Regenerative pasture management driving profit for central Queensland beef producers

Cameron and Kristy currently buy weaner heifers to run across 6781ha on their property Coonabar, located around 20km north of Rolleston in the Central Highlands district of Queensland.

The focus of the business is to run a successful cattle backgrounding enterprise, without pushing their country to the brink - particularly during drier, more uncertain times.

It's been an emotional time for the couple, having recently completed a succession plan for the property from Cameron's parents Murray and Wendy Gibson.

The family's management practices grew out of necessity, following the property purchase in 1988. Since they couldn't afford to do a blanket clear of the land with historically high interest rates at the time, they decided to apply Graslan to clear 40m timber strips.

Despite heading towards a conventional cleared grazing system, in 1992 Murray and Wendy discovered time-controlled grazing, also referred to as cell or rotational grazing, through a course on grazing for profit.

Cameron described it as a complete "paradigm shift", with the family changing gears to build appropriate fencing and water infrastructure for a completely time controlled grazing system by 1998, which they have continued.

The front country in their cell grazing system involves moving cattle daily throughout the year across 2110ha broken into 80 paddocks with 10 watering points.

The 4381ha back country, operates under a rotational grazing system, with 13 watering points and cattle shifted weekly, with the Gibsons working towards also developing it into a time-controlled cell grazing system.

The 2023 calendar year has only seen a total of 240mm of rainfall on Coonabar, described as a "dry year" by the Gibsons who usually receive 650mm in a calendar year.

Their green day usually falls around mid-November.

The dry start to the season and late onset rain forecasts means they have destocked heavily and were waiting for rain to improve grass production.

While de-stocking may seem like a drastic at this stage for some, the process was simply just another piece of the puzzle in the Gibson business and grazing management plan.

Currently they run 820 adult equivalent cattle numbers, with 250 of their own, and the rest agistment, but in their green season they have had up to 3820 adult equivalents.

"We don't want to buy cattle before rain, we want some on hand, but we'll get the cattle when we have the grass, otherwise cattle will eat you down to nothing and you'll loose that ability to regenerate," Cameron said.

In 2007 the family shifted the operation from commercial breeding to a livestock trading to increase flexibility during the dry and wet seasons, achieving better grass to cattle ratios.

"Once you take those bigger animals out of your system, it's a lot easier to manage your grass system because you don't have to find grass for pregnant 500 to 550kg cows, you only need to find grass for that weaner of 200 to 250 kilo average," Cameron said.

Currently the Gibsons have been growing heifers out to about 360 to 380kg before selling them to feedlots.

"The lighter cattle buys us time to rain," Cameron said.

The strategy is dependent on the market and feed availability, and last year it was more profitable to take weaners to PTIC heifers.

"When it's dry we have the ability to drop our numbers to match our stocking rate to our carrying capacity," he said.

Cameron said a well-rested paddock with more ground cover always responded better to the eventual rainfall than an over-grazed paddock since it had a much higher infiltration rate.

But proof is in the numbers.

In 1999 Coonabar's stocking rate averaged 10.3 stock days per hectare per 100mm of rain, but by 2020 this figure had risen to 28.3SDH per 100 mm of rain.

The Gibsons operate under the motto "grass is king" - indicating it was most important aspect of their operation, being vital for cattle production and therefore income.

"It's just knowing the grass you have in front of you," he said.

"If we look after the grass, the grass will look after us."

To take the guess work and emotion out of sending cattle to market, the Gibsons use a "no-nonsense" KLR marketing system where data is collected in a spreadsheets to track purchases and sales as well as all overheads.

"We work on a sell and buy system instead of a buy and sell system," Cameron said,.

"It's done on figures instead of emotion."

Their system has meant they have never had to buy in feed, despite drought and dry spells over the last few decades. The business has also always remained profitable.

Once a money saving technique, the tree strips on property have now proven beneficial and profitable.

While brigalow, poplar box, blackbutt, wilga, iron bark, wattle, and eucalypts might be a headache for some, the Gibsons have embraced them.

Often referred to as shelterbelts, Cameron said the trees also improved cattle weight-gain during the summer months as they were calmer and cooler and more likely to feed.

He said the shade also stopped cattle from congregating at the water point.

Coupled with ground cover, the trees could also be helping to decrease evaporation and increase carbon sequestration.

Preliminary research over six months from a flux tower installed on the property by Queensland University of Technology demonstrated Coonabar had an average evaporation of 90mm, whereas the regional average was 120mm.

Initial results also indicated that Coonabar was able to sequester 600kg of carbon per hectare, where the regional average was only about 300kg per hectare.

"That tells me we've drawn twice the carbon down for a 25 per cent better water efficiency rate," Cameron said.

Additionally, the trees provided critical habitat for birds and native species, such as greater gliders, and increased biodiversity.

These pockets also have the ability to be monetised through biodiversity offsets, and assist with reducing soil runoff during heavy rainfall.

Cameron described the range of land and business management strategies to manage grass and stocking numbers a "cake mix of ingredients".