I AM with a group of eight farmers a few kilometres from Bathurst, touring their properties to discuss farm production management strategies.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Each is feeling some pressure from the prevailing drought. None of them have sought drought relief, nor do they begrudge those who need to.
We pass neighbouring properties that are bare as a billiard table, with sheep in poor condition eking out buried roots for sustenance.
RECENT ECO NEWS COLUMNS:
Our final destination is an old Bathurst property on granite soil beset with many familiar problems - compacted soils, reduced rainfall infiltration, low soil carbon, low productivity, bound phosphorus and more.
Two years ago, this property was bought by a young couple with a different farming philosophy.
There is now a central laneway and hot wires used to enable stock to be moved regularly through a sequence of smaller paddocks.
Cattle leave behind vegetation trash, animal fertiliser, and sufficient ground cover to allow the rapid recovery of pastures when the next rainfall event arrives.
Furthermore, there is ample time for pasture recovery before a particular paddock is re-grazed. As soil carbon builds, the capacity of the property to store more rainfall underground will increase.
A Yeoman's plough was used to break up the subsurface hardpans; it is not a strategy that works universally. No mixing occurs between soil profiles, the ground surface is minimally disturbed, spongy to walk on, and the soil clods protected.
Most importantly, passing showers can be rapidly absorbed rather than lost as run-off. A malfunctioning water cycle has been quickly and cost-effectively repaired. Consequently, both the carbon and nutrient cycles are beginning to work their magic in releasing nutrients to optimise pasture growth.
Tired pastures have been replaced with a suite of appropriate species. On the day we visited, 100 purchased cows, some with calves, were putting on weight at around 1.5kg/day, with no hand feeding and no added fertilisers.
Where is the drought, we silently ask. (Yes, the property is fortunate enough to have a head spring at the top of a yet-to-be-repaired gully.)
As an ecologist I am delighted to see malfunctioning ecosystem processes being repaired in farming landscapes and the kick-starting of a succession of soil organisms beginning to thrive that were locally extinct.
Good farming strategies are the basis for biodiversity conservation in Australia since landholders manage around 88 per cent of the land.
