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Despite its intuitive appeal, there is very little irrigated hay or forage production in the extensive rangelands of northern Australia used for beef cattle production. There are many reasons for this, including: constraints related to lease tenure conditions; difficulty and expense of obtaining regulatory approval for irrigation development; differing skills and capacity amongst the pastoral workforce; and the economic viability of growing irrigated hay or forage. Theoretically, the use of irrigated hay or forage production would allow pastoralists (ranchers) more options for marketing cattle : meeting market liveweight specifications for cattle at a younger age; meeting the specifications required for different markets than those typically targeted by cattle enterprises; and providing cattle which meet market specification at a different time of the year. Forages and hay may also allow graziers to implement management strategies, such as early weaning or weaner feeding, which should lead to flow-on benefits throughout the herd, including increased reproductive rates. We used a bio-economic model (CLEM, Crop Livestock Enterprise Model) to investigate the financial and production implications of growing forages for both hay production and for 'stand and graze' systems in the Victoria River catchment of the Northern Territory (NT). Predicated on the average annual utilisation rate of native pasture being kept constant, the use of irrigated hay or forages allowed a higher number of breeder cattle to be maintained. Total income, liveweight gain per animal, and total beef production increased with the use of irrigation. However gross margins were typically higher for the base enterprise, i.e. without irrigation. An analysis of NPV (Net Present Value) which considers the capital cost of development as well as the annual costs, suggested that irrigated forages and hay were only viable when the capital cost of development was low and the price of beef was high.