Today’s consumer values the welfare of livestock grown for food production. For chicken meat production, bird leg health is a common welfare concern. This review explores the role of animal welfare in the context of meat chicken production and consumer attitudes and behaviour. The manifestation and assessment of compromised leg health and opportunities to improve meat chicken leg health and welfare are discussed. In particular, the emerging role of enrichment in the commercial housing environment – including the use of perches and their effect on the leg health of meat chickens – is discussed.

Little information existed on the long-term productivity of pastures sown for beef production on rehabilitated mining land compared with lands retired from cultivation in southern Queensland, Australia. The present study measured the growth and quality of these pastures and employed the results in a pasture growth model using 60 years of historical weather to project their productivity and sustainability under grazing. Rehabilitated land proved to be as productive as surrounding unmined land, with results now available to guide plans for better management of grazing lands.

Agricultural land used for open-cut coal mining in Queensland is required by law to be returned to a safe, stable and self-sustaining state for agriculture but few successful examples have been published. This research compared the performance of cattle grazing subtropical pasture sown onto unmined land with land rehabilitated after mining. Five years of observations showed that the rehabilitated pastures were no less productive than the unmined pasture, and suggested that a viable grazing system was achievable on rehabilitated brigalow land.

Sustainable production is essential in agriculture and required for land rehabilitation. Field studies, modelling and simulation analysis showed that pasture growth, beef production and economic returns from rehabilitated lands after open-cut coal mining at Acland in southern Queensland were equal to or greater than those from unmined nearby lands retired from cultivation. Effects of land type, pasture rundown, climate variability and grazing pressure on outcomes were quantified to identify grazing management practices that help reduce risks of overgrazing.