Biochar success: Wagyu producer reduces rates of lantana poisoning

The fine gain, carbon-rich matter is created a charcoal from forestry residue and can be used to improve soil structure and increase the soils capacity to store carbon.

Increasing numbers of producers are using using biochar in different ways including as a feed supplement for livestock, with the goal of improving overall animal health.

During the digestion process the biochar absorbs organic compounds, resulting in manure that is a more nutrient rich fertiliser.

Bonny Linde from the 6000 acre Shamrock Vale Station at Kerry, near Beaudesert in Queensland, initially started using biochar to help combat lantana poisoning as well as increasing soil fertility.

"We use it as a concentrate, which goes in a daily food mix to certain cattle and we also have it put in our mineral so cattle that aren't on a mix, also have access to a multivitamin mineral and stockchar is included in that, as a way of getting it out into the farm," she said.

"What I have noticed is the increase in dung beetles on the farm...I suspect that the stockchar has really helped the dung beetles.

"We put our mineral feeders high up in the hills so the cattle have access to them.

"We haven't had a case of lantana since we have been using the stockchar product...we believe the investment is worth it."

Steve Sullings is director of Agspand, a distributor of biochar products nationally.

He said Wagyu and high value livestock producers were sourcing his product in Queensland.

His goal was to balance the pH of the rumen.

"Right now in Queensland you have gone from extremely dry to extremely wet and this results in a lot of endophytes and micro-toxins from mould growing on the grasses and that effects the pH in the animals," he said.

"This is nothing new what we are doing, the aboriginals were doing it well before white man even turned up in Australia, with native animals...as a kid growing up I remember my grandfather burning country and the animals would always come off that country looking exceptionally well...nowadays there is little access to charcoal for livestock.

"The product we use is high quality biochar, which we make out of hardwood then we add a mineralised clay to it.

"The char creates a massive surface area of fibre that the animals consume...they only need about 100 mls per day or 30 grams or two per cent if you are putting into a feed ration.

"The char is non soluble and doesn't break down so the manure, now has stabilised carbon it...now what happens is the pH in the manure is relatively neutral and the dung beetles love that they bury it into the soil which is sequestering stabilised carbon into the soil that allows the plant to access it."

Also in the market is Brisbane-based biochar manufacturer Carbonchip, established in 2020.

Its customer base includes smaller Queensland farms, as well as large national companies, who use their biochar for larger scale projects, like incorporating into mulch to use next to highways.

Carbonchip business director Adrian Fletcher said that the residue left over from sustainable forest industry was processed at a high temperature by their pyrolysis machine, which is a recycling machine that converts the residue waste into their biochar product.

"We create hardwood which we use in the feedstock for cattle...it is good for their digestive system and removes the toxins. which creates a healthier animal," he said.

"When the manure goes into the soil it retains water and nutrients and increases carbon content.

"Clean feed stock is the key to a successful business in a circular economy."