Progress was made to bridge the knowledge gap for urban communities regarding how the beef industry operates during the Dalrymple Landcare Committee’s (DLC) annual City Country Day on Saturday.
Close to 50 residents each from Townsville and Charters Towers embarked on the tour which gave them an opportunity to visit working cattle station’s at Charters Towers and learn about rural life.
The Townsville group visited the Bennetto family’s property at Virginia Park with DLC event coordinator Kirsty McBryde while the Charters Towers contingent headed to the Landsberg family’s Trafalgar Station under the guidance of DLC secretary Bob Shepherd.
Ms McBryde said urban communities are becoming increasingly disconnected from food production despite living in close proximity to farms.
“It’s not uncommon for Townsville and Charters Towers residents to have never been on a real cattle station before,” she said.
“The City Country Day aims to connect urban residents with beef producers in our region and allow residents to gain an appreciation for where their food comes from.
“By educating consumers on food production in the northern beef industry, the DLC aim to strengthen agriculture and keep urban and rural communities connected.”
After meeting Matt, Sonia and Sue Bennetto at Virginia Park the guests headed straight into the cattle yards to get some hands on experience working with cattle.
The tour group yarded up some cows with Ms McBryde and Matt Bennetto who then spoke about current beef industry issues and provided information on beef genetics, different breed types, dietary supplementation, beef traceability and different pasture types.
Guests also got to see how a calf is branded and learned about the processes involved in animal husbandry practices.
Visitors also had a go at milking a cow which proved to be a big hit with kids, and also taught them where the beef and milk their mum and dad buy at the supermarket comes from.
“The guests were very enthusiastic and raised questions covering topics like the northern beef industry, live export, vegetation management, grazing systems and what the average day in the life of a grazier entails.
“From the feedback I received everyone in the tour group came out of the day with a much clearer understanding of what we do in the beef industry and why.
“It was a very enjoyable and rewarding day for all involved, I don’t think the guests wanted to leave as they really appreciated seeing how beef is produced at a grass roots level.”
Matt Bennetto said the best part of the day from a producers perspective was being able to shed some truths about how those that work in the beef industry conduct themselves.
“Hopefully it gave the guests a more realistic view of how the industry operates to balance out the bias news that’s propagated through the Green group’s in the media,” he said.
“In particular, it was great to be able to talk to them first-hand about how live exporters operate and how we have to reconcile each animal killing process with video footage which is a far cry from what they thought actually happened.
“I think they found it illuminating that live exporters go above and beyond their obligations to ensure animal welfare is the highest priority in the trade.”
He said those in the beef industry need to take every opportunity to tell their story to city people so that they have a clearer idea of how it all works which they can then inform their friends and family about.
“It’s so important that DLC and NQ Dry Tropics are running days like this to educate city people about what things are really like in the bush.”
Mr Shepherd said the Charters Towers tour group had an equally rewarding day with the Landsberg family during their visit to Trafalgar.
“I got great feedback from the guests in my group, they were particularly impressed watching Roger Landsberg conduct water divining work,” he said.
“The kids were amazed to learn that if you dig a hole in a creek or river bed you’ll find water, and it must also go on the record that the Landsberg’s put on an amazing smoko for us all.
“I’d like to thank all the attendees, the Bennetto and Landsberg families and NQ Dry Tropics for supporting the event through funding from the Australian Government National Landcare Programme,” Ms McBryde said.