Grahame Rees

Grahame Rees

Welcome to my Low Stress Blog

Welcome to my blog, my name is Grahame Rees and I have created this blog to share with you a little about Low Stress Stockhandling and the great people I meet and the places I visit. After meeting Bud and Eunice Williams in 1999,I realised there was a better way to handle animals.Bud showed if we handled animals better we would have animals that would produce more, work better for us, and make more profit.As a side benefit people work better as a team and enjoy thier work better.
In 2002 I met Jim Lindsay and joined with him to share Low Stress Stockhandling with the 2 day Stockhandling school.
Over 1600 people have attended my LSS schools right across Australia.
In 2003 I travelled to the USA to Spokane to learn Bud's Marketing techniques and find out how they would apply in Australia.During the time with Bud & Eunice, Rod and I wrote what is the basis of the KLR Marketing school we present across Australia today.
To find out more about Low Stres Stockhandling or KLR Marketing visit the links at the bottom of this page.

I like share a little about my travels an the people I meet.
Feel free to leave a comment about how LSS has helped you.
If you would like to recieve email updates of my blog, please log your name and email in the box in the top left.

Grahame Rees

Monday, May 17, 2010

Gunnedah LSS School

Lucy and Rob Staughton hosted a LSS school on the weekend at Gunnedah.There were several families attending as well as people from larger sheep and cattle operations.
Here are a few photos from the school.

Calliope LSS school

Rob & Sandra Waterson hosted a LSS school at Calliope, near Gladstone.Dan Carney works with the Waterson family creating an amazing landscape. I was lucky enough to have Rob take me for a drive looking at the work they have done.Peter Andrews designed a system to slow the water flow on the land.
Here are photos of the LSS school and some of the grass inventory.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Grahame chats with Bill Croll

Every now and then you come across someone who has something to say that is worth listening to, Bill Croll works with his brother Murray of National Stockyards Systems as well as owning and managing several livestock enterprises.
Bill was telling me one of the most impactful 2 days of his life was attending a Bud Williams Stockhandling school in 2002 at Tamworth.

So I took the opportunity to have a chat with Bill when we were together recently filming the features of the National Stockyards Systems.We worked animals through various systems including a "Bud Pen", demonstrating Low Stress Stockhandling.



If video stop, starts press pause to let it load.

To check out the National Stockyards systems website :

www.nationalstockyards.com.au

Friday, March 19, 2010

Pingelly LSS school

I had a great couple of days with Nic this week running the LSS school at Pingelly WA.
Thanks to our hosts Kane and Bec Page and Kristy Glover for pulling this together.

Here is what Kane Had to say :
I attended a Low Stress Stock Handling (lss) school two years ago. After gaining this imperative knowledge I put the (lss) techniques into practice immediately. I am absolutely wrapped with the way our sheep have calmed down and become easy to work, peaceful animals.
We hosted a school with 31 participants last week and I am so glad that we (Bec and I)could be a part of all these people experiencing the (lss) techniques so they may enjoy sheep work in the future like never before.
I just wish I had been exposed to these methods 20 years ago.
I truly believe everybody who runs stock on their properties today must attend a Low Stress Stock Handling school.
Here is a short video of Nic's group letting some lambs into an old crate in the middle of the paddock.





Bendigo KLR School

Twenty Two people from as far east as Gippsland, south as Tasmania,west as Mt Gambier and north to Mildura attended the KLR Marketing school at Bendigo.
Here are a few photos :


Friday, February 26, 2010

Wagga KLR Marketing School

There were 20 enthusiastic livestock producers at the Wagga KLR Marketing school.Coming from as far west as Deni and Carathool,east to Yass and south the Tumbarumba.
Tim Thorley called in and shared KLR from an agents perspective, with some great pointers for those in attendance.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Tamworth KLR Marketing School

Ken Haylan from Blayney.
43 people attended the KLR Marketing school at Tamworth, coming from as far away as Longreach and Charters Towers. There were plenty of local livestock producers there as well.
Ken Haylan - Livestock producer and Mastermind member from Blayney drove up to share some great information on how KLR works so well for him.


Saturday, January 16, 2010

Feedback From Recent Schools

Mel with the Boy's moving sheep.


Well we have truly put all the principles learnt at Gilgandra, at Ben's property, into practice- and guess what (not that i have to convince you!) they worked- not that I doubted you but it is good to get the resuts without you there.
You may remember from our group discussion our "charging Bourke cattle", well David was able to get 5 in last weekend and brought them back hear to Manildra (a bit of hot weather didn't stop them from wanting to EAT David)
so after 2 days and 4 lots of 20-30minute sessions working them, I got their flight zone down to 15-20meters from at least 100mts, and after letting them out of the yards on day 2 they not only WALKED out (we have never seen them walk- only gallop) they calmly started eating pasture 5 mts from the gate and procedded to only move around 200mts in this area all day- just grazing- as you could imagine i was extremerly happy to see a small amount of time make such a HUGE difference.

Since the lss workshop David and I have put all that we have learnt into practice (mostly on his working property) and have seen a marked difference in the staock and also the way in which we approach the stock, it all seems so clear to us now,enjoyable and hassel free and the word "divorce" is not in the equation anymore!!!
We had a small shearing yesterday and after drafting the lambs (4mths old) out with ease we were talking near the race afterwards and found the whole lot walked back through 2 pens and walked back up through the race very peacefully- amazing- not a word spoken or nothing in our hands.

We are so happy with the results and are so keen to get involved with all the ideas- we are just about to do our first "sell/buy" transaction next week.
Mel Kiel, Manildra. NSW

I just want to say a mighty thank you again for the brilliant and revolutionary LSS School that I attended at Wellington on 15-16 of October this year.
"The LSS School was better than excellent in every respect. It has revolutionised my approach to sheep handling and has greatly improved mustering & yarding operations and other aspects of sheep management like weaning".

Your teaching had great impact--the examples you gave by putting us "in the shoes of sheep or cattle" (e.g. the effects of sticks rattles, constant force/pressure) have stayed with me vividly and your focus on principles of strategies as well as strategies themselves has enabled me to understand it all more insightfully.
Shearing began almost immediately after the School and the mustering and yarding operations were so much calmer and more effective than they have been in the past. I feel in a more cooperative relationship with my sheep, I really believe that they want to cooperate when treated in the way you taught us.
And a co-worker and I are getting on so much better together when working with sheep--even though he has not done the course. But I work the sheep by myself a lot, and do not have a dog. I no longer worry that I will have trouble mustering a certain mob of sheep by myself. I just take it quietly--apply the LSS principles--and lo and behold they do what I want.
That is a great boon to me--not having to call in help for mustering (it cuts my costs for casual labour too!). And following your advice, weaning has caused much less distress in ewes and lambs this year than previously, too.

As I said to you on the last day, Graham, the LSS School is the best and most helpful workshop I have ever done in my life--and I have done quite a lot!

Given that you are both teachers in the KLR School I know it will be great value and I would love to attend at Wagga Wagga KLR Marketing School.

Best wishes and many thanks again.

Eleanor Lawson,Wellington. NSW







Sunday, November 8, 2009

Wellington Kids

The Kids at the Wellington Rotary cattle handling week showed how they could put the cattle in the yards with 22 sitting on the fence in front using Low Stress Stockhandling.


Thursday, July 9, 2009

EMERALD KLR SCHOOL & UNLEASH YOUR MARKETING GENIUS

It was off to Emerald at the end of June, with 65 people ready to attend the KLR Marketing School.Again like Orange it was a younger group of livestock producers keen to learn how to increase cashflow and profit.
Mick Cornish came up and ran his 2nd "Unleash Your Marketing Genius" workshop with 40 people attending including 2 young boys and a girl who I am sure learnt a lot from the day.

A week after the workshop I asked Lisa(an attendee) would she do the workshop again and her answer was "In a Heartbeat, Yes"

Thanks again to coaches Ken Haylen who drove all the way up from Blayney NSW and Chook Kealey from Walcha.

ORANGE KLR MARKETING & UNLEASH YOUR MARKETING GENIUS

We had 48 enthusiastic people attend the Orange KLR Marketing school from NSW,Vic & Qld.As you can see by the photos the majority were young people making their way in agriculture and looking to improve the profitablity of their livestock enterprise.

On the third day we had Mick Cornish run his workshop "Unleash Your Marketing Genius" where 20 people took a closer look at that principle "Know and Understand Yourself"

All in all a great 3 days at Orange, thanks to coaches Steve Bennett and Ken Haylan, Thanks to Ashley who kept the admin in place,thanks to Kerry and Margo for keeping up the great standard you do in catering for us.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

30 PEOPLE ATTEND COWRA LSS SCHOOL

30 people attended the Low Stress Stockhandling school held at the property of Annabel & Mike Chambers near Cowra, NSW.They travelled from as far away as Stanthorpe in QLD.

We were able to work both sheep and cattle on both days in the paddock and the yards.
Thanks Annabel for putting this group together for a great 2 days.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

EMERALD KLR MARKETING SCHOOL

Only 2 weeks after Orange we were off to Emerald in Qld where over 50 people attended the KLR Marketing school and 70 people at the 1 Day Advanced Workshop for Graduates.
Some people drove over 9 hours to be there so the group came from far and wide.
However they all had one thing in common - a desire to run a more profitable livestock business.
WE had a barbecue at the end of the second day where there were lot's of story's shared.
Amazing how some of these people spoke about the floods and too much rain(a lot of livestock loss's in the gulf) yet 2 weeks ago we were speaking at Orange about how dry it was in the south which made the bushfires a disaster.
If these photos look like they were having fun, not learning about Livestock marketing,well that was what they were doing as part of the get to know each other exercise.



 

Sunday, March 15, 2009

KLR MARKETING SCHOOL ORANGE

The Orange KLR Marketing school attracted 63 people from as far away as Qld and South Australia.There were a few people repeating but mainly the group were all new people being exposed to KLR Livestock marketing principles for hte first time.
Jim Lindsay was also at the Orange KLR school and was able to share a little bit about his cattle operation in norht Qld.

After the KLR Marketing school we held graduate day - the KLR Advanced 1 Day Workshop where 45 graduates (mainly KLR Mastermind members) were able to review how to better implement the KLR System into their enterprise.Jim Lindsay gave a great 2 hour presentation on how he started his own livestock enterprise,got involved with dog schools going on to create the "Low Stress Stockhandling School".Everybody was keen to hear his learning from Bud and Eunice, when Terry & Jim stayed with them for 3 weeks last year.

The great part of the day was some of the graduates sharing thier success's.
Jim Heriot's Quote : "I have even picked up cattle @ 20 cents / kg, all they have to breath and I will make money"


 

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Charters Towers KLR Marketing School

We had over 30 enthusiastic people attend the KLR school in Charters Towers, Nth QLD.
Jim Lindsay was in attendance and spoke about his experience's using the KLR System and also about his trip to the USA to visit Bud Williams and Ann Barnhardt.
This was the final school for 2008,however we have planned a school in orange and charters Towers early in 2009.Also we are going to host a special day in both centres for graduates who really want to make the KLR System zing !

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Yeoval LSS School

Chook Kealey & I spent the weekend with Nigel Kerin, his manager Justin Dickens and his partner Amy Lawson.Nigel had pulled together a cross section of people from 8yrs to some older people,his agent Tim Wiggins,Nathan his transport operator,Warren from National Stockyard systems and many other people interested in improving their stockhandling skills.
Joint winners of the cap were Jim and Lily - the old hand and the young jillaroo !
Thanks Justin, Amy and Nigel for hosting a great LSS school.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Roma KLR Marketing School

We had 34 people attend the KLR Marketing school in Roma, QLD.There were people attending from right across QLD including 4 agents from Topex,Tim Scott from Beef Stockmarket as well as David Young who won the KLR Marketing school sponsored by Beef Stockmarket.Four people also repeated the school -
On day 3 we ran a KLR coaching day, where over 30 people attended - Rod and I really enjoyed the feedback,sharing and extra training we were able to share with the group - So take a look at the photos below.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Walgett LSS School

Robyn Walters and her team put together a group of 42 people for the 2 day LSS school at Walgett.We were able to work both sheep and cattle in great facilities.
Rod Knight and I were amazed at the organisation including catering by Vicki.
Thank you to every one who helped make this great event happen.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Future of Agriculture is in Good Hands


I was lucky enough to be invited by Di Evans from Agric WA and Kim Bassan an Honours student at Muresk university to run a Low Stress Stockhandling school for yr 11 at Denmark Agricultural College.Kim is studying the attitudinal change of people who attend a LSS school.

We had 18 students participate in the school and I was very impressed with the students attitude to learning a new paradigm.Denmark college is very impressive both in terms of facilities and staff.Enjoy the slideshow of the students at the LSS school.

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Tassie KLR Marketing School

Sally Murfet organised Rod and Grahame to run a KLR Marketing School in Launceston,Tasmania.We had a great time with the people from Great Southern Cattle company as well as other people like Rachael and John Treasure and KLR Mastermind member Graeme Isles from Oatlands.Here are a few photos of the group.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Yakabindie LSS School

Doug and Lucy Brownlie hosted us for 2 days at Yakabindie, where they had invited a group of friends to learn about Low Stress Stockhandling.They run a BHP property about 4 1/2 hours north of Kalgoorlie.It was interesting to see how they have all their waters managed using solar pumps and traps on this large property of over 1/2 million acres.The group enjoyed themselves as they work all types of cattle from weaners to cows and calves.The evening brought it's own fun with "Sue" the bucking bull,where some old bull riders found a few old injurys.Thanks Lucy and Doug for being the perfect hosts.Nic and I had done over 2,000 klms for the week and met some great people.

Rawlinna LSS School WA

After only a day at home after the Emerald kLR school, I was off again with Nic Kentish to do 2 LSS schools near Kalgoorlie in WA. Rawlinna was the first school,after checking out the big mining pit at Kalgoorlie we drove 41/2 hours east. The Station is owned by the McLachlan family and is over 2 & 1/2 million acres.Attendees were staff from the company stations.The LSS school was somewhat international with visiting staff from Germany,England,New Zealand and South Africa.Thank you to Michael and Anne Simons for hosting us with a lovely dinner on the final night.

Emerald KLR Marketing School

Rod Knight,Jim Lindsay,and Myself were on hand to share KLR Marketing with over 80 people at Emerald in Qld.It was an action packed 2 days with people attending from all over Qld, including quite afew repeats. Steve Bennett who attended the very first school in NSW and has been successfully using the KLR Principles since was on hand to help coach people during the exercises.There were lots of laughs during the creativity exercise as you can see by the photos.

Malahide LSS School

Nic Kentish and I spend 2 great days sharing LSS with the folk in the Fingal area of Tasmania.We were able to work with both sheep and cattle on the large Tasmanian Station "Malahide". Attendees ranged from the station staff to independant farmers including author Rachael Treasure and her husband John.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Warrawagine - Port Hedland WA




Who would have thought after travelling to the other end of Australia to Port Hedland and then 3 hours east towards the Gibson desert you would find a Scotsman ? Bill's wife Sophie is the station cook at "Warawagine"(a good one too), Bill being her offsider.


Robin and Lyle Mills hosted me to run a LSS school on their station "Warrawagine" Port Hedland.
They run their large cattle station ( 1 million acres) with their son Geoff and his family. A very impressive setup so it was a real privilege to be asked to run a LSS school using their facilities.

Robin has had an invasion of New Zealanders for mustering this year and along with his son Scott's New Zealand crew, I spent 2 days helping them to understand how use the LSS methods.
Ann Coppin from next door also brought along her new staff.
Even though going from 8 deg in Bathurst to a 40 deg day at the school, I really enjoyed my time with the Mills family and their staff.
Mike the NZ Head Stockman won the cap.Enjoy the photos of the people, facilities and the landscape.

Monday, March 17, 2008

WA Trip to Hyden & Brookton


I spent last week travelling and running 2 LSS schools in Hyden and Brookton WA.
Hyden is where the famous Wave Rock is, so I called in and took a couple of photos.
At Hyden we worked sheep at Tom & Donna Lynch's farm before working cattle at Trevor Hink's feedlot.Stumpy won the cap after his fine turns with the sheep.
Then it was up to Brookton to Dougal Young & Ashe Briscoe's farm for the 2nd school with sheep.We had Domonique Blache and Alina from UWA, Dom being a specialist scientist in animal behaviour.Alina has had very little experience with stock but she impressed everyone with her skills and won the LSS cap.
Thanks to everyone who hosted me and made me welcome.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

KLR Marketing School Orange NSW

On the 18th and 19th of February we presented the KLR Marketing school to 33 people from all states except Victoria.We had people come from Paraburdoo WA,Mt Surprise QLD,
Oatlands Tas,Mt Gambier SA as well as people from across Central NSW.
Here is a slide show of the KLR school.

West Meets East

In the last couple of weeks we had 2 visits from the folk from over in WA.
Ross Major (Number 1 ticket holder for KLR Mastermind)stayed with us and we visited 3Cell grazing properties in the Bathurst - Cowra area. Ross is farming at Williams in WA.
Then Evan & Robin Pensini from Paraburdoo visited with us and again we visited 2 cell grazing properties in the area.
Here are a couple of photo's of the visit.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Mortlake LSS school Feb08

Nic Kentish and I spent two great days at Te Mania's Mortlake property, where Lucy Gubbins had pulled together a lively bunch of stockhandlers.We had Dennis & Chris from Phillip Island, Ida from Sweden, Susan from Adelaide and Peter from Mt Gambier as the outsiders.The joint winners of the cap were Chris and Doug.Georgie provide everyone with an example how to work sheep,Nic dubbed Amy a natural with sheep.A Special Thanks to Emily for the catering and James for the great livestock, facilities and hosting the LSS school.



View Slide Show in Full Screen

Chris Does the ABC


Visit Te Mania Website

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Feedlot LSS School

Rod Knight and I ran a school recently at a large cattle feedlot.We worked cattle in the pens and through the induction area.

Exporters LSS School

We had over 20 people attend our first Exporters LSS school from Stevidores,Truck drivers,Feedot operators and Dept Ag.
Binalong LSS School
We had 2 great days working both sheep and cattle with the hosts.People travelled from Forbes and Mudgee.