Healthy landscapes and productive farms, a win for agriculture and the Reef

Land managers are reporting significant gains in both agricultural productivity and environmental health thanks to the five-year Bowen Broken Bogie (BBB) Water Quality Program.

Graziers have completed a range of activities to reduce fine sediment lost through runoff and help the land function more naturally from improving land management practices to rehabilitating major gully networks.

A healthier landscape supports improved soil water retention, stronger plant growth, greater biodiversity, and more consistent ground cover. These improvements boost productivity, enable graziers to produce more kilograms of beef per hectare reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and deliver both environmental and economic benefits.

Collinsville grazier Brett Scott, Flagstone Station, said the project enabled him to install fencing and water infrastructure and adopt grazing practices to improve soil health and pasture diversity.

“A lack of fencing and water points meant we weren’t able to use pasture further away from Flagstone Creek,” he said.

“We installed fencing at the head of the creek to reduce grazing pressure along the creek banks, so these areas can now regenerate. We also established extra water points which allow us to rotate cattle around the property without the need to enter riparian zones for water.

Changing the grazing system on Flagstone has been the single biggest change to overall herd production. Rotational grazing and wet season spelling enables Brett to rest country and reduce overgrazing.

Scottville grazier Graham Gordon undertook small-scale gully works to slow water on his property with the goal of improved soil and pasture health and reduced sediment loss. The project has helped Graham access technical expertise and resources to halt progress of an active gully that that was so large and deep it had cut down to the sedimentary bedrock.

Treatment works included a horseshoe-shaped level rock weir with spreading structures above the gully heads to slow and spread water, and to reduce the volume and velocity of water entering the gullies.

“We’re taking a whole-of-property approach to fixing gullies. Being a smaller property, 222ha, means we’re able to do that,” Graham said.

“If you can block a gully and hold that water back in the country, you’re going to keep water and soil on the paddock, and that’s a whole lot better than seeing it run into the creek.

“It’ll improve our topsoil depth and soil-water-holding capacity to enable even grazing of our pastures.”

Temporary fencing has been erected to exclude cattle from the project site to allow it to stabilise.

Twenty-six hectares of eroded gullies at Belmore Downs have been rehabilitated in two stages. Works included land reshaping, bunds, rock chutes, batter drains, porous rock check dams, soil improvement, fencing, revegetation, and grazing management.

Designed to be cost-effective and resilient to 1-in-50-year rainfall events, the project reshaped active gullies and diverted overland flow using bunds and rock chutes. Check dams slowed water and encouraged soil deposition. Soil testing guided targeted amelioration, while native revegetation based on ecological assessments, helped stabilise soil, reduce erosion, and support long-term landscape resilience.

On the 20,800 hectare Weetalaba Station, an old alluvial fan had eroded into a deeply incised gully system, cutting a shortened path down to Rosella Creek, lowering the flowline and eroding into productive agricultural land.

Grazier Reid Muirhead completed a landscape rehydration project to rehabilitate this erosion hotspot and safeguard production.

Using natural materials, a leaky weir, earth walls, diversion banks, and rock chutes, water movement across the landscape was slowed and infiltration rates were promoted, enhancing pasture growth.

“Early indications are positive. Prior to intervention, water was moving too fast across the landscape because of poor infiltration, lack of ground cover and deep-rooted perennials,” he said.

“This has been rectified by a simple intervention. Along with grazing management to improve ground cover, promote multiple species pasture growth, and improve soil health, this will once again become productive country.”