Ben Simpson runs Thistlebank, a 22,800 hectare cattle property near Aramac in Central Queensland that has been in his family for five generations. He came to the property from a very different life as a fitter and turner on the Gold Coast and has run it since 2010, joined by his wife Kim in 2014.
A hard drought in the late 2010s meant more money was going out the door than coming in, so Ben went looking for a different approach. In 2022 he did the KLR Marketing and RCS Grazing for Profit courses, followed by RCS’s Next Steps coaching and Executive Link programs. Since then, Ben and Kim have moved from set stocking to cell and rotational grazing. Their minimum ground cover has gone from around 40% to 60% or more, and their benchmark carrying capacity has risen from around 6 to 15–20 stock days per hectare per 100 mm of rain. They now rank in the top 20% of RCS’s profitability benchmarks. Ben has also started working with RCS as a coach and adviser.
In this episode, we talk about:
How Ben went from the Gold Coast to running Thistlebank, and what made him stay
Why financial pressure during drought led him to seek out training, starting with marketing and business skills
Starting small and scaling up, from 16 or 17 mobs down to four mobs of 700 to 1,200 head
Running intensive cell grazing on 6,000 hectares and a slower rotation across the rest of the property, working with flooding, access and labour constraints
Planning grazing 12 to 18 months ahead with feed budgets, so that small adjustments made early avoid forced sales later
Shifting from breeders to trading cattle to match stocking rate to carrying capacity, and to suit the people running the place day to day
How goats fit into the system, and the paradigm shift of seeing grass grow back under timber
Why coaching, peer support and a written vision have been central to the change
Ben features as a case study farmer in our Practice Guide: Grazing for Soil and Landscape Regeneration.
Soils for Life Practice Guide: Grazing for Soil and Landscape Regeneration: https://soilsforlife.org.au/practice-guide-grazing-soil-landscape-regeneration/
Webinar with Ben Simpson and Dave McLean: https://events.humanitix.com/grazing-for-soil-and-landscape-health-field-day-thistlebank
RCS: https://www.rcsaustralia.com.au/
RCS Grazing for Profit: https://www.rcsaustralia.com.au/farming-grazing-for-profit-programs/
RCS tools, including FarmEye: https://www.rcsaustralia.com.au/tools/
KLR Marketing: https://klrmarketing.com.au/
The Long Paddock (Queensland Government ground cover and climate data): https://www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au/
CarbonLink: https://www.carbonlink.com.au/
More from our grazing series
From feeding animals to feeding biology, with David and Ruth Read: https://open.spotify.com/episode/21dVEksiDbbDDQTWLrZxGT
Regenerative grazing and the key insights of Holistic Management, with Brian Wehlburg: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7bWGHbRB332rYcw9bLwt90
This episode was hosted by Eli Court, produced by Jen Sheridan and edited by Chris Wieffering.
We’d love to hear your feedback, questions or ideas for future guests. Get in touch on social media or at [email protected].
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Grazing profitably in the harsh beauty of the Central Queensland downs, with Ben Simpson
SoilsForLife 8 views 9 hours ago