Grazier Bob Harris was one of the speakers at the Resilience in Grazing Open Day held at Tom and Karen Murphy's Tabletop Station, Collinsville, on April 5, where he extolled the benefits of holistic management.
Mr Harris own Glencoe Station a 2,400ha cattle grazing property just south of Bowen.
He purchased Glencoe in 2000 and runs 700 head of mixed cattle which meet local abattoir and live trade markets. The property is situated in the drier part of the Mackay Whitsundays region.
“The operation had been run like a hobby farm prior to me purchasing it in 2000, and I’d spent the last three or four years putting in 35km of fencing and an extra 20 water points thinking I was doing the right thing for my cattle,” he said.
“Unfortunately I didn’t get the results I was hoping for.”
In searching for new ways to run the business Mr Harris attended the 2015 Resilience in Grazing Open Day at Barry and Leanne O’Sullivan’s property Glenalpine, which is where he got his first in-depth look at holistic grazing management in practice.
“Since that time I completed one of the Holistic Management training courses conducted by Brian Wehlburg and Helen Lewis from Inside Outside Management in Bowen, which has completely changed my mindset regarding how to run my beef business.
“After I ran a small scale test at home using the high density grazing method, I’m convinced holistic management is the way to go.”
Mr Harris put 100 yearlings in on the 11ha of grass surrounding the homestead, and enclosed the area with electric fencing.
“In four days they’d completely eaten out all the grass in the area, and they quickly learnt how to navigate the electric fence.
“It was quite exciting to watch the holistic management practices working right in front of you.
“It was a revelation to see that you really don’t need a large area, to graze a big mob.
“After they grazed around the homestead I got them to do the same thing around the work shed and along the driveway.”
“I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in and doing it on a larger scale.”
Mr Harris said he’s constantly striving to make the country around Glecoe more sustainable.
“My ultimate goal is to utilise the holistic management principles to drought proof the operation.”
