NBN and Life on Red Hill

Kylie Stretton and her husband Shane run a livestock agency on Red Hill, a 13,000 acre cattle property 40km as the crow flies North East of Charters Towers.

One of their highest priorities is to improve the vibrancy of our natural environment and they use high-density rotational grazing methods to achieve this.

The
property has a variety of red dirt, Burdekin River flats, Northern Goldfield’s
country, black soil with basalt and spinifex country.

“We have all these land types on our on property that all need different management and this is where things like the internet and mapping comes into play because we really need to know how each parcel of land needs to be managed properly,” Kylie said.

“We are
moving into an era where we have to prove ourselves that we are doing things
really well and at best standards for industry. With the help of technology
such as mapping and satellite imagery and using that data we can prove that we
are really top of the game when it comes to raising beef around the world.

“Putting
collars on cattle, rather than having to build real fences, we can do all this
via the internet, which is a lot easier for me because I can’t go and shift a
fence for us to practice high density grazing. I can’t shift it physically, but
I can shift it on a computer.”

Kylie
Stretton says she has been very pleased with the performance of NBN Co’s Sky
Muster™ satellite service.*

“Sky
Muster™ has actually worked really well for us. I was a little bit tentative
about it to start off with, but obviously the past few years it’s just getting
better and better and since we have moved here Sky Muster™ has actually been
great,*” she said.

“It’s been our most reliable source of communication, been much better than our old radio phone and much better than our mobile phone.*”

Kylie says
that at Red Hill they recently received nearly their annual rainfall within
10-13 days and Sky Muster™ did not falter.* Her images and videos on the rain
event were shared around the world.

Kylie
Stretton is co-founder of Better Internet for Regional, Rural and Remote
Australia (BIRRR) and the Chairperson of the NFF Telecommunications and Social
Policy Committee.

She runs Life on Red Hill on Facebook, documenting her family’s day to day farming life.

*nbn is
very happy with Kylie Stretton’s experience with the nbn™ broadband access network.
Of course, end user experiences may vary. An end user’s experience,
including the speeds actually achieved over the nbn™ broadband access
network, depends on the nbn™ access network technology and configuration
over which services are delivered to their premises, whether they are using the
internet during the busy period, and some factors outside of nbn’s
control (like their equipment quality, software, chosen broadband plan, signal
reception, or how their provider designs its network). Speeds may also be
impacted by the number of concurrent users on the nbn™ Fixed Wireless
network, including during busy periods. Sky Muster™ satellite end users may
also experience latency.

/Public Release. View in full here.