Livestock Advisor Essentials

Basil Doonan has over 25 years of experience in farm business management, grazing management, training and consultancy. He has worked extensively in Australia and overseas in grazing industries, primarily consulting to farm business owners and managers and developing and delivering producer supported learning programs on topics such as pasture management, strategic planning, irrigation management and herd fertility.

Basil has a sound understanding of pasture and business management, soil and animal nutrition, animal husbandry and agronomy gained over his time in the agricultural industry. Basil has a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics and a Post Graduate Diploma in Farm Management.

Tanisha grew up on a mixed farm producing sheep and wheat in the Riverina near Corobimilla in NSW. Throughout high school she decided that a career in agriculture was for her. Whilst at university at Charles Sturt in Wagga Wagga, she developed a keen interest in livestock production, particularly in extensive landscapes. Upon completion of her degree, Tanisha worked as a pen rider at a feedlot, before commencing a livestock traineeship with Elders. Her passion for production in rangeland environments drew Tanisha back to Western NSW, where she was a Land Services Officer for Agriculture and then Senior Land Services Officer with Western Local Land Services, based at Balranald in NSW. Through her role with Local Land Services, Tanisha was involved in delivering advisory services to rangeland producers and developing and delivering training packages specific to rangeland environments.

Tanisha was a previous participant in the southern pilot of Livestock Advisor Essentials and from her time in the course was able to connect with John Francis of Agrista (also a LAE deliverer). Since meeting John at the southern LAE course, Tanisha now works at Agrista as a consultant. In her role with Agrista she is developing skills and a strong understanding of the key profit drivers in agricultural businesses, using farm performance assessment and comparative analysis.

Tanisha now has over six years’ experience working with rangeland producers and other industry bodies including MLA to deliver RD&E programs and to develop tools and resources. This includes her work with MLA and the NSW Department of Primary Industries to scope, develop and resource a Profitable Grazing Systems program specifically for rangelands livestock producers. Other programs she is accredited to deliver include the MLA Business Essentials PGS package, Lifetime Ewe (with three groups currently running in western NSW), and is training to be a Southern Business EDGE, Rangelands EDGE and Carbon EDGE deliverer.

Bob’s interests are in agricultural extension which commenced in 1976. Bob is passionate about the management of grazing lands, specifically paying attention to the basics which include: managing stocking rates, pasture budgeting, use of fire, sown pastures, wet season pasture spelling, location of fences and stock waters to improve land condition; woody weed and feral animal management, reclamation of severely degraded land, preventing and repairing erosion on access tracks and other linear features on grazing properties. He emphasises the importance of getting these basics right before fine-tuning or changing grazing management systems.

Bob has provided grazing land management and soil conservation training to many professionals that are new to the northern beef industry. He keenly worked with schools and students in north Queensland to lift the profile of the northern beef industry and highlight career opportunities in agriculture. Bob has worked with many industry/agency teams including the North Qld Beef Research Committee, Spyglass Beef Research Station Industry Advisory Committee and the Dalrymple Landcare Committee, to address a wide range of beef industry issues. He is the recipient of a DPI Client Service award, a North Australia Beef Research Council medal for extension and communication and was presented with the Individual Landcarer Award for Qld in 2017. Bob is also a member on the Australian Rangeland Society Council.