Water Saving Initiatives

Australia leads the way in sustainably producing some of the world's best beef.
Grain fed cattle use these strategies -
* Reusing water in cattle work facilities
* covering dams to reduce evaporation
* restricting water for feed purposes
So
Is water a renewable of non renewable source?
If rainwater is collected and used before it evaporates - then it is considered RENEWABLE
If ground water is pumped or surface water is taken from a lake. faster than it can be replaced by natural water cycle it can be considered NON RENEWABLE
There are 3 main areas to be considered measuring water usage in the cattle industry.
1. The Paddock - 
Creating designate water points (toughs to drink from).
Maintaining healthy soils and pastures to minimise run off.
Most water comes from dams and river systems.
2. The Feedlot -
Reusing water to wash cattle
3. In Processing -
To ensure food safety is used for hygiene operations'
More reusing and recycling water.                                      MARK & ANDREA HANNEMAN       Farmer stories / Mark & Andrea Hannemann

Our story...

We are fourth generation farmers on a property that has never been connected to mains water.

We crop wheat, barley, peas, chickpeas, vetch and canola. We also run 900 Merino ewes & 900 cross bred lambs which are a very important part of our enterprise.

We have always been environmentally conscious which led us to implement a 15 year Landcare plan on our property. To date this has meant the erection of 30km of fencing to protect riparian vegetation and 100km of direct tree seeding to enhance these areas. We have also constructed nature corridors from one end of the property to the other to protect native fauna and vegetation.

To secure our farm’s water supply we have established a sheeted catchment water harvesting system. The plastic lined dam has the capacity to store 1.4 million litres of water from its plastic sheeted catchment, which is 100% efficient in capturing every rain event. The dam also has a floating evaporative cover installed which minimises evaporation by 100%. In an average 400mm year rainfall, the system has the capacity to capture 1.6 million litres of high quality water.

The water is gravity fed from the dam throughout the property on a pipe system, supplying water for the paddock troughs, which are only turned on as stock movements require. It also supplies water for the annual spraying program and water for domestic farm needs, making the farm self-sufficient in its water requirements.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE CATTLE INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA

Fast facts

National herd
~ Australia's national cattle herd stands at 29.3 million head
~76,807 properties with cattle
~13.4 million beef cows and heifers
~The beef industry accounts for 55% of all farms with agriculture activity
~the red meat industry employs approximately 200,000 workers across farm, processing and retail

Production
~Australia produced around 2.5 million tonnes of beef and veal in 2013-14
~2.6 million grainfed cattle were marketed in 2013-14 (30%) of all adult cattle slaughtered).
~the value of Australian cattle and calf production (including live export) is approximately $7.7 billion
~cattle contributed 16% of the total farm vale of$47.9 billion in 2012-13
the direct contribution of beef and live cattle to gross domestic product is approximately 1%
~Queensland is the biggest producer of beef and veal
~Australia has 4% of the world cattle inventory and is the worlds seventh largest beef producer
~Australia produces 4% of the worlds beef suppl and is the third largest beef exporter.

Consumption
~Domestic expenditure on beef was estimated at ^.3 billion in 2013-14 (MLA estimate)
~Australians ate around 30.9kg per person in 2013-14 (MLA estimate).
~Around 9.5% of Australian fresh meat buyers purchased beef in 2014 (AC Nielsen Home scan).

Our Concept.

The Archi will be an ART COW.

So what does that mean?

Do we consider.......

* Artists that paint cows

* Artworks that have an agricultural message?

* could we appropriate artworks and change the context of the painting to suit the message we want to present?

Influencing Factors

Target #100

This is a great website for searching for ideas and information.
We decided to look at the initiatives related to the beef industry and see how they would fit into the criteria of the theme of the cow.

The Theme - The archibull 2015 theme is to have the conversation for farmers and the community to work together and map out a brighter future.

AGRICULTURE - AN ENDANGERED SPECIES.

EXPLORING Climate Change, Food Waste, Declining Natural Resources and Biosecurity 

We selected a few initiatives that we could incorporate with some famous artworks to give a twist on the meaning.

Lets Make Ourselves an ART Cow

LETS MAKE AN ART COW

Lets get on with it. we have discussed the ideas of Beef.

That should be easy, after all it is a cow  -- beef  -- cow.........

Where to start.

Research, Research.....brainstorm.....ideas........

THE BRIEF

'Beef Cattle provide so much more than food - celebrating the animal that

surround us' 

Beef – Investigate the myths and realities of the beef industry. Look at the

misconceptions in areas such as water use, environmental impact, antibiotic

and hormone use, animal wellbeing, diet, etc. 

Investigate some of the challenges Australian farmers face to produce high

quality beef when faced with the impacts of climate change, declining

natural resources (land, water and energy) and biosecurity threats.

Look at the pressing need for farmers to produce more food balanced with the

requirement to reduce waste at all levels of the food supply chain 

Take your investigation beyond the farm to find some of the everyday

consumer goods and foods containing beef by-products that most people are

unaware of. What other quirky myths and realities can you find?

INFORMATION OVERLOAD.......

back to the original thought.....an ART Cow.

A visit to the Library

After meeting a few fury friends it was time to get into the school and do some learning!We took the new cow for a tour around the school! We visited the library, the science block, and had some fun taking some pics and selfies.

Meeting Lady-MOO-MOO in the library

Reading more about herself!

Coming up the stairs to meet Bessie

 Climbing up the never ending stairs...

               Being a good cow...loving this technology

Reading up on the family

Wait! Let me take a selfie

Chillin with the peeps

Shh! Staring contest in progress.

So fabulous! 

Make way Bobby Fischer.

Stop! Story time!

Best friends forever!