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Supporting Grazing into the Future field day report

Page published: September 10, 2025 | Page reviewed: September 10, 2025

The Supporting Grazing into the Future field day was held at Wambiana, the property of Michael and Michelle Lyons on Friday 5 September 2025. The day was aimed at the younger generation of agricultural advisors and was an opportunity for attendees to learn from successful producers and technical experts on a wide variety of topics, and take-home tips, tools and strategies to share with their producer clients.

The day was attended by 27 stakeholders plus 12 DPI staff with attendees coming from a wide variety of backgrounds. These included agribusiness, Rural Financial Counsellors, government departments, NRM extension officers, universities, accountants, vets and feed suppliers.

The day opened with a presentation by DPI’s Peter O’Reagain on the key grazing principles from the long-term Wambiana grazing trial, now in its 27th year. This was followed by local grazier Fran Lyons presenting on how they implemented key grazing principles in managing their Basalt River cattle property. The grazing theme flowed into a presentation by DPI’s Grayson Jones on cattle nutrition and the tools available to identify likely nutritional deficiencies.

Attendees then headed outdoors for a powerful visual demonstration by Grayson of just how much grass a grazing breeder needs through the year. This was complimented by a hands-on exercise where attendees estimated pasture yield and participated in doing a forage budget in a nearby paddock.

People standing around a tarp with piles of dry grass tipped out.
Grayson Jones presenting on the nutritional needs of cattle.
Producers standing in a paddock of dry grass with clipboards.
Participants learning how to do a forage budget.

In the afternoon, Michael Lyons presented on the bull breeding program at Wambiana and how they had used technology such as egg harvesting and in vitro fertilisation to accelerate selection for increased fertility. This was a good lead into DPI economist Janna Sims’ demonstration of the new Breedcow Lite program for assisting producer’s economic decision making. This in turn linked with the final presentation by DPI’s carbon extension officers Toni Cottle and Teagan Lawrence on greenhouse gas emissions accounting and practical steps that producers could take to ensure maximum market access into the future.

Man standing in a cattle yard with a flip chart and cattle speaking to a crowd.
Michael Lyons of Wambiana station presenting on how genetic improvement can be accelerated using genomic testing and selection tools.
Two ladies presenting in front of a projector screen.
Toni and Janna presenting on increasing beef production efficiency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Feedback from the day was very positive with attendees finding “all the presenters very engaging’. Attendees also commented that there was  “Great mix of presentations and topics….and a good mix of inside and outside activities”. Following the success of the day, a similar day aimed at the next generation of producers will be held next year

The day was funded under the The Queensland Pasture Resilience Program, a partnership between the Department of Primary Industries, Meat & Livestock Australia and the Australian Government through the MLA Donor Company, and the Reef Water Quality Program.