members
voted unanimously to endorse the current Code of
Practice for growing leucaena.
The Leucaena Network wishes to thank Mr. Don Heatley
for giving so generously of his time. Readers will know
that Don is constantly busy in his role as Chairman of
Meat & Livestock Australia. The timing of the Conference
for Don was not perfect, wedged between meetings in
Sydney and flights to USA.
At the Conference Dinner, Don had diners keen to know
more about the state of the red meat markets around the
world, after delivering his keynote address without the
aid of any prompts he took many wide-ranging questions
including the latest on the livestock export trade from the
floor.
Next afternoon Don, his wife Laurel and son Scott were
hosts to the Conference attendees to Byrne Valley at Home
Hill showing their very productive irrigated leucaena
operation.
At Byrne Valley leucaena is being chopped for the first
time and a sugar cane harvester has been converted to do
the job and the demonstration on cutting the standing
leucaena proved very successful.
Queensland Primary Industries & Fisheries have always
been great supporters of the Network and leucaena
Members discussed the effectiveness of the Heatley’s
chopper.
growers and this year their Principal Molecular Biologist,
Diane Ouwerkerk provided an overview on the very
important issues in the production of the bacterial
inoculums for cattle feeding leucaena.
Mark Best from QPIF was also on hand to handle one
of the most pressing question from landholders who
are considering to grow leucaena for the first time—the
productivity and economic returns of dryland leucaena.
Livestock producers are always hungry for the latest
research information about leucaena and The Leucaena
Network would be struggling without the never-ending
support of the University of Queensland.
Associate Professor Max Shelton was able to inform
delegates about leucaena toxicity problems in overseas
countries, while Sam Graham, PhD student from UQ
provided an update about his trial work testing for the
presence of the rumen bug in cattle herds.
Leucaena growers and supporters enjoy hearing cattle
producer’s grazing management experiences of the
leucaena grass pastures and our Vice-President Bryant
Ussher from Lingi, Chinchilla did this very well.
All the Conference presentations can be found at: http://
www.leucaena.net/conference.htm
The Leucaena Network seeks your advice about the 2010
Conference and AGM, to have your say go to: http://www.
leucaena.net/survey.htm
Support from funds raised at the Conference is very much
appreciated and this year generous donations in the form
of leucaena and pasture seed were offered.
Guest auctioneer for the evening Andrew Richardson
ensured that a cracking-pace was set for the bidders of
200 kilograms of Cunningham seed offered by Tom and
Ruth Wagner along with 500 kilograms of silk sorghum
donated by Bryant and Sussan Ussher and by the time
Andrew offered the 40 kilograms of Tarramba seed from
Peter, Jan and Tim Larsen intending buyers knew that
they would have to dig deep into their pockets.

Leucaena seed necklace and earings. It is believed that weed
leucaena was spread across Northern Australia by South
Pacific Islanders wearing this type of necklace in the late
1890s.
Almost $6000 was raised for the Network, many thanks
to the Larsen, Wagner and Ussher families for their
wonderful support.
LEUCAENA IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH
AMERICA
Countries of Central and South America are making
use of the benefits of leucaena for both enhanced
environment and livestock production.
Assoc. Prof. Max Shelton from the University of
Queensland and Mr Peter Larsen, Director of LeucSeeds
Pty Ltd at Banana Queensland, have recently returned
from a 2-week visit to the State of Michoacán, Mexico
to participate in the second Latin American conference
on Intensive Silvopastoral Systems (grazing forage trees
in pasture), and to conduct a short course on leucaena
establishment and management.
Here in northern Australia, most people in the livestock
industry are familiar with the development of >150 000
ha of leucaena / grass for cattle production; the most
significant pasture improvement initiative over the past 20
years. Cattle turned off these pastures are valued at greater
than $120M / annum, a figure that is expected to double
over the next 10 years.
However, many may not be aware that Australia is not
the only country making use of the benefits of growing
leucaena for feeding ruminants. In Mexico, the home
Field day inspection of leucauna pasture.
range of leucaena, the State of Michoacán, with support
from farmer organisations, Government and the
University sector, has begun implementing leucaena
developments for dairy and beef industries. Their initial
target is 10 000 ha of leucaena planted by 2011–12
comprising approximately 1000 producers; they currently
have 1600 ha planted involving 248 producers. Stocking
rate is 2 animals per ha, irrigation is often available, and
the soils are deep fertile black clays.
The system they are recommending is different from ours
and in many ways reminiscent of approaches that we
used here in Australia 30 years ago. The most appropriate
systems for Mexican farmers will probably evolve over
time, just they have here in Australia.
They are taking advice from other countries in the Latin
American region for planning of the development,
including Cuba where leucaena has been used for
many years; but most notably, they have been strongly
influenced by an NGO with the acronym CIPAV (Centre
for Investigation of Sustainable Systems of Agricultural
Production). It is based in Cali, Colombia where there
are also significant developments of leucaena: 5 to 10
thousand ha of leucaena / star grass / guinea grass have
been established for dairy producing 15–17 000 L milk
per ha per year.
One very interesting contrasting element compared to
Australia is that leucaena is promoted as a silvopastoral
system (trees in pastures) with strong green credentials.
CIPAV has at its core the development and promotion
of environmental services and incentive schemes that
improve biodiversity (birds, ants, flora, aquatic macroinvertebrates,
butterflies), fixation of carbon and water
quality. Their activities include research, transfer of

Dairy cow on leucauna pasture
technology, training and publication on the use of
leucaena.
Dr Enrique Murgueitio, the Head of CIPAV, said that
they had successfully engaged with Latin American
environmental agencies explaining that leucaena did not
invade undisturbed ecosystems and that there were many
environmental services that could be harnessed.
While in Mexico, Max Shelton was invited to speak at
the Silvopastoral conference (3–5 November) held in
Morelia and Tepalcatepec, in the State of Michoacán.
Approximately 850 delegates comprising representatives
from government, university, political interest groups,
rural organisations, and private ranchers attended,
including delegates from five Central and South American
countries.
It is easy to understand the huge interest in intensive
livestock silvopastoral systems in Central and South
America as large areas of tropical forests have been
cleared for pastures for livestock, just as occurred
centuries earlier in Europe, North America and Australia.
Silvopastoral systems offer an opportunity to retain the
economic benefits of livestock raising while restoring
some of the biodiversity and C sequestration value lost
from clearing the original vegetation.
Compared to pure grass pastures, their data show that
silvopastoral systems save fertilization (400 kg urea/ha/yr,
increase milk and meat production by 6050 L/ha/yr and
720 kg beef /ha/yr respectively, reduce use of irrigation
water by 20%, eliminate use of herbicides and pesticides
and increase the number of bird species.
We in Australia need to take notice of the progress they
have made on promoting the environmental issues
when using leucaena. Here we tend to hear only of its
weed potential and not its many positive environmental
impacts.
It was quite interesting to experience the broader interests
of our Latin friends while attending field day functions.
On one property, an enterprising farmer had developed
and is marketing leucaena cheese with unique flavour and
texture characteristics. Beautiful necklaces and earrings
made of leucaena seeds were also on display. Unlike
Australia, two common sights at the functions were
women making tortillas with bands of crooners singing
favourite Mexican tunes.
On technical matters, it was interesting that the Latins
are wrestling with most appropriate configurations for
establishing leucaena. Just as we did in the early stages of
leucaena development in the Ord River Scheme they are
trying close rows (1.6 m apart) to maximise growth of
leucaena, with consequent limited space for grass growth;
and they have yet to address the issue of subclinical
leucaena toxicity restricting response of their animals to
this otherwise very high quality leguminous feed. This
is a major issue in Australia. We saw signs of mimosine
toxicity in cattle grazing lush leucaena (hair loss from
switches of tails) and signs of DHP toxicity in animals
grazing leucaena for extended periods (cattle with
poor general vigour and lack of ‘bloom’ associated with
leucaena feeding).
There is a strong research group based at the University of
Yucatan in Merida. In contrast to the state of Michoacán,
the limestone soils common across the Yucatan Peninsula
are rocky, shallow and generally poor, but ideal for
leucaena which volunteers in most grass pastures, often
star grass, but is rarely seen as grazing sheep and cattle
keep young seedlings well grazed and out of sight. Dr Max
Shelton has now visited the University four times and
they have become the principal research institution for
leucaena research so necessary to support the extension
programs of farmer organisations.
As mentioned, they are eager to ask us about the possible
occurrence of toxicity. An obvious question was: Do
livestock in the region have natural protection against
mimosine toxicity? After all, Mexico is the home of
leucaena and it seems logical that there should be local
sources of gut micro-flora capable of degrading DHP.
Staff at the University have begun using the upgraded
urine colorimetric test developed by the University of
Queensland to test this hypothesis. Early results have
demonstrated to their surprise that many cattle and sheep
(they graze Pelibuey – a hair sheep) do show signs of high
concentrations of DHP in urine, and therefore apparently
lack degradation capability. However, results have been
mixed with some cattle herds on leucaena clear of urinary
toxin suggesting possession of DHP degrading organisms.
There is more work to be done.
While in Mexico, Max Shelton with colleague Peter
Larsen of LeucSeeds Pty Ltd Banana, conducted a short
course on the establishment and management of leucaena
for cattle, similar to the many courses they have been
conducted in Queensland since 2004. The course was
conducted on the property of a dairy cattle farming family
in the region. Participants were naturally interested in the

long experience and different approaches that we employ
in Australia.
Not surprisingly, the Latin American region is ready to
embrace the benefits of using leucaena, both economic
and environmental, and they wish to learn all they can
from our Aussie experiences.
JOHN WILDEN remembered
Sadly John passed away in Fiji on 13th September 2009.
He will be remembered fondly by his colleagues in DPI
and his many friends in the grazing communities of
Queensland, especially Central Queensland. John was a
research and Extension Officer of QDPI for almost all his
working life. He will be remembered for his dedication
to the promotion and adoption of new pasture system
technology and especially to the use of leucaena as a
highly productive forage system for alluvial and clay soils.
John, a Fijian, came to Australia as a teenager in 1956
to study Agriculture at Gatton Agricultural College.
Apart from his studies’ John was a top athlete excelling at
athletics, rugby union and cricket. He was a Prefect and
House captain of the college in 1958. After College he
completed an Agricultural Science Degree and Masters
at University of Queensland. He joined QDPI where he
spent almost all of his working life mostly at Brigalow
Research Station (Moura) and finally at Rockhampton.
John very early on recognized Leucaena (the small legume
tree) as having great potential. It had been introduced by
CSIRO (from Hawaii and Central America in1953) and
evaluated before the first cultivars were released in 1962.
Limited seed was initially available and there were early
problems with establishment (seedbed preparation,
weeds, insects, wildlife. John always stated that ‘you
plant the first 20 acres for the wallabies and kangaroos’.
Furthermore graziers had been battling tree regrowth on
cleared eucalypt and brigalow country for over 100 years
so were naturally wary of planting trees.
With his passionate belief in leucaena John persisted and
gained the assistance of a handful of pioneer growers
including Gordon Wieland (Yaamba), Jeff Hume
(Gracemere), John O’Neill (Carnarvon) and Scott McGhie
(Blackwater) who planted small areas.
They were quickly followed by many others. In 1993 John
stated in a paper to an International Grassland Congress
in Rockhampton ‘commercial leucaena in Central
Queensland increased from 24 ha in 1979 to 20 000 ha in
1992. An area of 120 000 ha can be expected in the next
decade’. When John retired from DPI in the late 1990s (to
pursue leucaena promotion in overseas tropical countries)
there was upwards of 75 000ha of leucaena-based pasture
in Queensland.
There is no doubt that John played a major role in the
acceptance and adoption of this technology by growers.
In the last 15 years there has been a major commitment
by R & D organizations (QDPI, UQ, CSIRO), The
Leucaena Network and its Code of Practice and growers
and MLA and AgForce, to the continued promotion
and development of this exceptionally high quality
and productive technology. It is a free grazing system
unsurpassed in the tropical world. Today there are in
excess of 200 000 ha of leucaena pasture in Queensland
contributing tens of millions of $$$ and expanding
rapidly.
The Leucaena Network and its growers thanks you John.
PASTURES FOR LEUCAENA SYSTEMS
The selection of suitable pasture species for leucaena
plantings is absolutely critical for maximising growth
rates. The better the companion pastures, the more
profitable the paddock is.
So what makes an efficient and profitable pasture in this
system? Quite simply, a feedlot ration scenario provides
a good comparison. Whilst grain and supplements
provide a protein base, high quality roughage is needed
to maximise protein usage, thus maximising energy and
top: Brian Loccisano and Richard Standen in a paddock of
first year Toro Rhodes Grass.
bottom: Tolgar Rhodes 6 months after planting showing
good ground cover capability.

kilos of beef. Leucaena provides a high protein base, so
to maximise the efficiency in this system, a pasture with
high yields and high digestibility needs to accompany the
legume.
Previously, much work had revolved around the reestablishment
of buffel and panic species in between rows
of leucaena. This has had varying degrees of success and
in general has produced the highest dry matter yields.
Rhodes grasses have also been used extensively with the
Callide types out-performing the Katambora types on a
yield basis, but can lack palatability in the later growth
stages or during dry periods. All of these varieties are
tufted grasses and under high grazing pressure situations,
leave much ground exposed for competing weeds and
erosion concerns.
I believe it to be possible to plant aggressive, high yielding
varieties of grasses which exhibit high digestibility. Before
the environmentally concerned ‘Green’ types banish me
to another industry where I can cause no environmental
harm, let me explain what we seed types talk to our plant
breeders about when we say ‘aggressive’.
Our new proprietary Rhodes grasses have been selected
for long, multiple runners with short internode length.
This simply means that the plant colonises more
effectively and binds the rooting zone. They provide
better matting on the soil which tolerates traffic and heavy
grazing and also exhibit quick bounce-back after rainfall
events. So therefore, ‘aggressiveness’ should not be in any
way confused with ‘invasiveness’.
The varieties which I refer to are Tolgar and Toro. Both
have only in recent years been released commercially.
Tolgar is bred from Katambora whilst Toro is from
Callide. They exhibit growth characteristics and flowering
periods vastly different to what you see in the current
varieties.
They are more productive and produce more energy
through having more leaf and less coarse, indigestible
stem material. In most cases, these grasses compliment,
rather than replace, what is currently being used. It is
not recommended that additional legumes be planted in
these systems, rather rely on opportune natural clover and
medic growth from timely rains.
Sabi grass, which is more commonly known as Urochloa
is another valuable species. Many farmers who plant
sorghum or cotton will be aware of this species as it can
be a major problem in cultivation country. It is hard to
control because it grows quickly and then hays off quickly,
often before it can be effectively controlled chemically.
What makes it a problem in cultivation, makes it great in
pasture situations. Sabi grass provides a flush of palatable
feed quickly then hays off. Whilst Sabi on its own in a
leucaena system is not seasonally viable, it can be a useful
species when mixed in with other long season grasses.
It is not wise to plant just one species of grass to
accompany leucaena, just as it is not viable to plant ten
different species and expect them all to co-exist. Creating
an efficient grazing system means taking dominate and
preferentially grazed varieties and using them to their
strengths, trying to cover as many different seasonal
patterns whilst using the least variety of grasses. When
thinking about what species are best to plant, as each
situation and farm is different, talking with agronomists
and consultants is usually the first and most important
step. Different outcomes require different species.
Ross Bruggemann, National Sales Manager
Australian Premium Seeds
Ph. 07 3879 3350
silk sorghum
It is often asked, what is the best way to establish grass in
the leucaena plantation. Well it is easy to say that every
situation should be considered separately. But I have
found over time that if you can get a good ground cover of
some sort from a fast growing crop which has been under
sown with your grass mix, then you will probably have the
best chance of getting the grasses established.
The reason I see this as working most times is that you
are getting ground cover and some protection for the
emerging grasses i.e. they don’t all germinate on the first
fall of rain.
Here are some reasons why I choose to use silk sorghum
as a cover crop when establishing grasses:
• You are sowing to get a sorghum crop so you are
sowing at the correct time for grasses.
• You will find the Silk is extremely hardy and can
withstand quite severe growing conditions.
• The seed size is similar to most grasses so mixing and
flow rates are not a problem.
• It can be sown on top of the ground and with a light
disturbance you will get quite good germination
results.
• Silk can be grazed quite hard then let recover for good
feed quality and quantity.
• As it is forage sorghum it is readily sort after by the
animals so they are leaving the newly established
grasses alone which in turn allows stronger root
growth by the grasses.
It has been said to me that silk is a ‘robber’ of nutrient and
moisture; however my experience has shown that if you
are starting with good conditions then the plant only adds
to the system. The shading in the paddock seems to outweigh
the moisture requirement.
The other element of silk that puts it at the top of the list
for me is the cost factor. Because it is a reasonably small
seed, your quantity required is not great. I have made
suggestions to people, that about 2 kg/ha as part of a
grass mix is ample seed. At $1.50/kg that makes the silk

component only $3 per ha or $1.22 per acre. Even if silk is
at $4/kg this is still only $3.24 per acre. At the same time
your grass seed could be costing you from $20 to $45 per
acre. I don’t think there are too many people that could
afford to have that cost of seed burnt off by the heat when
their grasses are only just out of the ground.
And finally the best part of silk sorghum: when used as
part of establishment in a leucaena tree grass pasture,
it is a great plant to compliment the high protein
source, grows fast and in top seasons has huge biomass
production.
With all the above said the most important thing that any
grazier must do is managing for his grass. If the season
is not going great then he must allow longer periods for
recovery. Silk has to be utilized as the protection for the
establishing grasses and the companion plant for the tree.
This is the opinion of Bryant Ussher, Lingi Chinchilla Qld
Carbon Sequestration and Soil
Organic Matter
Soil Organic Matter (SOM) is ‘everything in or on the soil
that is of biological origin, whether it’s alive or dead’ this
includes plant shoots & roots, soil bugs and humus.
SOM is made up of approx 60% carbon with the
remainder a mixture of calcium, hydrogen, oxygen
and nitrogen. SOM is vital for soil structure, moisture
retention, nutrient cycling, reducing erosion and food
source for soil microbes. Soil organic matter is broken
down over time into different forms of carbon as
illustrated in the soil carbon cycle diagram below.
Did you know, 90 % of carbon is lost back to the
atmosphere via respiration by soil microbes? Soil
microbial biomass (soil bugs) and humus account for the
remaining 10% of carbon stored in the soil.
So where does carbon sequestration fit in and how does
it occur? Carbon sequestration is defined as carbon that
is removed from the atmosphere and retained in a carbon
sink e.g. growing tree or in soil.
When carbon is considered sequestered in the soil it
means that it has been broken down from an active
carbon form to an inactive carbon form such as humus.
While carbon is in the active form it is not sequestered.
Charcoal is also a form of sequestered carbon but note
this occurs from activities such as fires. Charcoal only
accounts for 1% of total carbon in soils. Biochar is a
human induced process of sequestrating carbon using
organic waste products.
Hence building soil organic matter is a slow process! A
hectare of 10 cm deep soil weighs about 1200 tonne, so
increasing organic matter by 1% is a 12 tonne change!
But, you cannot simply add 12 tonnes of manure or
residue because only 10–20% of the original material
becomes part of the SOM. The rest (80–90%) is converted
over several years into carbon dioxide (CO 2 ).
Soil testing labs measure total organic carbon (TOC).
Use this equation to convert total organic carbon into
soil organic matter: TOC x 1.72 = SOM. Note that this
test does not break down the levels of inactive and active
carbon in the soil it is a measure of both pools.
Don’t forget that its not all about carbon, other nutrients
are equally as important. Soil microbes also need
nutrients such as nitrogen to break down SOM to convert
it to humus and sequester carbon in the soil.
Information sourced from: Jeff Baldock - CSIRO Soil
carbon the basics factsheet at http://www.csiro.au/
resources/soil-carbon.html,
Visitors from Thailand join to
share information on leucaena
After visiting Stuart Buck, David and Kathy Alsop and
Peter and Jan Larsen, Dr. Isara Chaorakam from the
National Agricultural Machinery Centre at Kasetsart
University in Nakorn Prathom and Mr. Chumroen
Benchavitvilai from Bioenergy Development Co. Ltd.
Bangkok Thailand were warmly welcomed by their fellow
Mr. Chumroen Benchavitvilai left and Dr. Isara Chaorakam
inspecting the leucaena chopped at Byrne Valley.

Freshly chopped leucaena foliage and processed pellets
(inset).
Network members over the two days at Ayr.
As well as in Australia, leucaena foliage meal and leucaena
forage technologies are being developed in Thailand and
Chumroen would like to share what they are doing with
other Leucaena Network members.
The leucaena varieties planted are local wild species,
they are still manually harvested and processed,
and Chumroen said that this method needs a lot of
improvement.
A corn harvester has been converted to replace the
manual harvesting and a trial was conducted recently
harvesting three (3) hectares of leucaena plantation
in Thailand. Chumroen described it as very much like
the harvesters that Ernie Young developed for use in
Australia.
At the same time leucaena is used to generate power from
its woody biomass for their 3 MW Gasification power
plant in Thailand.
The variety that they are planting is Tarramba; the fresh
cut wood used for firing the power plant has a moisture
content of 50% DM.
Chumroen believes that because leucaena provides
reasonable and satisfactory yields, it is easier to manage this
fast growing tree as an energy crop.
Harvesting and processing the foliage is a very labour
intensive operation.
Leucaena Information Days, keep
an eye out
Three Leucaena Information Days were held at Craig
Antonio’s Millmerran property as well as Terry, Dell and
David Wells Hannaford property and Lingi owned by
Bryant and Sussan Ussher during the second week of
December.
Even though drought conditions prevail over a large
section of Southern Queensland landholders attending it
agreed that the most important thing for them to do was
to make time to learn more about leucaena.
Interest in leucaena grass pastures is increasing across
cooler areas, participants came from wide a-field,
Tamworth and Moree in the south as far west as Surat and
Roma and north to Mundubbera. 120 people attended the
three (3) days.
Stuart Buck QPI&F left asking Bryant Ussher about his
dryland leucaena grass pastures at Lingi.

Landline camera team recording David Wells for their 2010
Program.
So keen is the interest from NSW, Lester McCormick
and Dr. Sue Boschma from Industry & Investment NSW
Tamworth attended the Leucaena Information Day at
Millmerran to learn more about leucaena grass pastures.
They are searching for a perennial legume for NSW and
have identified leucaena as one of their legumes of choice
to undertake further trial work with across north and
central areas of NSW.
Many participants indicated that they could not continue
the unprofitable practice of growing grain crops and
would be converting cropping paddocks to leucaena grass
pasture. Even though they had little spare time due to
the drought, they believed that attending the Leucaena
Information Day was very important as they needed
assistance in taking their first step in understanding the
establishment and management of leucaena
The main issues participants wanted to learn more about
were establishment of leucaena, grazing management and
companion grass selection and establishment
Participants were reminded that commercial stands of
leucaena must not add to the leucaena weed problem and
that leucaena is a plant grown under a Code of Practice.
If growers were not prepared to abide by the CODE,
The Leucaena Network message is DO NOT GROW
LEUCEANA.
Since Beef 2009, the popular ABC program Landline
has been putting together TV footage and materials on
leucaena for a show they are planning to air in the New
Year. Part of their program was shot at the Wells Family
property Golden Arrow where the Information Day was
held.
More Leucaena Information Days are
planned across Queensland for 2010,
so we hope to see you there.
Terry Wells (second from right) at the Information Day.
Pip Courtney, Landline’s Senior Reporter and her camera
team were hard at work with David Wells the day prior
to the information day, so please keep an eye out for the
program in 2010.
Landholders who had attended the earlier UQ and TLN
Leucaena for Profit and Sustainably courses enjoyed the
days as it gave them the opportunity to ‘network’ with
researchers, extension specialist and fellow leucaena
growers in finding out more on leucaena. This is one of
the main reasons The Leucaena Network was established.
Phone Contacts for
Executive Members
President – Andrew Lawrie (07) 4934 7526
Vice. President – Bryant Ussher (07) 4665 5118
Treasurer – Ruth Wagner (07) 4627 9230
Minutes Secretary – Ken Murphy (07) 4936 0337
Executive Officer – Kevin Graham 0418 411 351
Past President – Robin Cruikshank (07) 4995 1236
Research and Training – Scott Dalzell (07) 3365
1172
Accelerated Adoption of Leucaena – Stuart Buck
0427 929 187
Membership Officer – Peter Larsen (07) 4995 7228
Industry Representive – Ernie Young (07) 4927
3351
Grower Representive – Steve Farmer 0428 347 555