NORTH Queensland graziers are sharing their knowledge as they adopt new grazing management practices on their properties.
Property owners between Giru and Charters Towers started changing their practices in early 2019 under a new NQ Dry Tropics project.
They are now sharing their results with others.
The properties taking part in the Regenerative Tools for Burdekin Soils and Pastures project include the Lyons family at Four Mile Station; the LeFeuvre families at Worona Station and St Margaret's Creek; and the Whelan family at Bumbleginny Station.
Four other families who are participating as part of the Reefwise Grazing of Burdekin Rangelands project are the Robinson family at Pallamana Station; the Healing family at Warrawee Station; the Stretton family at Red Hill Station; and the Smith family at Dreghorn Station.
The two groups of graziers are at different stages of their fit-for-purpose grazing plan, and have provided different perspectives on seasonal planning and subsequent management of cattle and pasture at a two-day workshop.
NQ Dry Tropics Grazing Project Officers Sam Skeat and Linda Anderson, alongside Grazing Naturally principal Dick Richardson have been guiding graziers from both groups through seasonal grazing planning using paper based charts or the MaiaGrazing software.
The groups recently converged at Bumbleginny and Dreghorn Stations to discuss closing out dry season plans and exploring options to properly use the productive growing season ahead.
Ms Anderson said the graziers in the Reefwise Grazing project were in the early stages of adapting traditional grazing management to a fit-for-purpose system, and hearing the experiences from members of the Regenerative Tools project was an opportunity to see a little bit of the road ahead.
Mr Skeat said the workshop benefited his more advanced graziers as it provided fresh ears and a chance to discuss different perspectives of managing cattle and pasture according to dry season plans.
He said Maia Grazing helped to keep track of rainfall, pasture growth, pasture utilisation and planned herd shifts.
"So far, being able to use actual data recorded by Maia has allowed us to better manage utilisation of country, make sound decisions on buying and selling stock, and comparing and evaluating effectiveness of moving towards a fit-for-purpose grazing system."
The group focused on each property in turn, discussing successes and missteps during the dry season. Graziers recounted difficulties created for themselves when a judgement call turned out to be the wrong call.
Mr Lyons said he had gained "a whole lot" from the discussion after he gave a short summary of the dry season at his Majors Creek property.
"Everything Dick told us about creating a fit-for-purpose grazing system was completely upside down to everything I had ever done," he said.
"Sometimes I think the hardest paddock to sort out is one in my head."
Worona Station grazier Chris LeFeuvre said he felt while the first year of a changed grazing regime was important, the second year was even more so.
Kale and Karin Robinson recently purchased Pallamana Station south of Charters Towers, and were gradually implementing their new vision for the grazing business.
"Listening and learning from other graziers who are already changing how they graze their stock is absolutely the best way to learn. It's been really good for us personally, really useful," Mr Robinson said.
As the break of the wet season finally eventuated, the group spent considerable time discussing and planning how, where and when paddocks were to be grazed during the growing season, with a focus on being able to recalibrate and change grazing plans in response to herd size and seasonal progression.
Mr Whelan she he appreciated feedback from the group about how his paddocks at Bumbleginny had responded to the previous season's grazing regime.
He spoke about the dramatic effect he had observed by balancing the oil content in the dry season lick fed to his cattle.
The group also went into some depth discussing the appropriate stocking rate for his operation during the next few months when more rain might be expected.
"It's been good to have everyone here, to have Dick and Sam on hand to do the hard calculations," Mr Whelan said.
"I have picked up a lot of things and what's great is I now know exactly how many cattle I need for the wet season ahead."
While conditions on their coastal Giru property were dramatically different from most of the other properties, Peter LeFeuvre said he picked up plenty to take away from the discussions.
