Martha Lindstad and Robert James, ‘Karalee’.

Enngonia farm managers Martha Lindstad and Robert James have set out to build more drought resilience into ‘Karalee’, a rangeland grazing operation and part of the SLM Group.

Martha and Robert joined the RCS Drought Resilient Soils and Landscapes Program in 2022 to better manage their grazing and prepare for drought.

Growing up on a small farm in Norway, Martha has worked her way through New Zealand and Western Australia to now find herself in NSW’s northern rangelands.

“Australia’s environment can be unforgiving and very harsh, with droughts, fires and floods,” Martha said.

“You really need to excel in your management — don’t get anything for free in a sense.”

Martha Lindstad and Robert James with RCS grazing mentor Raymond Stacey

Martha and Robert joined the RCS Drought Resilient Soils and Landscapes Program in 2022 to better manage their grazing and prepare for drought.

They joined 23 other grazing businesses across the southern Queensland and the northern NSW rangelands to access training, mentoring, business tools and a supportive network.

“The program and grazing clinic was a big paradigm shift and helped us better budget our feed — it’s been a massive help,” Mr James said.

Martha, too, has found the program transformative.

“I’ve never experienced a drought, so I’m trying to learn as much as I can,” she said.

“Through the program and coaching, we now have our feed budgets in place and aren’t stressing about what’s ahead of us.

“We’re not constantly thinking about what we need to do — we know how many months of feed are ahead of us.

“The Soil and Landscapes project is certainly helping us improve our grazing management and making better decisions.”

This project is supported by RCS, through funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund. Find out more about building drought resilience at www.rcsaustralia.com.au

Source: RCS