New round of successful pasture assessment program available for the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales
Farmers across the Northern Tablelands are now better prepared for future dry spells, thanks to the completion of the Drought Resilient Pasture Landscapes (DRPL) project that has been led by the University of New England (UNE) since the end of 2022.
Over the course of the Future Drought Fund project, UNE, Southern New England Landcare (SNEL) and GLENRAC Inc have worked with farmers through an on-farm coaching program that has better equipped them to navigate climate variability and drought conditions.
One of the biggest keys to the success of the project was the hands-on, collaborative, on-farm approach to learning.
“With the coaching sessions most often taking place on-farm, participants were not only learning pasture assessment skills but how to implement them on each of their farms,” says project lead, Professor Lewis Kahn.
Based on the positive feedback and on-ground improvements, UNE has just opened Expression of Interest (EOI) applications for a second round of the successful Grazing Decisions coaching program.
"The 2024/25 round will be a 12-month coaching program, to help landholders improve their capacity to manage productive and drought resilient pastures on the Northern Tablelands of NSW,” says Professor Kahn.
“Through visiting various properties to see different pasture types and management practices, participants in round one deepened their knowledge and confidence and strengthened their local networks.
“Revisiting properties over the project also allowed farmers to see for themselves the influence of management practices in association with climate variables that had occurred since the last visit,” says Professor Kahn.
At the start of the project, just under half of the farmers used climate forecasts when planning future stocking rates and this increased to 94 percent at the end of the project.
“This enables informed decisions to be well considered to ensure targeted levels of pasture herbage mass could be obtained. These changes also provide large benefits for pasture growth, livestock productivity, reduced rainfall runoff and reduced erosion.”
Participants also gained confidence in estimating herbage mass, which has helped to build long-term habits that will enable them to make decisions ahead of time to alleviate pressures triggered by climate variability.
“Over the duration of the project, farmers became more confident at accurately estimating ground cover, with the regular coaching sessions led by Mrs Jaimi-lee Edwards, developing improved skills. It was the same for estimating the green content of the pasture, which is a difficult but important aspect of pasture assessment,” says Professor Kahn.
“Being able to assess herbage mass is key to the learning outcomes from this project and the percentage of farmers estimating herbage mass on-farm increased from 30 to 91 percent.”
Through the coaching sessions, participants also learnt about the important link between healthy waterways and land management, and how to use online tools to increase resilience.
Farmers were introduced to the Ag360 online tool and established their accounts, including farm records, so they could benefit from forecasts of soil moisture, pasture availability and livestock productivity six months ahead.
As climate variability is expected to increase, Professor Kahn says “it has never been more important for farmers to ensure their enterprise can withstand challenges, as well as reap the benefits during the good times”.
Because of this, the resources and findings developed over the course of the project have been made publicly available via the GLENRAC and SNEL websites for anyone to access. This includes a trainer’s manual, coaching handbook and participant’s manual.
The site holds information such as the water quality results from the eight sites used in the project, the soil organic carbon results from 140 tests carried out during the project, a photo library to help evaluate green percentage of herbage mass across a range of pastures, and a number of video case studies. There is also a how-to guide for pasture assessment and a coaching manual to use as a resource for sharing knowledge.
You can access the online Community of Practice via Southern New England Landcare and GLENRAC Inc.
This project received funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, and was a partnership between UNE, GLENRAC Inc., and Southern New England Landcare Ltd.
Register your interest for the Grazing Decisions Coaching Program for 2025
Expressions of interest are open now until 13 December 2024 to take place in the Grazing Decisions Coaching Program, a 12 month program that can help you manage productive and drought resilient pastures. Groups work with a pasture coach, meeting on-farm six times throughout the year.
Download the PDF flyer and fill in the online Expression of Interest.