The Grazing BMP program outlines 157 industry developed standards across all facets of management of a beef enterprise including; animal production, animal health and welfare, grazing land management, soil health and people and business practices.
The NCMC Grazing Management Pilot Program was promoted to hundreds of Northern Rivers graziers, with 60 graziers completing at least one or more of the online Grazing BMP modules. Feedback received was positive, with participant evaluation forms on average rating the satisfaction of the workshop as 5.65 / 7 or 81% very satisfied, identifying multiple actions they could implement to assist their operation reach or exceed the industry standard.
Delivery of the NCMC Grazing management program consisted of a mixture of one-on-one visits to producers to provide direct assistance to complete the online modules or via group workshops that included some additional extension covering either one or two of the Grazing BMP modules. There were also two producers that completed the self-assessment directly via the web portal.
Results of the various datasets identified key areas of underperformance throughout the local beef industry. Information gained from these initial results directed additional resources in the later stages of the program to commence extension activities to overcome some of these deficits.