PDS: Adaptive Grazing for Mixed Farming Resilience

Summary

Mixed farming businesses in Western Australia’s Great Southern region are seeking practical ways to improve livestock productivity, profitability and resilience while managing variable seasons and rising input costs.

This Co-Contributor Producer Demonstration Site project will demonstrate the benefits of Adaptive Rotational Grazing (ARG) compared with traditional Continuous Grazing (CG), using producer-led demonstration sites and digital tools such as Optiweigh and satellite-derived NDVI to support grazing decisions and monitor livestock and pasture performance.

Through six demonstration sites across the region, producers will gain hands-on experience in improving feed utilisation, carrying capacity, livestock performance and whole-farm profitability while maintaining pasture condition and groundcover. Participants will build skills and confidence in adaptive grazing management, feed budgeting and digital monitoring technologies, with project insights shared through field days, workshops, case studies, podcasts and producer networks to support wider adoption across mixed farming systems.

Objectives

By June 2029, in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, the project will establish six producer demonstration sites (two sites per year over three years), engaging a core group of 10–12 producers and a wider observer network of at least 150 producers, to:

1. Demonstrate and assess the productivity and profitability benefits of adaptive rotational grazing (ARG) compared with continuous grazing (CG) within pasture phases of mixed-farming businesses, by:

a. Demonstrating that adaptive rotational grazing enables livestock to consistently achieve optimal liveweight gain targets, measured as both kg/head/day and kg/ha, across variable seasonal conditions.

b. Quantifying effective carrying capacity by measuring total DSE/ha sustained without supplementary feeding.

c. Demonstrating improved feed utilisation efficiency (kg liveweight produced per hectare) through more even grazing distribution and controlled feed allocation.

d. Maintaining greater than 80% groundcover year-round to reduce erosion risk and support pasture persistence.

e. Assessing pasture utilisation and persistence, using satellite-derived NDVI imagery, monthly Feed On Offer (FOO) measurements, and pasture species composition.

f. Evaluating grazing efficiency and management control, including grazing evenness, rest periods, and pasture recovery dynamics.

g. Improving gross margin per hectare by 10–20%, driven by increased carrying capacity, improved feed efficiency, and reduced supplementary feeding requirements.

2. Identify and quantify the drivers of increased carrying capacity under adaptive rotational grazing, including improved utilisation efficiency, grazing distribution, pasture species persistence, parasite (worm) management, and enhanced feed allocation control.

3. Undertake annual soil health and nutrient assessments (including NO₃⁻, NH₄⁺, organic carbon, and pH) to build producer understanding of soil function, nutrient cycling, and land-use history. Changes in soil carbon will be used for education and awareness only, not as a primary project outcome.

4. Deliver targeted training and extension activities (minimum of three workshops and annual field days) to increase the knowledge, skills, and confidence of:

a. 75% of core producers, and

b. At least 50% of observer producers, in adaptive grazing management, feed budgeting, livestock performance interpretation, soil nutrient awareness, and the use of digital monitoring tools.

5. Facilitate a Carbon Awareness and Modelling Workshop to improve producer literacy around soil carbon principles and modelling approaches (e.g. LOOC-C, COMET-Farm), linking soil health concepts with livestock system performance and business decision-making.

6. Drive adoption and regional impact, such that:

a. At least 75% of core producers implement or expand adaptive rotational grazing systems by project completion.

b. At least 25% of observer producers indicate intent to adopt adaptive grazing practices based on project learnings.

c. Project outcomes are shared with a minimum of 150 producers annually through field days, producer case studies, podcasts, newsletters, and MLA and Southern Dirt Inc communication channels.