PREVIOUS ISSUES

October 2008

Web Membership

Welcome to all of the new registered members (over 50) who have signed up over the last month to receive web updates and mail outs. We are building quite a community of interested and like-minded individuals and businesses who are wanting to share the knowledge and experiences that the project is accumulating.

The research team is gathering a lot of data on foot type, nutritional analysis and DNA profile of brumbies. Unfortunately, as most of this data is being used for publication in scientific research journals, it is bound by copyright and can't be released through sources such as the web site. However, small snippets of information can be released from time to time and as articles are published we will provide links to the appropriate journal.

Nutritional analysis

We just had the first few of the brumby stomach contents analysed. The analysis costs $150 per sample and we are looking for a $6,000 sponsor to process the next 40 samples.

We have 10 samples from each of 4 regions in Australia including dry inland desert, wet Gulf savannah, dry Gulf and improved pasture in an extensive cattle grazing area in central Queensland. The protein content of the feed ranged from 4 % in the coastal Gulf country to 14 % in central Queensland winter.

We need to run all of the samples through analysis before making any conclusions, but it is safe to say that feral horses are capable of doing well in some pretty poor country. Any ideas for sponsorship for this project would be most welcome.

Equitana

The Australian Brumby Research Unit attended Equitana with the release of its small pictorial pamphlet showcasing photos of brumbies around Australia with a brief summary of brumby lifestyle and how the research is being conducted. Marg Richardson, a key team member and Tasmanian hoof care provider, coordinated the design and distribution of the booklets.

We would like to thank Marg for her endless enthusiasm and support for the project. Also a big thankyou to Richmond Concepts and Print of Devonport Tasmania for their sponsorship in printing the booklet. Thanks also to Colin Arnold for helping with this project.

Thanks must go to the many stallholders for hosting and promoting the booklet: The Australian Horse Industry Council (who also displayed posters and freeze dried hooves), Equine Veterinarians Australia, Easycare Downunder/The Barefoot Blacksmith, Natural Horse World, Australian Equine Barefoot Movement, Carole Dixon, Victorian Brumby Association and in particular the Australian Hoof Care Association who displayed posters, freeze dried hooves, the booklet and provided passes for the four days of Equitana. There was a large amount of interest and we now have 500 of the booklets around Australia promoting the research.

There are still booklets available at a cost of $5 each plus postage.

November research

We visited the Snowy Mountains to organise our research activities there in early 2009. We are working with NSW Parks to dart and track brumbies for short term activity and leaving some GPS collars on over the winter to find out where the horses go in the snow. There were plenty of horses seen in the high country and they appear very capable.

We were fortunate to have a collar on a brumby in rocky Gulf country prior to and during the first storm of the season. It had been very dry until then, and horses were feeding within 10 km of the permanent water hole. However, the GPS shows that the mare band left for the dry high country a couple of days before the storm to access good feed further away from water.

Following the storm the high country was scattered with shallow rock pools. As we drove in over the high country, the manure piles migrated higher up each day, showing that horses had left the permanent water hole and headed for the good feed which had previously been out of range.

We picked up a GPS collar from a stallion in a mare band last week in central Queensland. He had been travelling 20 km/day in a path around permanent water. His mileage consisted only of grazing travel and patrols around his mares within a 500 hectare zone, with no long treks. Stallions appear to cover many more miles than the mares that they defend.

December will be a quiet month as Chris and Brian make up for lost time with their families. However, January to March will be very busy with trips planned to the Snowy Mountains and Alice Springs desert. The brumby swap between soft and hard terrain starts early in the year. This will be challenging work involving capturing and quietening horses and trucking them off to a new location. Sponsorship is available to GPS track these horses at $1,000 per horse.

We will keep you posted.

Funding Needs

We have a new stock of freeze dried brumby feet from the central Australia rocky desert and enquiries can be made through the web site. We are also looking to market into the USA Canada and Europe our range of frozen hoofs and we are accumulating hundreds of great photos that can be converted into poster material. If you have contact in any of these localities, please forward our link to them, so if they have an interest they can get in contact with us

The need for funding of this work is continual. You can do your bit to help fund this program by sending a link to this site to anyone you feel may have an interest in the research, purchase of products, sponsorship or doantions.

Christmas cheers to all

Brian Hampson
Postgraduate PhD scholar
School of Veterinary Sciences
The University of Queensland

Phone: 041 772 1102 Email: