Get reliable science

Historically, in the WA southern rangelands the traditional approach of many pastoral stations to grazing
management was to set stocking rates based on previous year's tallies and to make minimal observation of both pasture condition and livestock performance until next year's muster. Long -term benchmarking studies and
regional monitoring systems in the WA southern rangelands have highlighted that this 'set and forget'
approach has contributed to poor animal productivity and land condition decline. There is growing adoption of an approach which seeks to objectively assess food-on-offer and make stocking rate decisions to ensure that it is adjusted to seasonal variation. The value in this approach has more to do with the 'process' than the 'product', as it fosters increased observation of pasture condition and livestock performance. Based on
examples from other regions, this approach has the potential to facilitate significant improvement of
sustainability of pastoral stations in the WA southern rangelands.