EVERY day, women take on the challenges of working in Australia’s pastoral industry, which is traditionally perceived as a man’s world.
On Wednesday, June 24, NQ Dry Tropics is hosting a Women in Grazing bus tour, at which leading pastoral women will share their knowledge and experiences as they travel to four grazing properties, concluding with a dinner in Ayr.
NQ Dry Tropics’ Grazing BMP Coordinator Lisa Hutchinson said the tour will give women in the pastoral industry a chance to come together to learn, share experiences and develop friendships.
“It has been specifically designed to empower women in the industry by exposing them to innovative management practices and ideas," Ms Hutchinson said.
“Attendees will learn about a number of management options used to restore land and improve production, while reducing the impacts of agriculture on the Great Barrier Reef," she said.
This unique bus tour will feature leading female grazers presenting on their management experiences related to the five modules of the Grazing BMP including: Grazing Land Management; Soil Health; People and Business; Animal Production; and Animal Welfare.
“The Grazing BMP (Best Management Practice) program is a voluntary, industry-led process which helps graziers to identify practices that can help improve the long-term profitability of their enterprise.
“It also helps identify the steps graziers can take to incorporate best management practices into their enterprise.”
Kellie Dobe will host the tour on the family's De Salis Station. As a wife, mother, governess, partner and manager, Kelly will offer insights into how her life and career have evolved since moving from tomato growing in Bowen to beef cattle production.
The focus for the Dobe family is now on quality product and as a result they are heavily involved in Artificial Insemination and Embryo Transfer.
Focusing on soil health, Garlone Moulin will discuss the journey her enterprise has taken during a site visit to Mount Pleasant Station.
“The intensive cell grazing system that has been implemented over the past 15 years and the resulting ground cover, diversity of species and soil health outcomes speak for themselves,” she said.
During a visit to Glenalpine Station, Leanne O’Sullivan will present on the Holistic Management approach taken by O’Sullivan Pastoral Holdings, and the short-term ultra high-density (crash) grazing practices being used to improve productivity and land condition.
Del Norman, co-owner/manager of a 2000 head beef cattle operation and 4000 tree Mango plantation, will host the tour at Mt Aberdeen Station and discuss the importance of people and business systems to the success of their operation.
Natalie Williams, Nuffield Scholarship winner, business partner and manager, will be presenting on her grazing land management journey undertaken on the family’s 7600ha beef cattle grazing property Granville, in central western Queensland.
She said that a development plan and change of management has been implemented over 10 years which has seen the land and pasture become healthier, as well as being able to carry more stock for longer.
“In effect, we have turned some fairly average forest country into a high-quality resource."
Sarah Streeter, who will present on animal production, spent a number of years with the Northern Territory Primary Industry Department before moving back to Queensland to manage the family’s White Kangaroo Station in the Bowen/Collinsville area in 2012.
Kylie Stretton, who will be presenting on People and Business, is an advocate for all types of Australian primary producers. She, founded ‘Ask an Aussie Farmer' in 2012, a group dedicated to sharing positive stories of Australian Agriculture.
Dalene Wray, General Manager of the OBE Organic Beef Group, will be the key dinner speaker. The OBE Organic Beef Group was founded in the early 1990s by a far-sighted group of Australian farming families which is continuing century-old family traditions.
“The scale of OBE Organic’s free-range production operation is staggering: together, the families own over seven million hectares of Australia’s best cattle grazing land, that’s 70,000 square kilometres," she said.
She is currently relocating from Hong Kong with her husband Michael and three children. Having grown up in Queensland’s channel country, Dalene has great empathy with the land and its people.
The Reef Programme and the Grazing BMP Program work hand in hand offering support for economic and environmental outcomes on grazing properties.
This event is supported through funding from the Australian Government Reef Programme and the Queensland Government Department of Environment and Heritage Protection funded Grazing BMP project.
The day commences in Ayr with a 7am ‘meet and greet’, breakfast, catering and transport will be covered for registered guests only.
Registration closes Friday, June 19.
For more information, or to register please contact Lisa Hutchinson on 0427 594 192 or email lisa.hutchinson@nqdry tropics.com.au.
