CLINTON TEPPER M U LT I - S TO R E Y FA R M I N G
To make your way north out of Warragul takes you into the hills of the Baw Baw Ranges and towards Neerim South. The paddocks are a vibrant green and even though the wind is blowing a chilly reminder that this is the middle of winter it’s not long before the ‘gee, this is pretty nice county’ idea pops into your head. It’s in this area that a man who has worked and lived with trees most of his adult life is asking farmers to not only look across their paddocks but also to look down into the soils and most definitely to look up and imagine what might be there with a bit of thought and planning.
In 2014 with the help of funding from the Australian Government through the Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority, Clinton planted a 1.2-hectare plot as a demonstration site with a range of trees and a selection of pastures. In 2021 these trees are 15+ metres tall and the pasture, growing up to the trees so thick you can lose sight of your boots as you walk across. “Initially we planted trees in rows five metres apart, with trees spaced 2 metres apart within the row. Over time we’ve thinned out every second row so that now there is more room for livestock to graze and pasture to grow.”
Clinton Tepper is an advocate of what he calls ‘Multi-Storey Farming.’ “Level one is the soil, from which everything else either thrives or fails,” says Clinton as we bounce around the rolling hills of his 110-acre property in his twin cab ute. “Level two is the pasture – the feed for the livestock. Level three is the trees, planted at such a ratio to allow movement of farm machinery to harvest hay or silage but also to provide shade and shelter for livestock and to aid soil health and sequester carbon as it grows. Level four is the livestock that takes advantage of the three levels around it to grow as strong and healthy as it can,” This approach to agriculture was developed following successive long dry spells which saw even this most rainy part of Gippsland loses its lustre, and the pastures turn from verdant green to a dryer, more straw like colour.
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gippsland lifestyle spring ����
The trees are mostly eucalypts including Silvertop, Spotted Gum and initially Silver Wattle which has now been largely thinned out for firewood and onsite mulch. The pastures were also assessed with 70 species planted over the initial 4 years to see which thrived and lent themselves to being an income stream when livestock was excluded from the site for 18 months to enable the trees to reach sufficient height to withstand cattle grazing. That number of pastures is now down to 10-15 varieties with lucerne being one of Clinton’s favourites. “We sell the lucerne to local farmers…that’s a high-end product which means that after three years we were in the black financially on our biggest site with all costs covered. Subsequent years have generated good profit, plus grazing returns and wood growth. That multi storey farming site is now 6 years old.
