Improving Tactical Decision Making Program

The Profitable Grazing Systems (PGS) program: Improving Tactical Decision Making (ITDM) is a group-based coaching program tailored specifically for the NSW rangelands. The program aims to assist producers with the adoption of grazing management strategies and practices to improve whole-property performance.

Three producer groups in western NSW have now completed the ITDM program. The pilot group of producers in 2021 were based in the Oxley area and the two most recent producer groups were based in the Packsaddle area and Ivanhoe/Booligal area.

ASSISTING PRODUCERS WITH TACTICAL DECISION MAKING

The program involves a small group of producers that work through a series of five coaching sessions conducted over a period of 12 to 18 months. Through the program, producers build skills to identify key rangeland species and manage pastures to promote increased quality and quantity, improving productivity in their livestock businesses.

ITDM is non-prescriptive (no timetable or grazing schedules) and includes a few basic principles, combined with producer knowledge of their own property, to allow the formulation of a tactical grazing management program that will address issues of pasture productivity and sustainability in a local context.

This program enhances producers’ ability to monitor, measure and record pasture, resource condition and livestock condition. A key component of this being how well pastures are ‘conditioned’ to respond to rainfall or withstand a dry time and how effectively livestock can be managed to meet reproductive targets.

PRACTICAL SKILLS

Activities completed as part of the program are practical and producers will practice skills to take home and apply to their own business. Key practices implemented include:

• assessing pastures and identifying productive species in the landscape
• building skills in condition scoring livestock and feed budgeting to achieve production goals
• routine feed testing and identifying quality of key pasture species at different times of the year
• identifying and targeting rest and recovery of pastures based on species biology
• grazing management to increase prevalence of valuable plants in the pasture
• understanding how grazing influences plants at different stages of growth
• linking remote sensing technology with group measurements to inform decision making.

PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK

• “Liked how it was engaging + relevant, covered a range of topics and questions which applied to everyone” – Oxley pilot participant, 2021.
• “Enjoyed the way it’s delivered and is very relevant to the key management decisions that we need to make in our business” – Packsaddle participant, 2024.
• “The informal nature and easy flowing back and forth that enabled question and answer to be incorporated and knowledge to be more completely assimilated” – Packsaddle participant, 2024.
• “The on farm practical application, actually working through how to apply knowledge” – Packsaddle participant, 2023.
• “Well presented, the group size is good and easy to communicate with” – Booligal/Ivanhoe participant, 2023.
• “Has been well worth our time” – Booligal/Ivanhoe participant, 2024.

INTERESTED IN JOINING OUR NEXT PRODUCER GROUP?

We are currently recruiting for two new producer groups to start the ITDM program in 2024. For further information on the program please contact your local Agriculture team member:

• Courtney Lallard in Broken Hill via courtney.lallard@lls.nsw.gov.au or 0499 924 501
• Christine Plummer in Buronga via christine.plummer@lls.nsw.gov.au or 0408 241 200

Profitable Grazing Systems – an initiative of MLA. Find out more about Profitable Grazing Systems via the MLA website.