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Are you growing enough quality pasture?
The Queensland Pasture Resilience Program (QPRP) can help you answer this question and provide the tools and support you need to maximise your grazing potential and business profitability.
The Queensland Pasture Resilience Program is a partnership between the Department of Primary Industries, Meat & Livestock Australia and the Australian Government through the MLA Donor Company. The five-year program aims to help Queensland producers tackle the three big threats to beef production: land condition decline, pasture rundown and pasture dieback.
How we can help | How can you get involved?
Developing new tools and resources | Queensland Pastures newsletter
Southern Queensland sown pastures project | Central Queensland sown pastures project
North Queensland sown pastures project | Improving grazing land management project
How can we help?
Through the Queensland Pasture Resilience Program, Department of Primary Industries staff provide free personalised support to help graziers with pasture development planning and grazing management.
This includes:
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- selecting and developing legume-grass pastures
- monitoring and developing grazing management strategies
- managing pasture dieback
- monitoring land condition.
How can you get involved?
There are lots of opportunities to be involved – whether you want to implement new practices on your property, showcase the great things you’ve achieved, or trial something new.
You can:
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- receive personalised pasture advice for your property
- join us at workshops or field days
- host field days
- host demonstration or research sites
- sign up to our quarterly newsletter.
Developing new tools and resources to help graziers
As part of the Queensland Pasture Resilience Program, we’ll develop valuable tools and resources for graziers and advisors including:
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- guides for sown pasture selection and establishment
- case studies with producers sharing advice based on their experiences improving their pastures and profitability
- factsheets, videos and podcasts on topics such as:
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- legume selection for land types
- establishing new improved pastures
- pasture seed quality
- legume inoculum
- pasture dieback management
- using fire to manage native pastures
- managing nutrients in pasture
- Leucaena management
- grazing management for climate variability
- restoring land condition.
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Sign up to the Queensland Pastures newsletter
The quarterly Queensland Pastures e-newsletter will bring you the latest on grass, legumes and grazing management from the DPI pastures team. Sign up to receive event invitations, research updates, new tools, resources and articles.
View past issues of Queensland Pastures
Upcoming events
What research will be conducted under the Queensland Pasture Resilience Program?
We’re researching the three big issues affecting productivity and profitability of pasture systems in Queensland – land condition decline, pasture rundown and pasture dieback. The program includes four projects with specific research objectives, however, several research questions will be shared across regions.
Southern Queensland Sown Pastures project
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- Commercialisation of new stylo varieties.
- Test and demonstrate sown legume systems in commercial production paddocks
- Improve understanding of:
- the most persistent legumes for southern Queensland
- phosphorus fertiliser on long-term performance of legumes in grass pastures
- potential area and economic value of legume systems in Queensland
- animal performance and pasture data on legume grass systems and how it impacts profitability.
Project team: Gavin Peck (team leader), Louise Walker, Ian Dunbar, Ted Callanan, Ajay Augustin, Vanessa MacDonald (Toowoomba).
Contact: Gavin Peck (gavin.peck@dpi.qld.gov.au or 0428 783 771)
Central Queensland Sown Pastures project
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- Test and demonstrate sown legume systems in commercial production paddocks.
- Improve understanding of:
- changing scale and spread of pasture dieback
- long-term pasture dieback management options
- animal performance and pasture data on legume grass systems and how it impacts profitability
- phosphorus fertiliser on long-term performance of legumes in grass pastures.
Project team: Stuart Buck (team leader) and Kylie Hopkins (Rockhampton), Dana Walkington (Emerald), and Melissah Dayman (Brian Pastures Research Station).
Contact: stuart.buck@dpi.qld.gov.au or 0427 929 187
North Queensland Sown Pastures project
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- Improve understanding of:
- new legume production paddocks including establishment techniques, management, animal performance and profitability
- animal performance on legume-grass systems and how it impacts profitability.
- Test and demonstrate sown legume systems in commercial production paddocks.
- Improve understanding of:
Project team: Kendrick Cox (team leader), Craig Lemin, Shannon Byrnes, Niilo Gobius, Steven Dayes, and Luke Bambling (Mareeba), and Karl McKellar (Charters Towers).
Contact: kendrick.cox@dpi.qld.gov.au or 0438 138 262
Find out the results from some of the NQ teams demonstration sites and more information:
Improving Grazing Land Management project
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- Continue to assess the long-term effect of different grazing strategies on land condition and profitability at the Wambiana grazing trial.
- Trial innovative grazing strategies to accelerate recovery of carrying capacity on land in poor condition.
- Increase adoption of better grazing land management principles across Queensland.
- Support the development of carbon neutral beef production and new AgTech tools to aid decision making in grazing land management.
Project team: Peter O’Reagain (team leader), John Bushell, Joanna Gangemi, Karl McKellar (Charters Towers), Angela Anderson (Brian Pastures) and Dana Walkington (Emerald), and Megan Willis and Brad Hough (Townsville).
Contact: peter.oreagain@dpi.qld.gov.au or 0428 100 493
Media releases and Ministerial statements
2023
Five-year partnership builds foundations of sustainable cattle production
Southern Queensland Sown Pastures project
- Commercialisation of new stylo varieties.
- Test and demonstrate sown legume systems in commercial production paddocks
- Improve understanding of:
- the most persistent legumes for southern Queensland
- phosphorus fertiliser on long-term performance of legumes in grass pastures
- potential area and economic value of legume systems in Queensland
- animal performance and pasture data on legume grass systems and how it impacts profitability.
Project team: Gavin Peck (team leader), Louise Walker, Ian Dunbar, Ted Callanan, Ajay Augustin, Vanessa MacDonald(Toowoomba).
Contact: Gavin Peck (gavin.peck@daf.qld.gov.au or 0428 783 771)
Central Queensland sown pastures
This project aims to help graziers protect against or recover from production issues such as pasture dieback and pasture rundown. It will encourage adoption of legume-based sown pasture systems to improve resilience to these issues. The project will:
- research, demonstrate and improve on-farm adoption of effective solutions to pasture dieback.
- grow understanding of the location, scale, spread and impact of pasture dieback.
- identify the key sown pasture issues relevant to project sub-regions (pasture dieback and rundown, poor land condition and invasive grasses) and help graziers identify and manage these issues.
- test and demonstrate a range of sown legume systems in commercial production paddocks across key livestock production sub-regions and land types in central Queensland.
- generate animal and pasture production data for reliable economic analyses enabling the comparison of various options for beef producers, and summarise these in user friendly formats.
Project team: Stuart Buck (team leader), Kylie Hopkins and Polani Shadur (Rockhampton), Paul Jones (Emerald), Kim Hubbard and Melissah Dayman (Brian Pastures Research Station).
Contact: Stuart Buck (stuart.buck@daf.qld.gov.au or 0427 929 187).
North Queensland sown pastures
This project aims to increase adoption of legume-based sown pasture systems in north Queensland. It will:
- test and demonstrate a range of sown legume systems in commercial production paddocks across key livestock production sub-regions and land types in north Queensland.
- use these to generate animal and pasture production data for reliable economic analyses enabling the comparison of various options for beef producers, and summarise these in user-friendly formats.
- conduct new research into legume ‘production paddocks’ to refine management across a range of land types to enhance establishment, maximise productivity, reduce payback periods and provide sustainable long-term grazing resources.
- promote the adoption of sown pastures through a range of extension approaches and support producers keen to adopt sown pastures through small-group and one-on-one mentoring.
- integrate north Queensland research learnings with those of the other program activity in South and Central to develop and promote whole-of-business options for graziers.
Project team: Kendrick Cox (team leader), Craig Lemin, Steven Dayes, Luke Bambling, Niilo Gobius and Katie Hay (Mareeba).
Contact: Kendrick Cox (kendrick.cox@daf.qld.gov.au or 0438 138 262).
Improving grazing land management in Queensland
This project aims to develop pasture and animal management strategies that have been demonstrated to prevent and reverse decline in carrying capacity and improve the adoption of these practices. It will:
- continue to assess the effect of long-term grazing land management (GLM) strategies on land condition and profitability in a post-drought recovery phase at the Wambiana grazing trial.
- develop and test grazing strategies to improve land condition and recovery of carrying capacity of poor condition land.
- support existing DAF extension activities and work with producers to improve adoption of GLM best practices—in particular, by conducting demonstration sites, land condition assessments and training workshops across Queensland.
- support the development of GLM and CN30 and other monitoring and management tools, through the provision of data and site access to collaborating agencies.
Project team: Peter O’Reagain (team leader), John Bushell, Joanna Gangemi, Karl McKellar, Angela Anderson and Dana Walkington (Charters Towers), Paul Jones (Emerald) and Megan Willis and Brad Hough (Townsville).
Contact: Peter O’Reagain (Peter.OReagain@daf.qld.gov.au or 0428 100 493).