An ecological report is produced for each case study in the Soils for Life program. To produce an ecological report the Soils for Life team follows a robust formula developed and tested by Richard Thackway, Honorary Associate Professor at The Australian National University and long-term member of the Soils for Life team.
Land managers typically keep production and financial records over time and have no written record of the regenerative management of their farm and outcomes of regenerative practices applied to their farm. Soils For Life ecological assessors use a handbook for preparing ecological reports. An assessment on “Pallerang”, a farm in the Mulloon Creek Catchment, is an example of the approach detailed in the handbook.
The ecological report quantifies what has happened ecologically on a
farm over decades. A detailed ecological report consists of 20 to 30
pages.
The Soils for Life ecological assessor supports the land holder to develop a chronology of the production systems for the main land types their land. Production systems include time based paddock grazing, no-till cropping, minimum use and biodiversity protection, revegetation, controlling wildfire, controlling feral animals and weeds, and fencing water points and creek to exclude stock. The ecological assessor can liaise with the farmer remotely via telephone and email.
The land holder completes a graphic response to ten ecological assessment criteria which is the land holder’s interpretation of what has occurred ecologically on the property during their management.
The land manager provides reports, photographs and results of soil tests, and water and biodiversity surveys.
The chronology of production systems and the farmer’s graphic responses indicate the impacts of the land holder’s management decisions on the ecological health of the land.
Satellite imagery verifies the ecological transformation and health
of the agricultural landscape. Ground cover and actively
photosynthesising vegetation
are analysed using satellite imagery. Ground cover on the property
is compared to the surrounding district which provides an independent
verification
of the regenerative capacity of the land.
A three to five-page summary ecological report is produced by the
Soils for Life team and included in the case study, promoted on the
website and on the
social media platforms.
Greg Hosking is an ecologist. Honorary Associate Professor Richard Thackway is a Research Scientist. Both Greg and Richard are members of the Soils for Life team.
In Spring 2019 I had the privilege to attend the Pacific Week of Agriculture in Apia, Samoa. The theme of the conference was “Enhanced Partnerships for Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Pacific”. The conference was attended by delegates from the majority of nations in the South Pacific. Delegates came together at the conference to highlight the research and different projects that had been undertaken in the South Pacific in recent years, all with the goal of improving the sustainability of the current agricultural systems in place.
A major threat facing agriculture in the South Pacific is soil
degradation caused by continuous same species cropping and lack of
inputs. The impact of
this is already being felt throughout the South Pacific in the form
of reducing yields and reliance on imported food products for survival.
Dr Ben
McDonald from CSIRO is one of many researchers working in this space
conducting crop trials in conjunction with local researchers to combat
the issue
of soil degradation.
The University of the South Pacific (USP) is also conducting research
and trials into improving the agricultural systems currently employed
throughout
many of the South Pacific Nations. The USP campus in Apia has
recently discovered that sheep can be run in conjunction with a taro
crop as the sheep
do not browse taro plants. Small discoveries such as this are
important in the South Pacific as they enable landholders to have
multiple enterprises
providing monetary and ecological benefits.
A team from CSIRO was present at the conference as part of the
Pacific Soils Partnership. They presented the work that they have been
doing in the South
Pacific funded by Australian Government aid. Seeing the impact of
Australian aid funding on the lives of land holders in the South Pacific
highlighted
the important role that Australia plays in leading the South Pacific
region in advancing agricultural practices and technology.
The conference also highlighted the potential to utilise agriculture
as a way to combat domestic violence in the South Pacific. Typically, in
South Pacific
Nations women and girls do not earn their own incomes and this
limits the potential for them to leave violent situations. The
conference touched on
this and highlighted the need for it to become socially respectable
for women and girls to work in agriculture, this would provide them with
an income
and options.
The conference was an excellent opportunity to understand the
agricultural systems Australia’s closest neighbours employ and how
Australian aid funding
facilitated through organisations such as CSIRO and ACIAR can make a
difference in the everyday lives of people from the South Pacific.
An innovative approach to sharing knowledge on regenerative agriculture to the wider community attracted farmers, artist, and regional and city folk to recent on farm open days. The project, Earth Canvas started this year with a vision from six regenerative farmers between the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers on the SW slopes of NSW.
Leading Australian landscape artist John Wolseley at the Bibbaringa
Woolshed, north of Albury on the first open day in the series. John
spoke about the
synergies of the landscape with the human body, “When you look you
see the heart, the lungs and different body parts reflected in the
landscape. We
need to understand the process of nature,” he said.
Six leading Australian artists were invited to work on their
properties and share their knowledge and practice of regenerative
agriculture. The artists
came up with a body of work highlighted at six open days during
November 2019. Over 450 people attended the series of open days. This
was a unique
opportunity to visit commercial size working farms and see the
landscape from the artist’s perspective. Visitors learned how farms are
building ecosystems
to produce healthy food.
“It is about connecting all ecosystems to produce a healthier
environment and food. Everyone is involved in this process. We all
consume food, and all
rely on healthy soils and agriculture to produce the food”, says
chairman of Earth Canvas Gillian Sanbrook.
“The artist can help us see the fragility and beauty of nature and
the importance of balancing economic and environmental outcomes.
Improved farming practice
is part of the solution to climate change and to make the world a
better place.”
Earth Canvas artists John Wolseley commented, “The language of art
and regenerative agriculture are the same. You must immerse yourself in
your subject
as an artist and it is no different for the farmer.”
Artist Jenny Bell from Goulburn took a holistic approach in her artwork of 15 images reflecting the importance of decision making by the people who manage the landscape and the effect that regenerative practices have on the soil microbes, animals, water and energy from the sun and the moon.
Artist Jenny Bell from Goulburn with host regenerative farmers Michael and Anna Coughlan from Mt Narra Narra, Holbrook. Jenny and the Coughlans agree that nature is complex, and it is human nature to try and make it complicated.
We are grateful for the support of Soils for Life CEO Rod Chisholm
who was a speaker at four of the days. Soils for Life agro-ecologist
Kirsty Yeates spoke
about cutting edge research at the plant science division of ANU.
Earth Canvas looks forward to working with the Soils for Life team when
coordinating
future events.
The next event will be a Writers and Readers Festival at Bibbaringa
north of Albury on April 4 and 5 2020. Follow website for workshops
programmes throughout
the year.
Gillian Sanbrook Chairman of Earth Canvas with Temora Doctor Jennifer Smith. Jennifer came to the open days because she is concerned about the health of agriculture on the food chain and her patients.
Article by Adam Wilson, Director Soil Systems Australia, published on NexusNewsfeed.com
Its time to implement an Australian Sovereign Wealth Fund
Across Australia we are seeing the effects of more and more extreme drought. The landscape is drying up rapidly, rivers are running well below expectations and aquifers are shrinking at record rates. Trees are dying, pastures are disappearing and the soil is more exposed than ever to potential wind and water erosion. Is it good enough to simply think it will all go away at the end of the next rain? Is this not desert intensification and why hasn’t anyone put forward a plan of recovery? Like a rabbit stunned by the headlights of a coming car, Australia is motionless and seems unable to act as it awaits a perfect storm.
Signs of the perfect storm
The term desertification is a form of land degradation and refers to
the expansion of arid areas across a landscape. This is typically areas
where vegetation,
wildlife, biodiversity and water bodies begin to disappear leaving
large tracks of land that have bare soil. This leads to depletion of
soil organic
matter and nutrients essential for revegetation following rains. It
is caused by deforestation, overgrazing and poor agricultural practices
(all human
induced activities). As shown on the USDA’s Global Desertification
Vulnerability Map, Australia has vast areas that have a high to very
high vulnerability
to desertification (USDA Ref 1)
The fate of civilization in the mid-21st Century turns critically on food. Success in overcoming the intersecting challenges of climate and resource scarcity will bring peace, plenty and a chance to repair the planet. Failure will bring war.
Julian Cribb
Worldwide, compelling evidence is amassing that we must urgently re-think the present global food system – or face the risk of spreading conflict and mass-migration triggered by disputes over food, land and water. In short, we have a choice before us – between food or war.
Humans have been fighting over food and the resources to produce it for over 17,000 years. Famine accompanied most of the major conflicts of recent history, as cause, effect or both.
Today up to a dozen conflicts are being fought out worldwide – mainly in Africa, but increasingly in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America – in which food, land and water insecurity has fuelled the confrontation. There are now seven ‘powderkeg regions’ of the Earth, places which harbour most of the human population, where water and soil are running out and food supplies increasingly stressed in the face of insatiable demands.
More than a third of a billion people now leave their homes each year, either as refugees or ‘economic migrants’, seeking a safer future elsewhere. If food continues to be neglected, this could rise to a billion or more by the mid-century, overwhelming national borders and toppling governments.
The same global food system that fed 2.5 billion humans in the mid-20th Century, one based largely on broadacre farming pumped up with technology and fossil fuels, cannot meet the needs of 10 billion people living on a hot planet in the mid-21st. It is unsustainable.
Every meal you eat devours ten kilos of topsoil, 800 litres of water, 1.3 litres of fuel, 0.3g of pesticide and emits 3.5 kilos of CO2. Like most people, you do that three times a day. In total humanity does it 20 billion times a year. We are consuming the Earth in order to feed ourselves – an act that is both unwise and bound to end badly.
These present an irrefutable argument to change our old food system in favour of one that can withstand climate change, which uses vastly less land, water or chemicals and which constantly recycles all nutrients.
A global food system capable of achieving a safe human future will have three main pillars:
Regenerative farming, replacing current systems, which repairs
soil and water, provides clean healthy food, locks up carbon and
re-wilds almost a third
of our present farmed area to end the sixth extinction.
Climate-proof urban food production, based on intensive systems
that recapture and recycle all urban water and nutrients, currently
lost, back into
sustainable, healthy food.
Deep ocean aquaculture to replace the failing wild harvest of
sea fish. Algae culture to provide basic feedstock for both aquatic and
land-based livestock,
using recycled nutrients.
Though much of the world is complacent and supermarkets appear to
bulge with food, it is neither healthy nor sustainable. It could vanish
in days, if its
just-in-time system were to be disrupted by war, energy crisis or
climate. No megacity on Earth can feed itself. We are far closer to
hunger than most
of us imagine.
Just as a clean, green energy revolution is sweeping the Planet, we
now need a clean, sustainable food revolution. The ideas, technology and
resources
to achieve it already exist. We must now apprehend the urgency – and
set to work, together, to build it.
Soils for Life founder Major General Michael Jeffery has stepped aside from his role as Chairman of the Board to focus on his role as National Soils Advocate. As Interim Chairman I will continue the vision for Soils for Life and bring renewed vigour to the commitment to regenerating the Australian landscape which has been ably demonstrated by Michael for more than a decade.
Interest
in regenerative agriculture is growing as farmers across Australia
manage the challenge of the current devastating drought. Farmers and
graziers
are adopting regenerative principles and practices that will improve
and maintain their lands and waterways. I am determined to ensure that
there is
renewed effort behind the promotion of integrated management of
soil, water, plants and animals to ensure a sustainable agricultural
industry providing
healthy food and fibre. Management principles and practices
underlying the success stories shared by Soils for Life.
Earlier this year Prime Minister Morrison addressed the Daily
Telegraph’s Bush Summit held in Dubbo. The Prime Minister acknowledged
Soils for Life as
a national leader in promoting regenerative agriculture and endorsed
the critical need to have a national objective to restore and maintain
the health
of the Australian agricultural landscape to guarantee a food secure
nation and sustainable farming communities. The Prime Minister
acknowledged that,
“Healthy soils with high carbon content are essential for any
serious water resource management policy.”
The Coalition government recognizes that any serious water resource
management policy must include action to promote healthy soils with high
carbon content.
The Prime Minister observed that, “Land is becoming increasingly
marginal therefore we have to do more with less.”
A soil that is well-managed and has built high levels of fertility,
organic matter and structure is more resilient in dry times and responds
more rapidly
when it does rain.
The ability of soils to sequester carbon as soil organic matter can
help to mitigate emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere from
other sectors and
improves soil health. Paying farmers to sequester carbon could
benefit agricultural landscapes, and the benefits will flow to the
broader community
in Australian regions and internationally.
Following the Prime Minister’s announcement, the Soils for Life team
has implemented plans to use the funding provided by the Department of
Agriculture
to complete a further 30 case studies. Two million dollars
distributed over four years enables Soils for Life to continue to
publish, promote and advocate
diverse examples of regenerative agricultural practices.
Michael Jeffery continues to support our team as the Patron of Soils
for Life. We wish him well in his role as National Soils Advocate and
thank him for
his vision in establishing Soils for Life and his commitment to
rehabilitating the Australian landscape.
Alasdair MacLeod, Chairman
MICHAEL JEFFERY (CHAIRMAN, SOILS FOR LIFE),
The launch of a Soils for Life documentary outlining the vision and commitment of founder, Major General Michael Jeffery, to a food secure nation and sustainable farming communities.
A new documentary outlining a regenerative agriculture visionary’s commitment to a food secure nation and sustainable farming communities.
The Soils For Life documentary launches on World Soil Day, Thursday 5 December, as drought and dust storms rage in many parts of Australia.
The 10-minute documentary acknowledges the vision and commitment of
Soils For Life founder, Major General The Honourable Michael Jeffery.
Three case studies
are interspersed to provide practical examples of applying
regenerative agriculture principles.
Thursday 5 December is the United Nations World Soil Day.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation
(UNFAO) theme this year is “Stop soil erosion, save our future.”, a
theme that resonates as drought and dust storms rage in many parts of
Australia.
https://www.un.org/en/events/soilday/
The film includes the announcement by Prime Minister Morrison when he
addressed the Daily Telegraph’s Bush Summit held in Dubbo on Thursday
18 July 2019.
At the summit, the Prime Minister endorsed the critical need to have
a national objective to restore and maintain the health of the
Australian agricultural
landscape to guarantee a food secure nation and sustainable farming
communities .
The Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Nationals, Michael
McCormack endorsed the Prime Minister’s initiatives on the day,
commenting, “The overarching
principle is that Australia’s soil, water and vegetation are key
natural, national, strategic assets and must be managed in an integrated
way across
the continent.”
The Prime Minister acknowledged that, “Healthy soils with high carbon
content are essential for any serious water resource management
policy.”
The Coalition government recognizes that any serious water resource
management policy must include action to promote healthy soils with high
carbon content.
The Prime Minister observed that, “Land is becoming increasingly
marginal therefore we have to do more with less.”
Soil is an essential ingredient for the growth of crops and pastures.
It provides the medium in which plants grow, it stores and provides the
nutrients
essential for plant growth, and it stores and supplies the water
essential to photosynthesis and life.
Australia’s droughts are becoming more intense, the periods between
droughts are shorter, average temperatures are rising and the long-term
outlook is
for a generally warmer and drier environment. A soil that is
well-managed and has built high levels of fertility, organic matter and
structure is more
resilient in dry times and responds more rapidly when it does rain.
The ability of soils to sequester carbon as soil organic matter can
help to mitigate emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere from
other sectors.
Sequestering carbon as soil organic matter also improves soil
health. Paying farmers to sequester carbon could benefit agricultural
landscapes, and
the benefits will flow to the broader community in Australian
regions and internationally.
For more information more information about the Soils for Life
documentary launch, please call Rod Chisolm, CEO of Soils for Life at
041 967 1483, or email:
rod.chisholm@soilsforlife.org.au
It is time for me to step aside from the role as Chairman of the Board of Soils For Life after seven years to be able to focus on my Prime Ministerial appointment as National Soils Advocate.
I
leave the Chairmanship of Soils For Life in very good hands. Alasdair
MacLeod and I started out together as members of the original Soils For
Life Board
in 2012. We have worked hard to share regenerative principles and
practices and supported changed farming practices to include carbon in
our precious
national asset, the soil. Soil carbon benefits include resilience
and food security, plant nutritional quality, improved water filtration,
and reduced
erosion and nutrient runoff.
Alasdair is an excellent fit for the role of Chair and will bring
renewed vigour to the organisation. Following a 20-year career with News
Corporation,
Alasdair has interests in diverse agricultural enterprises,
including the Wilmot Cattle Company, a grazing operation based in
Northern NSW and Cavan
Station, a wool growing and Merino stud on the NSW Southern
Tablelands. Alasdair is Chairman of Maia Technology, which develops
management software
for graziers who are focussed on more efficient use of pastures. His
agricultural operations are aligned with the Soils for Life
understanding of regenerative
agriculture.
Recent Soils For Life case studies are highlighted in the documentary, which was launched on World Soil Day Thursday, 5 December. You can view the fresh look at farming on the home page of the Soils For Life website.
As National Soils Advocate, I will increase awareness of the
importance of conserving agricultural soil and landscape conditions to
benefit the environment,
enhance agricultural productivity, realise economic benefits, and
secure sustainable food production systems. I will be highlighting the
importance
of the integrated management of soil, water, plants and animals to
ensure the sustainability of our agricultural lands. A strong team in
the Department
of the Prime Minister and Cabinet supports my Advocate role.
As I say farewell to all the Soils For Life stakeholders as Chairman,
I express my sincere thanks for all the friends, associates,
benefactors, farmers,
scientists and policy makers who I have met along the way. Thank you
all for your contribution to building the Soils For Life organisation
into the
effective ‘change-agent’ it is now. I wish Soils For Life all the
very best in supporting farmers to rehabilitate the agricultural
landscape to benefit
all Australians over future decades and generations.
I remain involved as Patron of Soils For Life and continue to support the rehabilitation of soils, for life.
I am behind much of Soils For Life’s social media. I am a land and water scientist with 15 years’ experience working on agriculture and natural resource management in Australia and overseas.
Two beliefs motivate me. First, we need to accord better value to farmers for the food and fibre they produce while regenerating and maintaining the landscape. Second, building bridges between researchers, land managers and policy makers is needed to facilitate this support.
I started off as a researcher. I have a PhD on reaping environmental benefits from precision agriculture in Australia. And, I have explored food-feed-fuel trade-offs from biofuel production in Brazil and Mozambique.
I am now more practical in my work. I combine a technical understanding of farming issues with commmunication skills to connect and engage diverse actors shaping our food system.
Taking over the family farm can be challenging in itself. Leaving a secure job in the public service, a young family and relatives watching over a farm that extends back generations, now that’s a challenge!
History of the Kane family runs deep in Coleraine, Western Victoria. Since 1878 four generations have farmed this area. John and family made a tree change in 1996 to take over the farm from his uncles and thus began a journey of transformation.
John Kane
Through self education, independent thinking and the support of immediate family, John was able to turn Collingwood around to be the thriving black Angus cattle breeding property that it is today. A focus on soil through an integrated approach to managing physical, chemical and biological processes has seen Collingwood get the balance between soils, water, plants and animals just right.
FARM FACTS
CollingwoodFarm, Coleraine VIC
ENTERPRISE: Cattle breeding
PROPERTY SIZE: 242 hectares
AVERAGE ANNUAL RAINFALL: 620 mm
ELEVATION: 90-100 m
MOTIVATION FOR CHANGE
Opportunity to embrace biological farming to regenerate run down enterprise with potential for improved profit and farm landscape improvement.
INNOVATIONS
Fencing of stock water and improved fencing along creek line
Stock medication (supplements added to water troughs)
Stock mineral supplement powders
Effective weed management
Consistently high levels of ground cover all year round
Improved extent of tree and shrub cover along the creek
KEY RESULTS
Significant reduction in input costs
High level of consistency of cattle breeding
Rotational grazing of high quality pastures
Cash flow all year round
High level of personal satisfaction in outcomes achieved
INTRODUCTION
John Kane, his wife Jenny and their three children, Andrew,
Christopher and Melissa took up an offer from two elderly uncles to manage
their farming enterprise, Collingwood, near Coleraine in western Victoria in
1996. The family moved onto the property, but John also undertook work from the
local council while he found his feet in managing the farm.
The Landscape
The property consisted of two main blocks comprising a
complex set of titles left over from the World War 1 Soldier Settlement Scheme.
One block, Evestons, is 102Ha and the other, Collingwood, is 140 Ha. There were
thirteen paddocks that were set stocked with sheep and cattle. Some fences were
run down and dams and watering points did not match the paddock subdivisions, a
must if rotational grazing was to be introduced.
There were three paddocks totalling 36 ha under hay when
John took over the property. He increased that to four paddocks totalling 48 ha
as part of his feeding out strategy.
Kanes Creek runs through the property and poor land
management in the 1930-40s led to the formation of a 12 metre deep erosion
gully. In the 1960’s, as part of Soil Conservation Service work, the creek was
fenced-off and partially revegetated. Its intermittent flow carried water and
soil nutrients off the property to the Glenelg River and out to sea. The creek
bed was a haven for rabbits and foxes and home to a considerable number of
snakes which prey on the proliferation of frogs which share the habitat.
In 1996, the enterprise carried 12 DSE set stocked on
pastures heavily infested with Cape Weed and lesser infestations of Onion Weed,
Rush, Wild Geranium and Dandelion. About one third of the stock was sheep and
two thirds cattle. Poor quality grazing combined with poor cattle genetics and
underweight calves being dropped at inopportune times of the year.
Planning and Implementing Change
Initially, John opted to improve the cattle genetics. He
soon realised that he had the wrong strategy. Even with top quality bulls, poor
pasture was leading to poor returns from cows grazing sub-standard pastures and
dropping underweight calves. Above and
beyond soil test results, poor quality pasture indicated poor nutrient density
and nutrient deficient soils. John decided to improve the soil as a first
priority.
In 2000, at some risk to the economic viability of the
enterprise, John decided to streamline his workload by selling off his sheep
and concentrating on breeding Black Angus cattle. The strategy has paid off,
but he now has two fully function shearing sheds to maintain in case of a
future decision to bring back sheep.
Today John’s annual production cycle is geared to producing
consistent numbers of high grade weaner steers (calves) that are sold locally.
John’s cattle are finished on farms in NSW and Queensland.
Soils and Soil Fertility
John first conducted his soil tests in 1996 to establish a baseline. Initial tests and associated observation and research highlighted an average pH of 4, an imbalance of the Calcium (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg) ratio, soil compaction, indications of over-use of superphosphate, poor soil hydrology and considerable bare ground after broad leafed annuals died off. Since that time subsequent soil tests have been used to inform progress and to adjust management regimes to improve soil condition. John dispensed with the services of the agronomist and took over the fertiliser program himself. He opted for a program of mineral fertilisers and foliates. He introduced Bubas bison dung beetles, in addition to extant native varieties for greater aeration, water penetration and nutrient sequestration of the soils.
In the early years John used a soil aerator to break through the hard pan that had established historically through ploughing with a mouldboard plough. Soil compaction is a thing of the past.
The fertiliser program includes regular applications of lime and recent soil testing indicates an average pH of 6. Organic matter content has increased significantly. Water infiltration has increased considerably due to physical soil aeration, dung beetle activity and rotationally resting paddocks that are dominated by deep rooted perennials such as cocksfoot and phalaris. Periodically, John renovates the pasture to increase diversity of species by direct drilling of clovers and ryegrass.
Vegetation and Ground Cover
When John took over management of the farm in 1996, the
pastures were run down, they were weed infested and fertilised with
superphosphate.
John’s new fertiliser program has dramatically changed that
situation. John describes himself as a biological farmer with a strong focus on
soil function (refer to the annual production cycle below). As a result, his
pastures have high nutrient mixed species of high density pastures with very
little weed burden.
Most paddocks comprise improved pasture including phalaris,
clover and rye. One paddock is set aside and managed as native pasture including
Kangaroo Grass, Wallaby Grass and Weeping Grass.
John’s uncles had begun a program of tree planting (Red Gum
and Blackwood) and had, with the assistance of the Soil Conservation Service,
planted some 7,000 trees. John and Jenny continued this program and planted a
further 10,000 trees and shrubs of a variety of species.
Weed Management
In the early years, annual weeds and seasonal bare ground
favoured outbreaks of the red legged earth mite and the Lucerne Flea. While weeds
are much less of a problem today, John addresses the annual weeds with a targeted
program of spraying with a broad leaf herbicide mixed with fulvic acid. John
advises that “It is important to spray in Autumn when plants are small – the
clover at two leaf stage – to gain maximum effect using low spraying rates”.
The hay paddocks are sprayed annually with foliar sprays,
trace elements, biologic agents and kelp. This spraying program encourages the
growth of the pasture grasses and tends to effectively control the annual weeds
through competition.
Water
When John first came to the property, the watering
infrastructure consisted only of a number of dams. Kane Creek was fenced off from grazing and was
not used as a source of reticulated water. Only half the paddocks had water and the fenced
dams did not coincide with the number of paddocks which made John’s intention
of introducing rotational grazing somewhat problematic.
John has established a system of troughs in each paddock. Potable
water is pumped from the dams by solar power to storage tanks on the high
ground, holding 80,000 litres and 120,000 litres, respectively. This allows all
troughs to be gravity fed. John achieved
this through the purchase of a “Ditch Witch” machine to trench piped water 650
mm under the ground.
Water Medication
John’s water infrastructure hosts his program of water
medication. Trace elements and food
supplements are fed into the drinking water by vacuum pumps that are worked by
water pressure. The pumps require a 2 metre head of water to operate and on
average they are situated some 200m below the water storage tanks. The medication is fed into the stock watering
system 3 to 4 times a year. When the water medication is operating, this
program ensures that each animal gets the required amount of trace elements and
food supplements.
Production
John has a highly disciplined approach to farm management with his task organisation and time management of a very high order. This approach is essential as Collingwood is a one-person operation. An example of the Collingwood production management program is at Annex A to this report.
Cattle Production:
The days of a stocking rate of 12 DSE faded into memory. In the really good
seasons of 2000 to 2010, the stocking rate peaked at 18 DSE. John has reduced
that to a modest 15DSE as a conservative hedge in case of a down turn in stock
prices or seasonal conditions.
High Impact Hay
Production: There
were three paddocks totalling 36ha under hay when John came to the property. He
has increased that by four more paddocks totalling 48ha as part of his feeding
out strategy. John pays great attention to the fertility of the soil in
the hay paddocks and to the nutrient density of the phalaris, clover and rye
that comprises the makeup of the hay cut in October each year. The resulting hay production of some 600
large round bales is fundamental to John’s animal nutrition and soil biology
strategy. All of the hay produced on the property is retained on the property
as part of this strategy.
John feeds out daily from mid-February to the end of July,
covering the crucial calving period from March to April. The dung reflects the
soil fertility of the hay paddocks and the nutrient density of the hay, and is
transferred into the grazing paddock soil by the dung beetles, notably the
imported Bubas Bison. This is a flying variety that scents andflies to new dung pats, therefore
expediting the burial of dung across the paddocks. This cycle is critical to
John’s biological farming.
Pest Management
Over the years, the burgeoning rabbit
problem has been tackled by local landholders using at different times, Sodium
fluoroacetate (“1080”) impregnated carrots, Myxomatosis and Calici Virus. These
operations have reduced the rabbits to negligible numbers and the foxes that
also inhabit the creek bed keep them that way. There are no other pests
affecting the management of the property.
Outcomes and End State
John Kane has worked both hard and smart for 22 years and
Jenny was part of that effort for 18 of those years. John started with little
knowledge and little standing as a farmer in the eyes, not only of his uncles,
but also many of his peers. He sought knowledge through training courses, field
days and practiced what he learned innovating on the farm.
John can now look across pastures and vegetation that
represent his goal of 100% ground cover 100% of the time. He can see healthy,
unstressed cattle in good condition grazing on pastures of high nutrient
density. This ideal situation has eventuated from his initial adoption of a
fertility-first strategy for his soils all those years ago.
Ecological summary
Over a century of conventional farming practices had caused deep erosion gullies and a hardpan 200 mm below the soil surface. Through perseverance, education and a little ingenuity the ecological assessment for this farm leaves no doubt about the improvements and ongoing resilience of Collingwood.
Economic summary
Collingwood is productive and profitable, but it wasn’t always like that. Through an investment in soil health and the smart acquisition of some second hand machinery, the returns from this farm and the potential for future capital gain look promising.
Health and wellbeing
The potential of Collingwood was evident but you had to look beyond the weeds and erosion gullies. A cursory look back then would never have foreseen what is evident today. If John had his time again, what would he change? “Nothing”
