Blair Plains grazier Travis Parry has spent six years managing the invasive giant rat's tail grass on his property, based at the foothill of Blue Mountain, between Nebo and Sarina.
The 31-year-old commercial beef farmer first began managing the grass on his 1600 acres with an offset plough, setting down at the first signs of germination to cut off seed growth.
"We've come full circle from that. Now we're very much back to using aerial options with the drones, going in and once again getting an initial spray down...and initial mop down," he said.
"Depending on the level and intensity of the rat's tail grass on that country, we may start spraying at the start of the wet season and burning, and hold over that year, and stock that country at a high rate.
"So any rat's tail grass coming through, before it gets to the seed head stage, we're trying to stock a big wing of cattle on that country through grazing management.
"Towards the end of the year, towards the next wet season, we look at the level of rat's tail grass we've got, and use the tractor or drone to go back through and get another knock down spray in and try and collectively get the paddock clean."
According to Business Queensland, the African native grass is an "aggressive grass that can reduce pasture productivity and significantly degrade natural areas".
The long, upright plant forms large tussocks and has narrow leaves, and seed heads which grow up to 45cm long.
Giant rat's tail grass is difficult to distinguish from other pasture grasses, and since it's introduction to Australian in the early 1960s in contaminated pasture seed, it is now found from northern Cape York down to the New South Wales central coast - suited to a wide range of soils and conditions present in 60 per cent of Queensland habitat.
"We've had a crack at every single thing can think of. We started out initially looking at spraying out heavy rat's tail country with round-up and then burning and ploughing that country up to three times over period of six months," the third-generation grazier said.
After a good dry season, Mr Parry begins seeding, using grass varieties like Mekong Briz Antha to attack the rat's tail - which he says grows well out of its own mulch.
"Another way of attacking it is with soil fertility and looking at what it's natural deficient in," he said.
"We look at the minerals mined over the years that have been taken out of the country in past grazing practises...and look at looking after the soil's biology and micro-organisms...and what type of tropical grasses and legumes we're putting in there to turn the paddock around from being relatively unproductive, low-use country, into very high use, high-density grazing country."
It has been trial and error for Mr Parry, who has utilised social media and YouTube advice from fellow farmers to tackle the weed.
"I don't know how many different things that I started doing in the first three years when I took over here," he said.
"But if you don't go and try, you're not going to know for yourself."
He uses his own social media platforms to share his methods.
"People get to see that and go 'right, he's been bold enough to have a crack at that, put it on the internet, say this is what worked and this is what didn't' and off they go," he said.
"But the folks that have had good success and they sit on their hands and don't share what they've done, that drives me nuts.
"They're the people we really need to be getting our information from...getting the knowledge out of those brains and putting it to use. How much better of a position would we be in?"
Mr Parry will also be planting a multi-species crop in a lane-way which he uses as a spelling area for cattle moving from rat's tail country into clean country, which has less than 10 per cent rat's tail on it.
"We try to minimise the transfer of rat's tail in there. Cattle will just go up and nip the seed heads off...but it's coming out the other end in a super fertilised little cake. Especially seed sticking to animals as well. We're only really in control of about 25 per cent of the movement of seed," he said.
"We've got good country that currently has rat's tail grass on it and we're learning how to manage that. Every single year we seem to come up with a different strategy...and every single year we seem to be getting better," he said.
"So I can't say we've actually landed on a strategy...there's no golden bullet...we're just adapting every time and getting better at it."
While the most common method of spraying can be effective, it is not infallible, and an incessant upkeep of spraying to put a dent in the scourge could be detrimental for the soil and the environment, according to Mr Parry.
"(I'm) attending a lot of schools, seminars, trying to learn...spending a lot of time being a sponge...and quite often I'll be the guinea pig out there and that's the way I learn," he said.
Heavy rain, emus, wild pigs, strong gusts, and fertile cow patties have resulted in a constant spread of the invasive grass.
"(Emus) come through the paddocks that we've spent weeks and thousands of dollars, time, blood, sweat and tears on, and you just go 'well how do I control that?' Exclusion fencing isn't the option because it's all flood country down there," he said.
"You get to a point where you go 'Mother Nature's taken the reins off me completely here, I'm just hanging on with the spurs'...and you start to wonder if what you've been putting all your heart, soul and time into is worth it? You've just got to adapt and overcome."
A new offset plough has been the latest expenditure for Blair Plains; utilised for renovation projects and getting and grass and legume away to suppress rat's tail grass and woody weed.
"And get the paddocks turned over and ready to go," Mr Parry said.
"I wouldn't be doing anything else. It's such an exciting thing to be in, but there's some proper heartache in it too...I just take each day as it comes."
