This project aims to increase the productivity of grass pastures in South Queensland through more reliable and successful adoption of legumes. The project will:

1. help landholders assess and implement on-farm options to successfully adopt legumes.
2. support the commercialisation of new stylo varieties for light soils in southern Queensland, where existing varieties have not persisted. These new stylo varieties are likely to be useful in other regions (mapping suggests more than 40M ha of Queensland are suitable to these stylo species) and are a significant opportunity to improve livestock production.
3. grow knowledge of the best (most persistent) legumes for producers across southern Queensland.
4. conduct phosphorus fertiliser research trials to improve long-term (20+ years) performance of legumes in grass pastures.
5. spatial and economic analysis of the legume opportunity across Queensland.

Project team: Gavin Peck (team leader), Louise Walker and Ian Dunbar (Toowoomba).

Contact: Gavin Peck ( or 0428 783 771).

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:

1. research, demonstrate and improve on-farm adoption of effective solutions to pasture dieback.
2. grow understanding of the location, scale, spread and impact of pasture dieback.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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 ( or 0427 929 187).

This project aims to increase adoption of legume-based sown pasture systems in north Queensland. It will:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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 ( or 0438 138 262).

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:

1. 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.
2. develop and test grazing strategies to improve land condition and recovery of carrying capacity of poor condition land.
3. 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.
4. 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 ( or 0428 100 493).