SEEING IS BELIEVING
MEDIA RELEASE
18 April 2011
SEEING IS BELIEVING
Taking the opportunity to learn from their peers, a group of enthusiastic graziers and industry people toured the Desert Channels region on the Pastoral Properties Field Tour that was part of the two day Mitchell Grass Downs Sustainable Grazing Forum held last week.
“The field tour highlighted different land types, issues and management practices across the region,” said Colleen James, Industry Liaison Officer at the Desert Channels Group. “The two day event showcased sustainable grazing management practices from graziers both inside and outside our region giving people the opportunity to see things from other perspectives.”
While travelling through the downs country DEEDI principal scientist David Phelps drew from extensive knowledge of the Mitchell Grass country and spoke about the Mitchell Grass Downs and managing Mitchell grass. Participants used the chance to get their questions answered.
Cam & Jenny Lindsay highlighted the importance of focussing on the emotional wellbeing of the family as well as the profitability of the enterprise in their holistic approach to management at Yuruga Station.
Peter and Raeleen Whip of Bandon Grove used a DCQ groundcover & erosion control grant to supplement the costs of regenerative work on their scalded country with fantastic results. It takes more than just a good season to bring barren land back to productive pasture and the ponding banks installed to slow water and increase groundcover have done just this.
Barry & Tanya Dawson showed how they have been able to increase carrying capacity and spell their Mitchell grass downs country during growth season. This was accomplished through their pulling of invasive gidgee, stick raking, burning, and planting to grass. The Dawson’s also use strategic stock movements with both sheep and goats to control gidgee re-growth.
“The highlight of the day for me was the opportunity to travel on the 4WD bus,” said Sue Akers who attended the field tour. “The sharing of conversations and experiences while travelling was very enjoyable and valuable.”
It was shown that there is a lot of support for graziers out there with Glen Martin from Legal Aid Queensland highlighting the availability of legal advice in relation to your rights as a grazier and mining activities on rural lands.
Some of the key messages from the Forum held at Qantas on Wednesday were the benefits of sustainable grazing management practices. The increase in groundcover and stocking rates were the obvious results that were shown by Graham Finlayson from Bokhara Plains, David Marsh from Allendale and Adam Bradshaw from Tomoo.
The Mitchell Grass Downs Sustainable Grazing Forum was an initiative of the Desert Channel’s Landholder Support Service Project and was funded by the Queensland Government’s Blueprint for the Bush Program and the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country program.
ENDS
Media enquiries: Colleen James (07) 4652 7826 or 0428 580 998 or colleen.james@dcq.org.au
