Improving pasture and the land

A new focus on the land underneath their cattle’s feet is racking up wins for Brahman breeders Peter and Mariah Chiesa.

The Kennedy Valley graziers have seen a major improvement in pastures since they began changing their grazing management practices six years ago, moving to smaller paddocks and grazing the land more intensely.

From 6 to 16 paddocks

“We had 130 hectares of cane, banana (and guinea grass) that was fenced into six paddocks – we’ve pushed it out to 16 paddocks averaging five to seven hectares with a solid 60 per cent of the pasture now being improved species with a heavy legume influence,’’ Peter said.

“It allows us to manage our feed a lot better, and to have our finger on the pulse when it comes to selling cattle at an optimum time.”

The Chiesa’s Kennedy property was showcased at a field day in the Tully region, hosted by the farmer-led group Lower Wet Tropics Soilcare and supported by Terrain NRM.

Peter said Terrain’s grazing management workshops, held in the Tableland and Ingham regions over the last couple of years, had helped him look at his management of grazing land from a different angle, building on the knowledge he and Mariah had gained over the years.

“New ways to run our country better”

“Breeding cattle is long-term project and learning how to manage the country is part of it,’’ the third-generation farmer said. “We’re always looking for ways to run our country better. I’m not a big fan of applying synthetic fertiliser so I’m interested in different approaches.

“We run all our cattle in one herd now. We have minimal inputs. With smaller paddocks, they always have fresh feed available. We move them regularly. In the wet season that can be every couple of days.