In 2014, John responded to a call to farmers from ACT Natural Resource Management (ACT NRM) in the ACT Government for submissions under the Rural Grants program to build farm infrastructure that helps to make enterprises more sustainable. John’s successful proposal for funding ‘allowed us to try the cell grazing idea because that just seems to be the better practice and makes sense to me.’

Transitioning to cell grazing was a ‘big job’. When the Lilleymans bought the property, there was little internal infrastructure, just dam water and a handful of large paddocks. To transition their property, the Lilleymans installed internal fencing, water infrastructure and troughs.

The grant supported the transition[1] of their internal fencing to electric, creating many more paddocks (Figure 2) with options for additional temporary electric fencing down to two-hectare cells. This allowed the Lilleymans to implement strategic grazing using only a single hotwire at 82 cm and one strand of site wire to ensure the fences were visible to both stock and humans. John said, ‘I got some raised eyebrows about the wisdom of a single wire fence but it was an idea that I got from a Canadian farmer that has proven itself over time – the cattle are very respectful of that single hot wire, and if a small calf crosses underneath, it doesn’t matter. It will return to its mother soon enough’.

More paddocks meant more stock water points were needed, and an engineering challenge was presented in order to build permanent water sources accessible across the property. The Lilleymans laid a network of pipes under the proposed internal fencing and established a gravity-fed system to ensure the availability of high-pressure water across the farm. The Lilleymans were also able to acquire a dependable source of off-farm stock water to provide year-round water security. The transition took the Lilleymans over two years, and John still jokes that the incredibly hard work of digging water pipe trenches in tough rocky soil will stick with him for a while.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNmMxm-XDmM

Figure 2. The new permanent internal electric fencing (in red), installed with numerous trough points, was co-funded with two ACT NRM Rural Grants between 2014 and 2016. Temporary grazing cells (for example, the 10 cells labelled) were then easily created, one at a time, just ahead of the cattle using temporary electric fencing (in yellow).

With the installation of this infrastructure, the Lilleymans began experimenting with concentrating their cattle (as per Allan Savory’s recommendations) in smaller paddocks for shorter periods to maximise rest and regeneration of soils and grasses. Rapid recovery of earlier grazed cells can be clearly seen as the cattle move on to graze the later cells (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. Cattle moving through grazing cells each week. The first image (no. 1) shows the grazing area before any grazing took place. The yellow circles highlight the paddocks where cattle just finished grazing. The arrows show where cattle were next moved to. Rapid recovery of earlier grazed cells can be clearly seen as the cattle move on to graze the later cells. (Source: adapted from Google Earth, 2015).

Their long lease also allows the Lilleymans to focus on succession planning and business diversification with their children. From early on, they have understood that by diversifying income streams, there is less pressure to have more extractive farming practices.

Since they bought their property, the three Lilleyman children have experimented with diverse enterprises such as free-range hens, micro-brewing, garlic, microgreens, succulents and a music studio. Most significantly, in 2017, John and his son Adam eventually ‘settled on pasture-raised hens because of what they do in terms of regeneration.’ (Learn more about Adam’s pasture-raised hens in the thematic case study Young Farmers Raising Pasture-Fed Chickens.

Meanwhile, John and Carol’s other son Guy continues to run the Amberly music studio onsite (once graced by Midnight Oil’s Peter Garrett) and their daughter sells succulents at the farm gate, along with the eggs. Essentially, the family business brings the family together, and they all work to support one another.

Key to the Lilleymans’ successful succession planning was the inclusion of their children in the decision to buy the property, and in the running of the property. One of the great benefits of having made the decision together as a family, is that the children have really taken ownership of the idea. John and Carol are providing enough support and enough space to enable the children to live out their dreams as well.

The Lilleymans feel positive about the role of succession planning for their own property, as well as its contribution for the future of ACT farming more generally. As Carol reflects, ‘When you look at the average age of farmers in the ACT, I think it’s somewhere up close to 65 or 70. There are few younger ones, but the majority are all in the retirement phase…and this is something that has to change.’ According to Jeni at ACT NRM, this succession planning and experimentation is part of what makes the Lilleymans approach to farming more resilient:

“Whilst they are new farmers, they realise they are not going to be there long-term, and so early on, they let the children have a big say in the decision-making and have their own enterprises. John and Carol step back and let the children experiment.”

Once the Lilleymans installed the reticulated water systems, the livestock no longer needed access to dams for drinking water. So, in 2017, they turned their attention to fixing the inevitable erosion that occurs where water runs off the paddocks into the dams and is further trampled by stock. Working together with SACTG, the project included fencing out four of the nine Amberly dams from stock access and conducting a hands-on erosion mitigation workshop led by a local expert (Cam Wilson from Earth Integral). Local farmers and rangers attended the workshops. Large plantings around the dams were expected to create wildlife-friendly habitat both above and below the water line, as well as remediate the erosion.

Back in 2015 (Phase 2), with support from Greening Australia, the Lilleymans planted trees along the laneways between paddocks (see Figure 4 connective corridors between K2 Road and K1 Road). These tree laneways serve several purposes: they help ease and direct the movement of cattle; provide sun and wind shelterbelt along edges of the paddocks; and create a connectivity corridor for other flora and fauna. The tree laneways also lead down to a creek crossing, enabling the movement of stock across the creek. In the five years since the trees have been planted, the Lilleymans are excited to see their growth, as they begin to look more like ‘actual trees’.

Because parts of the land had been so heavily cleared, the cattle did not have sufficient shade in all areas of the rotational grazing cells. This made planning for rotations in peak summer challenging. The lack of trees ‘buggers up the cell grazing because now I can’t put them in the cell I want them to, because there’s no shade and it’s the middle of the summer.’ John also learnt that, ‘Small birds, so important to the health of paddock trees, are reluctant to fly more than short distances between trees due to predator risk.’

The answer to both problems was planting six paddock tree enclosures, ‘stepping stones’, in 2019 (Figure 4), in collaboration with ACT NRM and Greening Australia. The enclosures are roughly 30 meters by fifteen meters, with fifteen trees and shrubs in them. Nearly three years on, the trees are now big enough to be seen on satellite images. These tree enclosures are not only beginning to offer increased shading, but also soil stability, soil health, improved habitat for diverse communities above and below ground, as well as offering ‘stepping stones’ for birds into and across the property.

Figure 4. Paddocks and tree plantings from 2015 to 2020 (Source: Soils for Life).

Recognising the interconnectedness between their property and the surrounding land, the Lilleymans worked with SACTG to obtain a 2020 ACT Environmental Grant from the ACT Environmental, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate (EPSDD) and the Urambi Hills Group to develop and plant a connectivity corridor between their land and Urambi Hills (next to T3 paddock, see Figure 4). Urambi Hills is a nature reserve east of the property.

Meanwhile, social connections with the community also continue to grow. The Lilleymans initially connected with the Urambi Hills Group through a relationship with SACTG. Since the 2020 plantings, the Urambi Hills Group continues to visit the farm for weeding of the new corridor and the tree laneways.

About the same time as planting the stepping stones, the Lilleymans worked with ACT NRM to trial a Whole of Paddock Restoration (WOPR) in collaboration with Greening Australia (see Figure 4 for the location of the WOPR site). The Amberly property contains some very important remnants of box gum woodlands, so their goal was to restore some of the less productive and degraded paddocks into this endangered ecosystem, as well as address the devastating red gum die-back happening across the region.

As part of his contribution, John had to create the holes for planting 830 native tree tube stocks. He decided that instead of drilling individual holes with the tractor auger, he would rip lines along the contours of the paddock, between three and four meters apart. The rip lines acted as mini swales, slowing and capturing any water coming down the contours; a principle inherent to Keyline farming. In May 2019, about 50 grammar school students planted the 830 tube stock of native seedlings.

Unfortunately, as often happens, the timing of budgets and the timing of nature were not in perfect sync, and the tube stock had to be planted in the middle of a drought. Importantly, John’s contouring approach also enabled far easier watering of the native seedlings after they were planted. Using the laneways between rip lines, the Lilleymans drove along in a vehicle kitted out with an IBC cube (Intermediate Bulk Container) and two hoses out the back. With three people – one driver and two walking along to guide the water with about ten seconds on each seedling – and five hours of work, they were able to keep all 830 seedlings watered during the drought, using roughly 6,500 litres of water for each watering.

Greening Australia revisited the WOPR revegetation site in 2020 and looked at 30 plants out of the 830 to assess survival rate, finding that 28 plants (93% in this sample selection) were still alive. Needless to say, Greening Australia and the Lilleymans were pleased with these results, and this approach offers a great example for others considering a WOPR.

In addition to St. John’s Wort, African lovegrass was also a major issue on their property. The Lilleymans used their flexible fencing and grazing management[1] throughout the pasture to help address its prevalence. With an ACT Environment grant administered and the support of SACTG, the Lilleymans began undertaking spot spraying after the cattle grazed down a cell. When the cattle were moved, John could ‘actually see what was growing in the cell,’ and could apply very selective spot spraying.

John continued this approach for about five years, with the help of a colleague. This approach was initially time intensive, but the Lilleymans are now seeing other species outcompeting African lovegrass, courtesy of the fantastic post-drought growing seasons and the previous knock back of the African lovegrass. ‘We used to put hours and hours into spot spraying. And it’s gradually paid off to the point where that’s now a much-reduced requirement,’ both in terms of time and chemicals. And now John is ‘letting the desirable paddock grasses grow quite tall, which helps a lot.’ They still spray laneways and the edges of things when the first thing that comes up is African lovegrass, but he also doesn’t worry so much now.

John and Carol have come to have more faith in the idea of plant succession. As Carol says, ‘We have learnt that certain weeds come up in certain areas because the soil is lacking a certain thing. Recognising that, we now have a bit more of a relaxed, longer-term view.’ John agrees, saying:

“If you look after the soil, then although the weeds come up first on bare ground, they then get replaced by a better class of weed. And then gradually the dominant paddock grasses replace them, as long as you do the right thing with the soil. Because we keep building the soil health and maintain very high levels of ground cover, the right things will grow, up to a point.”

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izUZspAwuRI

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