When beef producers consider managing their Leucaena crop, one name springs to mind.
David Alsop, Biloela, is a one-of-a-kind innovator who credits his Leucaena chopping knowledge to thinking outside the box, yet he is scratching his head in frustration.
Mr Alsop has 20 years experience with the legume fodder crop and said people are missing the point when it comes to chopping Leucaena.
“Chopping Leucaena is intended to increase feed for the cattle and develop the plant,” he said.
“New growth on a Leucaena plant will produce four times as much vegetation and leaf as an old branch, but growers are convinced they’re chopping the stuff down to muster cattle with ease.”
Mr Alsop said a number of misguided growers had lost Leucaena crops to heavy pruning and alluded to the benefits of a machine capable of altering the cutting height.
“Most contractors cut it very low to physically get their tractors over what they’ve cut and they’re encouraged to do so by people who believe cutting it back hard and increasing the time between chops won’t harm the crop,” he said.
Over the years, Mr Alsop has built, altered and perfected two Leucaena chopping machines, one with an adjustable belly guard to travel over the rows and one to travel between the rows with an extended chopping arm.
Mr Alsop said the secret to successful chopping was not only in the chopping height but also in the way the plant was cut.
“The original cutters made machines with saw-like blades, encouraging the plant to shoot from the top of the stalks rather than the bottom,” he said.
“Now that’s okay if we’re feeding giraffes, but some of the oldest Leucaena gurus told me to split the tops of the stalks rather than slice for better regrowth.
“We designed a heavy flail system that includes 40 cast flails weighing seven kilograms each operating on a hydraulic powered rotor to basically smash the stems.”
The effect of this was a 30 per cent increase in Mr Alsop’s work efficiency due to increased durability and fewer breakdowns, with an increase in cutting speed from 5km/hr to about 8km/hr.
Mr Alsop said his knack for inventing was not inherent.
“A wise man once said to me, look over the fence Alsop. I asked what he meant and he told me to look over the fence,” he said.
“When I looked, I could see the potential. There’s currently well over 300,000 hectares of Leucaena grown in Queensland and that’s developing at a rate of about 7000 hectares annually.
“With the new Psyllid resistant variety on its way I would estimate Leucaena will triple in Queensland in the next decade so we’ll keep growing our ideas and try and keep up.”
