Improving tactical decision making program

The Local Land Services Improving Tactical Decision Making program involves a small group of producers that work through a series of five coaching sessions conducted over a period of 12 to 18 months. Through the program, producers build skills to:

• identify key rangeland species 
• manage pastures to promote increased quality and quantity
• Improve productivity in their livestock businesses. 

Project background 

Local Land Services Improving Tactical Decision Making (ITDM) program is a group-based coaching Profitable Grazing Systems (PGS) program, tailored specifically for the NSW rangelands. The program aims to assist producers with the adoption of grazing management strategies and practices to improve whole-property performance.  

The ITDM program: 

• is non-prescriptive (no timetable or grazing schedules) 
• includes a few basic principles
• combines producer knowledge of their own property
• allows the formulation of a tactical grazing management program that will address issues of pasture productivity and sustainability in a local context.

Project objectives 

This program will improve producers’ ability to monitor, measure and record: 

• pasture condition
• resource condition 
• livestock condition.

Project delivery

A key component of this project’s delivery is understanding how well pastures are ‘conditioned’ to respond to rainfall or withstand a dry time and how effectively livestock can be managed to meet reproductive targets.

Activities completed as part of the program are practical and producers will practice skills to take home and apply to their own business.

Key practices implemented include: 

• assessing pastures and identifying productive species in the landscape
• building skills in condition scoring livestock and feed budgeting to achieve production goals
• routine feed testing and identifying quality of key pasture species at different times of the year
• identifying and targeting rest and recovery of pastures based on species biology
• grazing management to increase prevalence of valuable plants in the pasture
• understanding how grazing influences plants at different stages of growth
• linking remote sensing technology with group measurements to inform decision making.

Work underway 

Three producer groups in western NSW have now completed the ITDM program. The pilot group from the Oxley area graduated in 2021, followed by more recent groups in the Packsaddle and Ivanhoe/Booligal areas in 2024. 

Currently, there are groups underway in the Willandra Lakes and Menindee/Wilcannia areas. 

Participants are finding the program: 

• engaging
• practical
• relevant. 

“Enjoyed the way it’s delivered and is very relevant to the key management decisions that we need to make in our business.”
– Packsaddle participant, 2024.

Funding and partnerships

Profitable Grazing Systems is an initiative of Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA). Find out more about Profitable Grazing Systems via the MLA website.