Host: Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development’s Northern Beef Development project, funded by the State Government’s Royalties for Regions program
Region: Kimberley and Pilbara regions, Western Australia
The Northern Beef Development project aims to support the northern beef industry to become more prosperous, resilient and sustainable to meet this growing demand for products.
It is part of the department’s integrated approach to building a stronger agriculture and food sector in WA’s north to support local job growth and regional economic prosperity.
Formerly known as Northern Beef Futures, the project was reviewed in 2017/2018 to place a stronger focus on initiatives that deliver the greatest return on investment, including innovative new crop trials, improving regional infrastructure, supporting practice change within industry, and policy development that will lead to improvements in productivity.
The review also resulted in a more targeted approach to capturing new international markets, integration with other department land, water and agriculture development projects and creating more strategic links to supply chains in WA southern regions.
The Northern Beef Development project has three key pillars:
The collective outcomes of these pillars will provide the building blocks for a stronger, more diverse and resilient beef industry in the north.
Project highlights
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Extension of the Business Improvement Grants (BIG) program allows 20 additional pastoralists access to business advice, mentoring support and business improvements to strengthen enterprise profitability. Read more about BIG Round Two.
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Field trials currently underway to breed a sterile leucaena variety as a high value food source to boost beef production and eliminate weed risk. Read more about the progress of these trials.
- A total of 48 pastoralists undertook projects funded through round one of the Business Improvement Grants program. Click here to see how these projects had a positive impact on farm operations and bottom line.
Manager, Trevor Price
Hi, I’m Trevor and I am the Manager of the Northern Beef Development project, based in Broome. I have a good understanding of cattle enterprises from all perspectives having initially attended a rural college, worked on cattle stations in the Northern Territory and, more recently, established my own cattle stud in New South Wales. I’ve met quite a few pastoralists in the area already from my previous travels as a seed stock producer and prior to that I spent 26 years in the military as a soldier and officer working in management and engineering which complements my animal science background.
Development Officer, Mariah Maughan
Hello I’m Mariah Maughan. I’m originally from the small town of Harvey in the south west of WA. After finishing school I moved to the Kimberley to work as a ringer on Liveringa Station where my passion for the northern beef industry began. Afterwards I went on to complete my Animal Science and Animal Health Degree at Murdoch University in Perth. I work as a Development Officer based out of Broome, and am excited about contributing to the growing industry in northern Australia.
Northern Beef Development Officer team: Development Officers Stephanie Coombes, Mariah Maughan and Clare Atkins, with project manager Trevor Price.
Love your (cows) guts
Mustering, fencing, checking waters and dropping lick. These are standard tasks on any cattle station in Australia. The first three are fairly self explanatory, but the last one..? Not so much! How can I describe ‘lick’? It’s something that pastoralists spend tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands (or millions) of dollars on. It […]
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NEW PODCAST: Cattle Station Classroom
Have you ever wanted to know more about the northern beef industry? Traditional opportunities to learn about the industry include: university, TAFE, short courses, schools, and on-the-job training. For a number of reasons, whether it be time, money, and/or access, not everyone has the same learning opportunities. The Cattle Station Classroom podcast is a free […]
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Episode 41. Chris Henggeler – The backpacker who bought a cattle station
Imagine this: building a pastoral lease from scratch. I’m talking about walking onto a piece of land that has never been managed or developed – no fences, no man-made waters, no roads – nothing. Sounds like something from the 1800’s right? A story of the settlers? Well, this actually happened in the late 1980s, when […]
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Adventure, before dementia!
Written by Sally Scott – Yougawalla Station What on earth could persuade us to leave our beautiful farm, garden, house and family in Margaret River to go to one of the most geographically isolated properties in the Kimberley? Well, there are a lot of reasons: a bored husband, family succession planning, a yearning to get […]
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ISTJ’s – the most common tribe in the bush
Written by Sarah Cook – Aileron Station. Bush people are drawn to our own circles. We live together, we work together – and then we socialise together. We appear to have similar values, think similarly and heck – even vote the same way. It makes me wonder, is there any other industry quite as full […]
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Sustainability: different country, same concept
Written by Frances Cooper – Mt Riddock Station Studying land management at university seems like a fairly normal pathway into working in Australia’s extensive rangelands…right? Well, maybe if I’d studied in Australia it would be. However, I completed my studies in the UK and let’s just say that Central Australia is a little bit different […]
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Episode 39. Ben Mills – Floods and droughts on Mandora Station
in today’s episode I am sitting down with Ben Mills … who, as you heard in the introduction, came onto the podcast very willingly and with much enthusiasm. If you’re a long time listener of the podcast, you’ll be familiar with Ben’s wife Caitlin, who featured in episodes 29 and 33. In this episode Ben […]
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The Picnic Races
Written by Barbara Camp – Kalyeeda Station I am writing this to you from the precipice. The precipice of something big. It’s July of 2020 – the year that wasn’t. I don’t need to tell anyone that surviving unscathed to the mid-point of this year is nothing short of miraculous. COVID has rocked our world […]
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Has anyone got a copy (Part Three)
Written by Steph Coombes – Central Station editor I’m known to my friends for my shocking lack of direction. And, in my old age I’ve come to learn to laugh at myself and the silly things I’ve done, rather than shrink away in embarrassment as I used to do. So, I’ve decided to share a […]
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Employment and unemployment
Written by Roley James – Hidden Valley Station When I was asked to write an article for Central Station I had to pause and think for a while. I wondered what would be the most useful or interesting advice that I could give people in the industry or wanting to get into it? Below are […]
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Has anyone got a copy (Part Two)
Written by Steph Coombes – Central Station editor I’m known to my friends for my shocking lack of direction. And, in my old age I’ve come to learn to laugh at myself and the silly things I’ve done, rather than shrink away in embarrassment as I used to do. So, I’ve decided to share a […]
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Episode 37. Hannah Purss – From city girl to cameleer to cattle stations
After 36 episodes talking about cattle, we thought we’d mix it up and talk about another four-legged herbivore that is also found on many cattle stations… camels! Our guest today is an incredible woman named Hannah, who, as you’re about to learn, knows an awful lot about camels and has no shortage of yarns about […]
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The unspoken struggle
This may sound like just another city girl meets country boy love story but stay with me. Hopefully, it will be worth the read. Five years ago, I was living in the city enjoying all the perks it had to offer. I had just returned from travelling Europe and was in search of a new […]
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Has anyone got a copy? (Part One)
Written by Steph Coombes – Central Station editor I’m known to my friends for my shocking lack of direction. And, in my old age I’ve come to learn to laugh at myself and the silly things I’ve done, rather than shrink away in embarrassment as I used to do. So, I’ve decided to share a […]
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180km just to check the mail
Written by Stephanie Coombes – editor It’s often the most simple things in our day that we take for granted – hot water at the turn of a tap, wifi that loads a YouTube video almost instantly, a quick trip to Woolies to satisfy that craving, and a short walk down the driveway to collect […]
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Low-stress wife handling
Written by Connie Wood – Blina Station Jim Lindsay, Eat Your Heart Out. She lowers her head, shakes it a little and a bit of snot comes out as she snorts and stomps the ground with her foot. He’s not sure if its fear, adrenalin, or pure fury that’s got her shaking like that but […]
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Episode 35. Pip Bain – A childhood on Mt Clere station and losing a parent to suicide
What’s it like growing up on a cattle station? In this episode we chat with Pip Bain, who grew up on Mt Clere station in Western Australia in the early 90’s. Pip talks about spending her days looking for bush tucker, helping out the stockcamp, and how she followed in her family’s footsteps to pursue […]
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Episode 33. Caitlin Mills – Challenges come in threes
Caitlin Mills has spent the past decade working on cattle stations in the Pilbara and Kimberley regions of Western Australia. In this episode we chat about Caitlin’s time in the Kimberley, including being a first time manager at Mandora Station with an initiation by fire, flood and drought (literally!). You can listen to the episode […]
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Basic beef
*This blog has been contributed anonymously. The number one thing I have found from working in the northern beef industry is that there is as much to be learnt from doing things the wrong way as there is from doing them the right way. Let me back up for a moment: over the previous 30 […]
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Macro and Micro isolation – A bold contrast
Written by Munro Hardy I recently moved to Sydney for a new position with a Tech company – a complete 180 for me. I’d spent the last 13 years in the Northern Territory working in the great outdoors (aside from 2 years working underground, where I was focussed on saving money for my chopper license […]
