The Department of  Agriculture and Fisheries’ Rob Hassett conducts the Land Condition Assessment Tool training at the Mt Pleasant Learning Hub.

Rob Hassett, DAF, leads a workshop on the Land Condition Assessment Tool at the Mt Pleasant Learning Hub. 

Dartmoor graziers Dan (left) and Kath Kenny with Reedy Creek grazier Bob Goodie.

LDC team members Adrienne Hall and Rod Kerr chat with Brett Scott, Flagstone, (back to camera) prior to the workshop kicking off.

In-house training important

NQ Dry Tropics is focused on its people and the collaboration between them to work towards a common goal – to partner with our stakeholders to create connected and functioning landscapes.

Cross-team collaboration is a powerful tool in a culture of continuous improvement.

The LDC project held an LCAT workshop for NQ Dry Tropics field staff in Bowen. It was also hosted by Rob Hassett, of DAF.

Land Condition Assessment Tool essential component of graziers’ kitbag

EIGHTEEN graziers took part in a Land Condition Assessment Tool (LCAT) training workshop at Mt Pleasant Learning Hub in March.

It focused on the benefits of assessing and monitoring land condition.

Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) Rob Hassett hosted the workshop.

He encouraged graziers to consider a range of activities that would lead to practice changes most appropriate to their situation to achieve better groundcover and land condition.

The workshop covered several topics:

  • Pasture budgeting – choosing sites that are representative of the average pasture quality and quantity within a paddock or portion of a paddock for the purpose of pasture budgeting to enable graziers to stock the paddock at a safe level.
  • Pasture species – the benefit of monitoring the actual pasture species to focus on improving pasture management, including monitoring how the species mix changes due to seasonal patterns, for example, perennials vs annuals, 3P species vs less desirable species. (Note: 3P species are pasture species that are Perennial, Palatable and Productive).
  • Weed management – understanding how management impacts on weeds in various seasons, and how to monitor weeds.
  • Monitoring degraded areas and prior to infrastructure development – assess whether areas are improving, declining or are being maintained, and consider strategies to address issues.  It is important to monitor overgrazed areas and observe how they recover from rest, and how undergrazed areas respond to heavier grazing.

Through LCAT training (and other training and on-ground activities) LDC hopes to influence the development of a continuously improving system of catchment scale support for extension, training, farm planning support and regulatory compliance management across the BBB.  

This supports a culture of stewardship, a keystone of the LDC project, that enables land managers to be effective custodians of the land.

As part of its BBB Grazier Support program, LDC hopes to deliver future projects to facilitate the adoption of best management practice across the BBB.

The kettle’s on, and the cups are ready… smoko can’t be far away.

There was a good roll-up.

The group learnt how to assess different land types.