BeefCheque — a 'dirty boots' approach to achieving profitable beef production in Gippsland

The objective of the BeefCheque extension programme is to provide producers with the skills to grow and use more pasture, produce more beef and make more money. A pilot programme operated in Gippsland (in Australia’s South East) from 1995 to 2000 using 15 beef producer groups, each centred on a focus farm, and consisted of monthly farm walks and other ‘dirty boots’ activities. Each BeefCheque group progressed through a series of activities planned by the group and their facilitator. A total of 420 producers participated, with 250 producers participating at any one point in time (9% of Gippsland beef producers and 19% of cattle produced in Gippsland). Project success was evaluated using Bennett’s hierarchy as a framework. In a survey at the end of the first 5 years, 94% of respondents had tried one or more new grazing management practices, and 54% had tried at least 11 new grazing management practices. This had increased from 2 years previously when the median number of practices learnt was 9 or more. An analysis of a small percentage of farms involved in benchmarking over 4 years (10–21% of producers involved in BeefCheque) showed significant increases in total liveweight output (kg/ha), saleyard price ($/kg beef liveweight), gross farm income ($/ha), net income ($/ha) and farm operating surplus ($/ha). These results matched or exceeded the goals set for the first 5 years and were achieved despite 3 years of exceptionally dry conditions. The success of BeefCheque has been attributed to its use of practical on-farm demonstrations, farm walks and rigorous discussions leading to trialing and use of grazing management practices that increase pasture utilisation and, ultimately, profitability. This led to the overall conclusion that the ‘dirty boots’ activities and approach are important for developing skills and achieving significant change at all levels of farm management.