Pilbara Innovation Partnership

Home
Australia
Karratha, WA
Pilbara Innovation Partnership

Directions Website

Driving advances in the Pilbara's beef industry that values the land, people and environment.

22/09/2026

G'day to Lily Phillips at Winning Station, trialling whether a targeted feed supplement can help maiden heifers get in calf and maintain condition through pregnancy. 👋

A good day for Lily is decent weather, a horse ride, the dogs in tow and a mob to chase, and that hands-on connection to the herd is exactly what's behind this project. She's comparing two groups of heifers, one on a standard lick and one on a gut health supplement; tracking conception rates, condition and liveweight along the way. It's also building baseline data for the station, with genetic testing and blood work helping rule out other factors. The trial also includes a first for Winning: controlled joining!

Lily's reason for stepping into PEN-2:
"Hearing everyone's experience from Round One and meeting the people involved, understanding their projects and their learnings, that cohort experience and the networks and the people side, that's what brought me into PEN."

Welcome to PEN Round 2, Lily!

Continual support from Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Meat & Livestock Australia, and Rio Tinto keeps PIP and PEN in the game.

15/09/2026

G'day to Courtney Brooks, the driving force behind Bush Tracks, a new educational program connecting East Pilbara kids with the people, places and knowledge already around them! 👋

With a background in early childhood and primary teaching, Courtney's building a bridge between the incredible knowledge across our region (researchers, pastoralists, rangers, land managers and more) and local schools and homeschooling families across the East Pilbara. Bush Tracks will get kids hands-on with caring for Country, land and animal management, native animals, weather and seasons, and so many more of the amazing careers on offer across our industries.

Inspired by the innovation coming out of PEN Round One, Courtney put forward a proposal that harnesses the networking, expertise and career pathways across the Pilbara, connecting kids early to the innovation already happening on their doorstep, and giving remote students a reason to come together beyond the occasional 100km drive for a social event.

In Courtney's words:
"I think the simplest answer is that I genuinely love helping people and being able to make a positive contribution to the community around me... Bush Tracks brings together a lot of the things I care about, education, children, our local communities, the Pilbara, practical learning, caring for the land and helping people share what they know."

Welcome to the PEN community, Courtney!

Continual support from Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Meat & Livestock Australia, and Rio Tinto makes PIP and PEN-2 possible.

08/09/2026

G'day to Mikaila Kowald, one of our PEN-2 Leads at Ethel Creek Station, one of the Karlka Nyiyaparli Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC holdings! 👋

Mikaila's happiest when she's helping someone pick up a new skill, and her PEN-2 project puts that to work digging into Ethel Creek's Droughtmaster cattle and their reproduction cycles in relation to climate, environment and production system. She's drilling into condition score, reproductive body weight in heifers, lifetime reproductive performance and herd resilience, hunting for the levers that create a positive spiralling effect through the herd and the business.

From there, the plan is to share those learnings with other Pilbara stations running similar country or climate, so the whole community gets contextual, real-world data to work from.

In Mikaila's words:

"I will be focusing on reproductive pressure in young Droughtmaster heifers while closely monitoring body condition and recovery throughout the breeding cycle. We have chosen to undertake this project during a particularly dry year after making the difficult decision to sell all of our weaners and calves. As we look towards rebuilding herd numbers, understanding how reproductive performance and body condition interact will be important in improving future breeding rates and making informed management decisions."

Welcome to PEN-2, Mikaila!

Continual support from Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Meat & Livestock Australia, and Rio Tinto makes PIP and PEN-2 possible.

25/08/2026

Where are they now? In Tahree's case, taking the industry by storm!

Tahree was recently awarded the Emerging Leaders Award at the Developing Northern Australia Conference in Alice Springs. Leaders who can shift from paddock to conference to the station office and back again bring a unique perspective to the industry. A well-deserved award, and we look forward to seeing where this journey goes next.

As always, we are grateful to Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Meat & Livestock Australia, and Rio Tinto for their joint support in building skills in tomorrow's Pilbara Beef Industry Leaders.

18/08/2026

Who’s learning more? The cattle or the people?

One of the best parts about PIP is utilising adult learning and hands on learning wherever possible. Pilbara communities are filled with go getter people who stay busy and get their hands dirty, it makes sense their learning works that way too.

PIP enjoys support from Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Meat & Livestock Australia, and Rio Tinto.

11/08/2026

What are they up to now?
Kricket (Kristie) de Pledge is still hard at work on the ecology front. Her project is continuing through new sources of funding, and this is what we love to see after involvement with PIP and PEN. Trusted relationships, access to the right networks and experts, and faith in the processes that are in place to ensure our magical Pilbara environment is cared for, for generations to come.

Follow the Koordarrie journey here: https://f.mtr.cool/fclhxzhtjx

PIP and it's joint support groups, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Meat & Livestock Australia, and Rio Tinto, are beyond proud to see this work continue.

04/08/2026

We never know what kind of storm front is coming next, but we do know a well-stocked emergency supply kit, or toolbox, gets us through anything out here.

PIP & PEN provide a brilliant network of experts to Pilbara pastoralists, covering a vast number of topics. The core theme: we are always expanding knowledge, building skills, and making sure our people, land, animals, and communities are in a better state than we found them. Those four pillars underpin everything we do.

As always, we are supported by Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development , Meat & Livestock Australia, and Rio Tinto.

28/07/2026

Ready for an entirely different style of Pilbara Extension Network project extension?

Charlotte's passion for landscapes and people shines through in her podcasts.

Tune in on Spotify.

https://f.mtr.cool/cylwkxomwp

PIP and PEN are supported by Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Meat & Livestock Australia, and Rio Tinto.

21/07/2026

What have you upskilled in recently? 🤔

Stock handling? People management? Chopper flying? Horsemanship? Engine maintenance? Bookkeeping?

Were you at Hillside Station learning about reproduction?

What’s next on the upskilling list for you and your team? We’d love to know! (Or maybe even help…)

We are, as always, grateful to Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Meat & Livestock Australia, and Rio Tinto for helping us get the skills we need into the Pilbara.

16/07/2026

We are beyond excited to have the Gascoyne Pilbara Rangelands Initiative Inc. (GPRI) team delivering PEN Round Two, alongside Shanon Thompson from PEN Round One, who returns as one of our facilitators. 🎉🥳

Bringing firsthand experience of the program, the delivery team will support our next cohort of Station Leads as they tackle new challenges, build new connections and learn from each other along the way.

Read more: https://f.mtr.cool/cjppgamouf

As always, we are supported jointly by Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Meat & Livestock Australia, and Rio Tinto.

Address

Karratha, WA

Website

http://Pilbarainnovationpartnership.com.au/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Pilbara Innovation Partnership posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your organization to be the top-listed government service in Karratha?