Meet Terry and Megan Dunne

Terry and Megan Dunne own a grazing property near Biloela. They have about 2340 hectares freehold, plus 1500ha of forestry lease and run around 400 Droughtmaster-cross breeders on this mostly ironbark and bloodwood forestry country. They produce weaner steers, with most of the store cattle sold out of the paddock, and others going out as feeder steers to feedlots and fattening operations.

They converted to a rotational grazing practice a few years ago, which has not only improved their bottom line, but also reinvigorated the natural environment. Since 2018, about half of their paddocks have been converted to this practice which has involved dividing blocks into smaller sizes (some down to about 81ha) and improving the pasture types available. Cattle spend between 14 and 18 days in a paddock before moving on.

The Dunnes used machinery to clear sticks, branches and scrub from paddocks in order to give the cattle better grass access. They started rotational grazing before the 2019 drought, in a move not many in the district were considering. The results have shone through, aided by a weather turnaround.

"We continued on through the 2019 drought even though we wondered what we were doing, but I think the recovery time after that drought was a lot faster because we were rotating the stock.

Patches of buffel grass, regarded by many as a premium grazing native pasture, have been given a chance to regenerate, whereas once it was heavily eaten by the herd.

"I don't ever think it's going to be buffel country as such, but there are small pockets of it and it just adds diversity in the pasture," Mrs Dunne said.

The couple previously achieved grazing Best Management Practice (BMP) status. More recently, the Dunnes have become part of the Grazing resilience and sustainable solutions (GRASS) program, which helps graziers improve poor or degraded land through one-on-one support and tailored land-management plans. They were spurred on after attending a DAF workshop.

DAF beef extension officers worked with the Dunnes and using the land condition assessment tool (LCAT) have developed an Action Plan for Land Management. The sites assessed have been mapped and the Dunnes will be able to use this information for future reference and monitoring. It will help them to avoid overgrazing and to tackle erosion, something which is already happening to a degree because of rotational grazing, with small areas of erosion starting to grass over due to being spelled.

"It's nice to see the impact on those areas with bare patches now having cover on them,” Mr Dunne said.

Another pasture management technique is strategic burning to control wire grass, a plant which provides little nutritional benefit to cattle. Ironically, the healthy doses of moisture have put that on hold.

"We were going to try and control the wire grass with some strategic burning, but we haven't done that yet because it's been raining," Mrs Dunne said.

The Dunnes have been monitoring sites in all the paddocks - using a photo album of grass to help with their ground cover assessment.

"We take photos every year and compare them to the year before," Mrs Dunne said.

"We can actually quantify the ground cover. Just having that photo record is really good. It helps me to understand how we are traveling.

She said it was about matching the livestock numbers to the amount of pasture available then budgeting for what's ahead.

"You gradually increase the stocking rate when you have enough pasture, and when it gets dry, you gradually decrease it," Mr Dunne said.

DAF also introduced them to the Stocktake GLM program, which can assist with decisions around managing stock numbers to maintain good land condition. This is available as a free smartphone app that can help calculate long-term carrying capacity, which is the average number of animals that a paddock can support over a planning period (5 -10 years).

"Taking a bit more of a scientific approach helps you with your decision-making, especially when you are approaching dry weather, " Mr Dunne said.

While the Dunnes are interested in the way the property is responding to the new approach, their main drive in implementing rotational grazing was quite simple: profitability.

"If you look at your figures, to be moderately stocked and look after your land, you are actually going to be financially better off," Mrs Dunne said.

"And it gives me a lot of satisfaction looking at the plants and seeing better pastures. It also makes you feel like you've got a bit of a handle on a system that you can use and make sure you are looking after the country."

There are further plans to reformat the remaining parts of the property into the rotational grazing model. With 400ha or so to be divided into five paddocks courtesy of 8-9km of fencing, it's going to require some funding and a substantial time commitment.

"I'm pretty excited about that actually because I think that will make a big difference, particularly because we know what we've done already works well," Mrs Dunne said.

Those future successes will likely be added to the established visual record of their achievements in that all-important photo album of grasses. The Dunnes are also looking to the future and into ways to assess their carbon and greenhouse gas emissions.