Texas horseman, Bob Kinford is returning to the state’s far north to run a stockmanship grazing school.
Kinford will be at Woodleigh Station near Ravenshoe in May as part of a new project in the Herbert River catchment to reduce gully and streambank erosion and sediment flowing to the Great Barrier Reef.
He will be demonstrating how to reboot natural herd instincts in cattle and teaching horsemanship and grass management methods.
A field day will be held on Friday, May 18, and a Herding on Horseback workshop will run from Monday, May 14 to Thursday, May 17.
Terrain NRM’s Jen Mackenzie said the event was the second for the Herbert River Gully and Grazing program, following on from successful Grazing Naturally workshops with Dick Richardson last week at Woodleigh Station and Upper Stone near Ingham.
She said Kinford would be drawing on more than 40 years of stockmanship experience including his studies of cattle behaviour, handling techniques and grazing patterns.
“Bob will be demonstrating Instinctive Migratory Grazing methods that allow graziers to follow grazing plans without fences, with fewer water points and less labour,’’ Ms Mackenzie said.
When applied to conventional cattle operations, this enables one person to muster mobs of up to 1000 head
- Jen Mackenzie, Terrain NRM
“These methods also allow graziers to follow holistic and regenerative grazing plans.”
Kinford will be re-booting herd instinct in 500 cattle at Woodleigh Station, and setting up a natural grazing pattern through five large paddocks.
Terrain NRM is bringing him to the far north thanks to the Herbert River Gully and Grazing Program’s funding from the Australian Government through its Reef Trust Phase IV program.
The new project will include earthworks to reshape gullies, revegetation work, fencing to keep stock away from streambanks, weed management and a fresh look at grazing practices in the Wet Tropics.
Interested people can phone Jen Mackenzie on 0438 206 343 or email jennifer.mackenzie@terrain.org.au to register or learn more about the field day and Herding on Horseback school.
Registrations close this Friday, April 27.