Bruce and Judith Lord, along with their family, manage Mount Stanley, a 3,300 hectare property on the headwaters of the Brisbane River above Linville, Queensland. The property is a mix of freehold and State Forest leasehold country which collectively runs approximately 300 Brangus breeders, retaining replacement heifers and growing out steers targeting the Japanese ox market.
The property’s landscape features areas of productive blue gum flats and hollows rising to hills and mountains supporting ironbarks, gum and bloodwood, with much of the country comprising native pastures, dominated by black speargrass and forest bluegrass.
Bruce and Judith both agree that “Knowledge is very valuable and keeping up to date with the latest industry research and development, and practical information helps support and guide our decision-making within our business. FutureBeef’s (BeefConnect) webinars helps us remotely connect with industry leaders and researchers, where we can hear about practical strategies on a variety of topics – nutrition, pastures/grazing land management, economics, biosecurity and many more. And a bonus is we don’t have to travel to receive the information”.
Bruce and Judith embrace a pragmatic approach to their cattle operations including focussing on maintaining their land in good condition and trying to improve the fertility and productivity of their breeding and fattening enterprise. FutureBeef has played a key role in keeping them well informed. Bruce says one of the most valuable resources they have used from the FutureBeef website is the Dry season management of a beef business booklet. As well as providing useful information on drought preparedness, livestock nutritional requirements and supplementary feeding options, the booklet provides some great tips on analysing feed product labels and calculating feeding costs. In conjunction with adopting more conservative stocking rates, we have invested more in dry season supplementation using a mix of commercial products and home-made dry lick to help to maintain our breeder condition, particularly on our lighter forest country, with the economic value being reflected through improved conception rates.
By tapping into FutureBeef’s webinars, Bruce and Judith are making informed and confident decisions that focus on improving the sustainability and performance of their beef operation.
