John and Margie Lowe run a mob of breeder cattle on “Gaia Lodge”, a 150ha farm at Duckmaloi near Oberon in the NSW Central Tablelands. “Gaia Lodge” is owned by Philippa Gemmell-Smith. Since 1999, the change from an opengate grazing policy to a flexible rotation has seen the stocking rate for their Hereford breeder herd slowly rise, and the thistle population gradually decline. For “Gaia Lodge”, the change from a block with little winter feed and thistle problems to a more reliable breeder block was almost as simple as closing a few gates.

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