Indicative Feed Budget Report
What is an Indicative Feed budget report?
The Indicative Feed Budget Report helps assess whether available pasture is likely to support a nominated number of livestock over a specified grazing period of up to six months. The report is available from the FORAGE 'quick report' page, or for sub-property/paddock-scale reporting use the MyFORAGE online mapping tool.
The report indicates whether the available pasture is likely to support the nominated livestock numbers for a selected lot(s)/property or paddock area. If the modelled pasture biomass is insufficient to support the nominated livestock numbers, an estimation is given of how long the animals can remain to still achieve the pasture biomass residual target.
The user can enter property (or paddock) pasture biomass at the beginning of the grazing period – or if unknown, a modelled pasture biomass estimate can be generated based on satellite imagery and other site information.
The user-nominated livestock intake is calculated and assessed for the specified grazing period using modelled pasture growth, detachment and trampling, along with animal intake and liveweight change for a group of similar climate years – based on the ‘SOI phase’ forecast system.
An indicative pasture crude protein content map is also provided in the report due to its importance as an indicator of feed quality (e.g. digestibility) and should be considered in conjunction with pasture biomass feed budgeting.
To assess longer grazing periods (i.e. years to decades), the FORAGE Long-term carrying capacity report can be used to estimate the number of livestock a property can support (on average) without running down the property’s land condition (i.e. the grass basal area, pasture composition and groundcover).
Note: The information in this report is intended as a guide only. Results are based on modelled pasture growth and should be used alongside local knowledge and on-ground assessments when making stocking management decisions.
Why is Feed budgeting important?
Pasture feed or forage budgeting involves matching available pasture supply to cattle feed intake requirements. This practice is important to achieve production targets (i.e. liveweight, reproduction) and environmental goals (ground cover, pasture composition/diversity).
While it is a common practice to estimate the amount of feed that will be available over a dry season, there are many instances when feed budgeting and target-setting may be required during other times of the year (e.g. re-assessing stock placement, buying/selling, fire planning and inter-seasonal weather influences).
The information presented in the feed budgeting report is recommended to be used in conjunction with the ‘on-ground’ pasture availability/assessment, species composition, adequate ground cover and feed required for drought reserve situations. Estimated macropod numbers (based on aerial survey data) are also considered in the feed budget estimation (i.e. as a contribution to total grazing pressure).
What is included in the report?
The Indicative Feed budgeting report includes:
- The pasture biomass feed budget graph (Page 1)
The pasture biomass feed budget graph indicates whether (or not) there will be sufficient feed to support the nominated stocking number for the whole grazing period.
If the green line is below the dotted line for the whole grazing period, it indicates that there will not be sufficient feed to support the stocking number for the whole grazing period. If the green line is above the dotted line for some of the period, it indicates that there will only be sufficient feed to support the stocking number for those periods of times.
While there are many ways to carry out feed budgeting (see FAQs below), the FORAGE Indicative Feed Budget report is an objective, quick and easy way to make an assessment – or to check an estimation.
Note: Even if the green line is above the dotted line for the whole grazing period, it is still a possibility that there will be insufficient feed for the entire period, which is indicated when one or more of the modelled years are below the dotted line.
- (1) Grazing days graph and (2) Rainfall in the forecasting period graph (Page 2)
The ‘Grazing days’ graph also (as per page 1 graph) indicates whether (or not) there will be sufficient feed to support the nominated stocking number for the whole grazing period. It has the same information as the page 1 graph, however, it appears different as the y-axis has been scaled for grazing days rather than pasture standing dry matter.
The ‘Forecasting period’ graph shows the six months' total rainfall for each of the similar historical years from the month the grazing period started. The SOI phase system is used to obtain the forecast of rainfall by identifying historical years with the same SOI phase and extracting the climate data in the months of interest for those years. These years are then used to forecast the pasture growth for the grazing period (page 1 and 2 graphs)
- The indicative pasture biomass map (Page 3)
The pasture biomass (dry matter kg/ha) map is model-generated, using the most recent satellite imagery and other site parameters for the land parcel of interest.
- The indicative pasture biomass uncertainty map (Page 4)
The indicative pasture biomass uncertainty map highlights areas where model predictions for biomass are expected to be more or less uncertain. Confidence is classified into qualitative categories.
- The pasture indicative crude protein content map (Page 5)
The indicative crude protein content map is generated on the user-specified date for the property of interest using remotely-sensed satellite imagery.
A crude protein GeoPDF* file is also included.
- Time series of pasture crude protein (Page 6)
The time series of pasture crude protein graph tracks the monthly average crude protein (as a percentage) for the area selected over the most recent twelve months.
- References
Publication list of material used in this report – as a resource to provide more detailed information.
Report sample
Report quick guide (PDF, 1.0 MB)
*A GeoPDF is a georeferenced or geospatial PDF file. It relates an image from the PDF report to coordinates on a map – allowing the user to have some limited mapping functions such as turning map layers on and off.
The GeoPDF for this report can be used in applications such as NomadTracks.
Note: there are no legends on the geoPDF files. To understand the categories when you are using the geoPDFs onsite, you need to reference the legend on the pdf report (digital or printed).
Common questions about the Indicative Feed Budget report
The Indicative Feed budget report provides ‘short-term’ feed budgeting information for a user-specified grazing period (i.e. up to six months), which includes livestock numbers and the residual yield during the grazing period – for a selected lot(s)/property or paddock area.
The report relates whether the proposed livestock number can be supported for the specified grazing period – and if not, an estimation of how long the animals can remain to achieve the pasture biomass residual target.
The feed budgeting assessment for the grazing period is analysed by modelling pasture growth, detachment and trampling, along with animal intake and liveweight change for a group of similar climate years based on the SOI phase forecast system – using the GRASP bio-physical pasture model.
Macropod numbers (based on aerial survey data) are also considered in the feed budget estimation.
The indicative crude protein content map provided in the report which is generated using remotely-sensed satellite imagery.
Feed budgeting involves matching available pasture supply to cattle feed intake requirement, which is important to achieve production (i.e. liveweight, reproduction) and environmental (ground cover, pasture composition/diversity) targets.
There are many instances when feed budgeting and target-setting may be required during other times of the year (e.g. re-assessing stock placement, buying/selling, fire planning and inter-seasonal weather influences).
While there are many ways to carry out feed budgeting (see FAQ below), the FORAGE Indicative Feed Budget report is an objective, quick and easy way to make an assessment – or to check an estimation.
The Indicative Feed budget report only provides ‘short-term’ feed budgeting information for a user-specified grazing period (i.e. up to six months).
For longer periods (i.e. years to decades), the FORAGE Long-term carrying capacity report can be used to estimate the number of livestock a property can support (on average) without running down the property’s land condition (i.e., the grass basal area, pasture composition and groundcover).
If you consider there are major discrepancies with the Feed Budget information or mapping in the report for your property, you can contact: longpaddock@qld.gov.au and relate the details.
A member of our team will then contact you to discuss the issue(s).
See below for links to the FutureBeef website that provide detailed information on feed budgeting.
So, you want to do a forage budget? https://futurebeef.com.au/news/so-you-want-to-do-a-forage-budget/
Matching stocking rates with available forage. https://futurebeef.com.au/resources/matching-stocking-rates-with-available-forage/
How to use decision dates in grazing. https://futurebeef.com.au/resources/decision-dates-in-grazing/
Dry season pasture budget: a guide for stocking rates. https://futurebeef.com.au/resources/dry-season-pasture-budget-a-guide-for-stocking-rates/
Recovering from drought. https://futurebeef.com.au/resources/recovering-from-drought/
FORAGE Drought Assessment Information report (with break of season timeseries) https://www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au/forage/report-information/drought-assessment/
Reference list
Barnetson, J., Pandeya, H. R., and Fraser, G. (2026). Hierarchical spectral modelling of pasture nutrition: From laboratory to Sentinel-2 via UAV hyperspectral. AgriEngineering, 8(4), 143.
Barnetson, J., Pandeya, H., and Fraser, G. (2026). Mapping pasture quality: Using remote sensing to address northern Australia’s fodder gap. In Proceedings of the 8th Northern Beef Research Update Conference NBRUC (p. 29). North Australia Beef Research Council. Conference presentation.
Zhang, B., Barnetson, J., Carter, J., Fraser, G., Stone, G., & Woodrow, L. (2026). Seasonal pasture budgeting at property scale: A FORAGE online tool (prototype) for assessing stocking rates for Queensland grazing lands. In Proceedings of the 8th Northern Beef Research Update Conference NBRUC (p. 28). North Australia Beef Research Council.
