Learning how to improve the productivity of a breeding herd was the goal of 48 graziers from 24 enterprises who attended the North Queensland Dry Tropics Breeder Management workshops lead by Mount Isa Vet Ian Braithwaite.

Dr Braithwaite is well known for his pregnancy testing services across northern Australia.

He is passionate about the northern beef industry becoming more sustainable, with graziers integrating their herd production systems with financial and land management to make better business-wide decisions.

Dr Braithwaite said there were about 150 different factors that could impact on a grazing business, but there were five key concepts to making more money and having enough grass for cattle businesses.

“Preg-testing and aging back pregnancy is a key skill graziers can use to make a huge difference to business profitability,” he said.

“Mobbing females into ideal windows of calving is a powerful tool, and one which is pretty underutilised by graziers in the north.”

In contrast to the ‘bulls in, bulls out’ principle, graziers discussed controlled mating by grouping females according to three calving windows and keeping bulls in most of the year.

NQ Dry Tropics project officer Linda Anderson said the system allowed graziers to accurately predict how many mouths they needed to feed before the next wet season.

“Also to make sure they had enough grass to support the herd and keep the best body condition score on females to increase conception rates,” she said.

“It’s all about making informed plans, working your cash flow and taking action before the business, grass or cows turn south.

The workshops also covered topics including bull selection, diseases affecting reproduction, ruminant nutrition, new techniques for castration and branding, and property infrastructure development and calculating carry capacity in grazing circles not paddock sizes.

The mix of attendees ranged from first year jackaroos, seasoned ringers through to managers and property owners.

“It’s really important that everyone learns why certain business and production decisions are made,” Ms Anderson said. “After all, one day these young people will be making the decisions, and the earlier they understand what keeps a business afloat and cattle producing calves and kilos of beef, the better livestock managers they will be,” she said. 

NQ Dry Tropics workshops were held at Yarmina Station, Hillsborough Station, Clothes Peg and Gregory Springs Stations.