Matt and Kristie Lisle

Graziers Kristie and Matt Lisle have an ongoing quest to improve the sustainability of their property, Moonkan Park, at Bushley, west of Rockhampton. After four years of hard work Moonkan Park has become a successful cattle fattening and trading operation based on rotational grazing.

The Lisles have focused on 3 key areas of improvement on their property:

• pastures
• water
• fencing.

Pastures

From the start, the couple decided to focus on pastures and soil improvement. A Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA) Sustainability loan allowed them to reclaim some grazing country by removing lantana and rubber vine.

Pastures were running at 30% capacity, which prompted them to clear some of the timber and invasive plants from the paddocks to allow more grass to grow. Paddocks were sown with multiple grass species to increase the diversity. They recently purchased a Great Plains No-Till Drill implement which gives them the option of direct seeding without destroying soil and pasture structure, supporting year-round seeding.

Water

The Lisles contacted the beef extension team in the Department of Agriculture and Fisheres (DAF) to ask about support available to help them with improving property management and sustainable grazing practices. DAF recommended that they join the Grazing Resilience and Sustainable Solutions (GRASS) program and have been working with the Lisles to put in place improvements to water supply and fencing.

The southern end of Moonkan Park was already mostly fenced to land type, with 4 large paddocks making up more than 1,500 hectares. These paddocks consisted largely of a narrow-leaved ironbark woodland ridge, with foothills of silver-leaved ironbark on duplex soils. There was no permanent water source in any of these paddocks, so cattle had a long distance to walk back to water. Over time, this caused the foothill country to be heavily grazed and dominated by annual grasses and weeds, whilst further up the ridge, preferred dense black speargrass and Buffel grass were completely untouched.

The Lisles laid more than 55km of pipe and installed 58 troughs, fed from a solar pump and gravity along the way. The bores, along with a network of tanks, including 2 of 250,000L capacity, provides the herd with more than 58 watering points, all within a 700m walking distance, so as to reduce cattle stress and energy use.

Improving the water network helped better utilise the high-country areas and therefore more evenly graze the entire property. They used Phoenix Mapping, from Agdata, to give an overall picture of land contours to plan infrastructure development.

Fencing

The Lisles have incorporated low-stress handling techniques to improve beef quality and weight gain, and they use single-strand electric fences, something they researched before implementing bit by bit. The herd has come to respect the fencing system which then makes it easier for moving between paddocks. There is no set time for how long a mob stays in each paddock. Mr Lisle has learnt to visually assess when a paddock needs to be rested, something only experience has been able to teach.

Recently, the Lisles partnered with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation for help with analysing the property’s farm sediment run-off and find ways to minimise it. Soil testing will take place first as the business plans to incorporate more beneficial activities to its ground-cover planting, erosion prevention and other land protection strategies.

Lifelong learning

The couple have 2 children (Jack, 6 and Ella, 4) who have been involved in each step of the project. Mrs Lisle said it was important to involve their children as they will be the ones to benefit from the practices currently being implemented.

The desire to show the way to the next generation is seen in Mrs Lisle's participation in the Advancing Beef Leaders program, she graduated in 2022 from the Central Queensland branch. The Advancing Beef Leaders (ABL) program is a tailored leadership and professional development program for emerging producer and community leaders.
Delivered by a partnership of DAF and private consultants, ABL aims to skill and enthuse those who wish to become more involved in community and industry organisations. They have implemented initiatives such as the creation of a QR code as a biosecurity check-in for those entering the property.

While the property development is ongoing, Mrs Lisle said completing the water infrastructure and getting into a good paddock rotation schedule were lights at the end of a long tunnel. She said it had been a long hard slog and the family had put in a lot of effort, sacrificing holidays and weekends. But it had been worth it in the end as ground cover improved and cattle well-being was enhanced, along with the long term sustainability of their grazing enterprise and improved environmental outcomes.

The GRASS program is funded by the Queensland Government’s Queensland Reef Water Quality Program and delivered by DAF, Burnett Mary Regional Group, Fitzroy Basin Association and NQ Dry Tropics. The GRASS program is available for graziers in the Burdekin, Fitzroy and Burnett Mary regions.

GRASS supports graziers to develop and implement a tailor-made action plan for land management. The action plan assists graziers to improve and then maintain their land condition with a specific focus on improving ground cover. Graziers may be eligible to apply for incentive funding for works identified in their action plan for land management including infrastructure improvements such as fencing, water troughs and erosion works.