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When a drought hits, the pressure to sell stock fast is real. But sell too many, or sell the wrong ones, or not planning for the recovery, and you're setting yourself up for a slower, harder rebuild.

That's the problem University of New England's Professor Lewis Kahn and Dr Gus Rose have tackled with support from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.

Working with CSIRO and the University of Central Queensland, Professor Kahn's team developed decision-making tools for Merino, Central and Southern Queensland beef, and Southern Australian beef producers.

“Selling too many will slow the rebuilding phase and selling the wrong breeders will impact future production and financial security,” Professor Kahn says.

Finding the balance between immediate production (phenotype) and long-term performance (genotype) is the key.”

Professor Kahn says minimising financial, environmental and social impacts of drought on livestock producers relies on developing an overall management plan that supports informed decisions about:

• the extent of the livestock sell-down and the order of stock classes to be sold,
• the traits to use for culling breeders,
• feeding versus selling and associated issues of biosecurity, feeding and water infrastructure and labour availability,
• how to rebuild the herd/flock.

Download the factsheets from the SQNNSW Innovation Hub website here: https://www.unisq.edu.au/research/sqnnsw-hub/blogs/rfy-decide-2026.