AgLife – October 28, 2020 edition by The Weekly Advertiser

October 28, 2020

Reaping rewards Willaura farmers Jack and Celia Tucker, with their sons, James, 6, and Johnny, 4, have made a transition to regenerative agriculture practices. Story, page 25

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BY DYLAN DE JONG

illaura farmers who made a transition to regenerative agriculture are starting to reap the rewards of a sustainable sheep farming practice.

Husband and wife team Jack and Celia Tucker made the move to a rotational pastoral system for their sheep farm about two years ago. Mr Tucker said the move came after 20 years of conventional crop farming where they had a heavy reliance on chemical use that was increasing year-on-year. “We’ve gone from being 90-percent cropping to making a full reverse to a 90-percent grazing operation,” he said. “Our outcomes last year far exceeded what we had expected – it’s great to see our system is actually working.” Mr Tucker said the ‘turning point’ for his operation was when he realised his soil health was only continuing to degrade with more chemical use. “In my 20 years in cropping, we went from having a healthy nitrogen cycle to relying entirely on urea as our nitrogen source to grow a crop,” he said. “We went from zero kilograms up to 300kg to the hectare in some cases. “That’s not healthy for the soil. Our reliance on fertilisers, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides was going

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up every year exponentially.” The regenerative farming method works to promote healthier ecosystems by rebuilding soil organic matter through holistic farming and grazing techniques, or in short, ‘letting nature do the work’. The Tuckers’ rotational system involves sectioning off their 750-hectare property into 40, 10-hectare lots. The remainder of the property is used for broadacre cropping. This replaces traditional ‘set stocking’ which involved letting the animals roam and graze freely in a paddock. Mr Tucker said the new system had already shown promising signs. He said they had managed to get through last summer without purchasing additional feed for lambs. “We managed to get through last summer without any supplementary feeding and we still had excellent ground cover at the end,” he said. “If they’re more densely stocked, they just go in, feed and move out again, so you end up with more even grazing across the paddock.” Mr Tucker said rotational livestock farming had proven to be more sustainable. “If we were set-stocking, I have no doubt we definitely would have run out of grass,” he said. “In a set-stocking system, sheep spend a lot of time walking around

FAMILY FARM: James Tucker, 6, and brother Johnny, 4, explore a multispecies perennial pasture crop. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER searching for what they want and standing on and urinating on the feed there. This means you end up with bare areas in the paddock.” The family’s property is also home to a 55-hectare vermin-proofed nature reserve. The reserve, named Tullyvallin, is home to native plants and animals. Mr Tucker said bandicoots were in-

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troduced into the reserve as part of the project. “That’s something that we’re passionate about, preserving flora and fauna where possible,” he said. “We still graze once or twice a year to manage the grass, but it all ties into our conservation ethos.” The Tuckers have also planted trees on the property to create ‘shelter belts’.

As part of the regenerative agriculture move, the family is also looking at ways to earn ‘carbon credits’ on their farm. Australian farmers can enter into a voluntary carbon-offset Federal Government scheme that allows land managers to earn carbon credits by changing land use or management practices to store carbon or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “We’re aiming to increase the level of carbon in our soil,” Mr Tucker said. “Our soil will be measured and analysed at regular intervals over a 20year period and for the amount of carbon we’ve sequestered in the soil, we will get assigned carbon credits which we can trade on the carbon market.” Soil carbon sequestration is a process in which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and stored in a soil carbon pool. This process is primarily mediated by plants through photosynthesis. Mr Tucker said the new agriculture system his family was exploring was a reliable approach to farming and a ‘robust’ business model. “We’ve always been passionate about the environment and we could see the path we were going down was detrimental for the health of soil and whole farm ecosystem,” he said. “We’re also very concerned about climate change.”

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BY DYLAN DE JONG

he Wimmera’s David Jochinke hopes to lend a hand and continue advocating for regional Victoria even after his time as Victorian Farmers Federation president comes to a close.

The third generation farmer, based at Murra Warra, north of Horsham, will call time on a four-year run in the top job at the end of the year. The VFF closed its nominations for its 2020 election earlier this month and plans to announce all candidates on Wednesday next week. Mr Jochinke, 43, has described his time as president as a ‘humbling’ experience and said he hoped the next generation of leaders who populated the board could help to revolutionise the representative body. He said he looked forward to a ‘slightly’ more relaxed harvest this season as he stood down from the role after what he labelled his toughest year in the job in 2020. “I’m definitely going to enjoy harvest and hopefully get all the grain into the bin successfully,” he said. “I might suffer some relevance deprivation for a while once it’s all said and done. But I do think there will be opportunities for me to be involved both in agriculture and in trying to help the regional community

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

achieve prosperity. I’m still relatively young and I’ve got plenty to give.” During his two terms as president, Mr Jochinke has been a voice for the Victorian agriculture sector during drought, floods, a dairy crisis, avian influenza and helping farmers adapt to a changing climate. But he said nothing, so far, had compared to the ‘chaos’ that would arise from the COVID-19 pandemic. “I’ve had more people distressed – I’ve had more phone calls from farmers who are absolutely at their wits’ end than any other time while I’ve been in this role,” he said. “Water is definitely an emotional topic, but COVID has eclipsed even that. In my busiest period I had a week of almost 60 phone calls a day. “I’m glad we’re able to give some clarity in an environment when there’s very little, but sometimes all I can do is listen and empathise with the farmers. That’s pretty tough when you don’t have a solution. They need something from industry and when I can’t deliver or do any more for them, it’s quite confronting.” Mr Jochinke said his parents and grandparents were also VFF members. He first made the move to an advocacy role in agriculture in his late teens and in 1997, he joined the Wallup VFF branch. “From those first meetings I became

David Jochinke

delegate for the region,” he said. “You get to meet all the faces who were shaping the industry, from CEOs to politicians to managing directors of different organisations.” Mr Jochinke said his time at Wallup led to being elected as the group’s last VFF treasurer and chair of the finance committee as well as vice-president from 2012 to 2016. But there was one man he credits with helping shape his dedication for making change in the industry. In his early days at Wallup, he shadowed one of the key grain representatives in the area at the time, Rob McRae. “I call Rob my VFF dad because he

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took me under his wing when we first started. He was hugely influential for my pathway,” he said. “With policy, he showed me that you’ve got to make sure you don’t get lost in the battles, but you remember what the objective is. “The machinery of government and wheels of industry can take a lot of time to turn to get the result you’re looking for, but as long as you keep applying pressure in the right spot and remain positive and engaged, things do spin your way, eventually. “Rob taught me a lot about patience. “And I was always told you need thick skin and sharp elbows, which is extremely true.”

While his time is coming to a close as a leader of the VFF, Mr Jochinke said he was still invested in seeing the organisation thrive. He said the past few years as president had highlighted a need for the organisation to adapt to the way agriculture was continually transforming in a modern age. “The organisation needs to change, it needs to refresh, it needs to modernise. We need to appeal more to the next generation of farmers and we need to be more adaptable and flexible in our engagement mechanisms,” he said. “The reality is the industry has moved a lot, but the structure of the organisation hasn’t necessarily kept pace. It will be a challenge for whoever comes next to make those changes – I feel disappointed that I wasn’t able to lead more on that front.” Mr Jochinke said he owed his time as president to the farmers and people who supported him all the way. “My story has been one of having opportunities presented and taking them up and just having a go,” he said. “Being a representative in agriculture is a team sport. I’m only as good as the people who stand with me and I’ve been very fortunate to have some excellent people who don’t necessarily get the spotlight, but people who supported the process from the start.”

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“When I take the drone image, I could split the paddock into seven zones, and I had seven items to work with. “It’s exponentially more accurate and more efficient than the old style of doing things.”

BY DYLAN DE JONG

Wimmera man is finding drone technology is becoming more of a necessity in improving on-farm accuracy.

High-resolution thermal drone imaging allows Nhill’s Marty Colbert to help farmers identify issues in broadacre and livestock farming. Agriculture researchers are identifying ways to use drones for weed and disease identification, improve water and nutrient deficiencies, yield determinations and pesticide applications. Mr Colbert jumped on the drone bandwagon about three years ago, finding the imaging technology useful in predicting crop yields, as well as inspecting solar panels. He has since upgraded to using a thermal-imaging camera that he equips to his drone, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, UAV. The equipment allows him to produce high-resolution thermal photos that can assist with variable rate application on farms – an aspect of precision agriculture that automates the application of materials such as fertilisers, chemical sprays and seeds to the land. Mr Colbert worked with a company in the United States to get approval to use the military-grade camera to equip to his drone in Australia. He said this season he would focus on identifying haystack fires.

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NECESSITY: Nhill’s Marty Colbert is using a military grade thermal imaging drone to detect haystack fires and lost livestock. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER Mr Colbert said the thermal imaging would allow him to pinpoint where heat was coming from so farmers could quickly locate problematic hay bales. “I can fly over the sides and top of the shed and identify hot patches to tell the farmer where to go,” he said. Mr Colbert said thermal imaging was also useful in locating vermin animals such as foxes and wild dogs. He said he could also locate lost livestock in remote locations. In crop production, researchers are

finding drones useful in pinpointing trouble areas in the field that would not be found by the normal observer. Mr Colbert said thermal imaging allowed him to observe plants under stress. “Another example is in summer, when I fly a thermal drone over a vineyard or any irrigated crop, plants in stress put out a warmer signal,” he said. “If they’re on a dripper line, it might lose its efficiency and drips at the end of the line are smaller than they

should be.” Mr Colbert said the drones could play an important role in a farmer’s daily life, where the greatest advantage came from time saved in surveying fields or animals without all of the driving around or footwork. “I went and mapped a 300-acre paddock to get a field estimate with a drone and it took me an hour,” he said. “Previously it would have taken me three hours and it wouldn’t have been as accurate because I would have been driving into the paddock blind.

While drone technology was proving to be a ‘major timesaver’, Mr Colbert stressed the pricetag was likely still too high for most farmers. “I’m not breaking new ground as drones have been around for a while now,” he said. “It’s just that they have been hellishly expensive – so out of the reach of the average consumer. “Some of this equipment can cost you up to $100,000 – no one has a lazy $100k around, to put that into a business plan, you’d go broke.” Mr Colbert said as the technology continued to improve and the aircraft became more widely available and affordable, they were likely to become an important addition to any farmer’s toolkit. “Information technology in agriculture is where it’s at. I’m only nibbling at the edge of this IT age,” he said. “But in the short term, I see opportunities in haystack sheds and intensive agriculture such as identify crop stress.”

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orkers joining the grains industry for this season’s harvest will benefit from online training designed to bring them ‘up to speed with necessary skills and knowledge’.

Agriculture Minister Jaclyn Symes announced $175,000 from the Agriculture Workforce Plan would go towards the Grains Industry Skills Development and Induction Program, to be developed by Grain Producers Australia. She said the training focused on creating a safe and efficient workforce as peak harvest season arrived, given the availability of regular seasonal workers from overseas and interstate had been affected by border restrictions to slow the spread of coronavirus. “These new training courses will prepare workers by giving them the knowledge to safely and quickly transition into a role in the grains industry,” she said. “Grains workplaces are highly technical and workers need to have the best possible training to be kept safe and to make sure the important harvest work can be done.” Ms Symes said new workers would complete comprehensive online courses covering farm safety, new hygiene and distancing practices and a thorough induction of what to expect during harvest. She said this included understanding the main aspects of grain harvesting such as the operation

of harvesters and chaser bins, grain handling and grain transportation. An important part of the training will lay out for farm managers and centres how to effectively induct employees and how to provide a safe work environment. There will also be a section to support existing workers to get up to speed on best-practice farm safety. The online training will be provided to Victorian businesses free of charge. Grain Producers Australia chairman and Rupanyup farmer Andrew Weidemann welcomed the funding. “We thank the Victorian government for this support for our online training program, which will give workers and employers the tools they need to create a safe, well-trained workforce for this harvest season and into the future,” he said. The Agriculture Workforce Plan is also supporting other industry-led training programs including the Dairy Passport and Horticulture Farm Worker Induction Program. In addition to targeted skills development, the plan is supporting businesses in key agriculture and food processing industries through adaptation grants, job matching, worker accommodation and relocation support and measures to help Victorian producers connect into new markets. People can visit www.agriculture.vic.gov.au/ agworkforceplan for more information about the Agriculture Workforce Plan.

HELPING HAND: Sarah Netherway helps out on her family’s dairy farm at Quantong. The Netherways are busy keeping track of about 250 calves up to two months’ old. The calves are mostly replacement friesian dairy cattle. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER

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Trail to nowhere

am mad… really mad. Steam engine clouds coming out my ears. To me it all boils down to a lack of respect and appreciation for agriculture. And it is all about trains.

Last week the Andrews government broke its promise to finish the upgrade of the Murray Basin Rail network. It’s gone cap in hand to the Commonwealth to ask for another $200-odd million to re-build some track and infrastructure, but the original promise to standardise the broad gauge lines has been dumped. So that means the key sections of upgrade in Victoria’s north-west won’t go ahead. The majority of the Labour government’s city voters wouldn’t know or care about it, so no great political loss there. But it’s a huge loss to our grain industry, the environment and our country roads. In the words of Victorian Farmers Federation president David Jochinke: “It’s pretty disgusting really… It’s about upgrading broad gauge lines to make them workable. The intention of this upgrade was to upgrade all of the rail network so during an export season we can put as much grain as possible on rail, taking the pressure off our crumbling road network and also making those roads safer.” All of us who live in grain growing areas have witnessed the huge toll grain trucks take on our roads. You just have to look at what happens in one season to routes into grain receival sites to see the bitumen splitting, sinking and breaking away to make for some pretty dangerous stretches of road. Not to mention the amount of diesel fuel trucks

95 Nelson Street, Nhill CALL 03 5391 2106

Country Today with Libby Price

are guzzling and emitting carbon into the atmosphere. Put the grain on rail and help reduce greenhouse gases. It’s not rocket science. The tracks are in such a parlous state that in hot weather, grain freight trains can be restricted to 20-kilometres an hour for fear of sparking bushfires. What a joke that we still don’t have standardised rail gauges and a decent rail network to transport the very produce that is going to lead Australia out of this COVID-induced economic recession. Couldn’t the government help farmers create wealth by doing what should have been done years ago and at the same time create jobs in regional Victoria? With governments throwing around billions of dollars during this pandemic, it doesn’t seem to be a lot to ask. David Jochinke is trying to put a positive spin on it that it’s not all over yet. But I’ll bet my bottom dollar that our Premier has run a red line through the proposal and it’s dead in the water. He’s not one to back down once he’s made a decision. So thanks for nothing, Dan. Yet again, agriculture gets a slap in the face and has to go it alone. Surely a fundamental duty of State Governments is to maintain a healthy and wealth creating transport system? Not, apparently, if you’re out of that ‘ring of steel’ around Melbourne.

ON THE JOB: Working for Victoria crews cutting out Kunzea Leptospermoides, Yarra Burgan, near Pomonal.

Crews crucial during pandemic A project team formed to bolster employment opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic is proving to be a major environmental asset in the Wimmera. Project Platypus Upper Wimmera Landcare Network has been working with Wimmera Catchment Management Authority to task crews employed under a Working for Victoria program with land management work. The State Government’s $50-million Agriculture Workforce Plan, as a part of the employment program, created 40 new jobs in the Wimmera earlier this year. Project Platypus co-ordi-

nator Lachlan McIntyre said crews were helping with revegetation and fencing of important environmental areas such as waterways, weed control, soil sampling and waterquality monitoring on private and public land. He said their assistance had proven to be a major benefit to the Landcare network and partnering groups including Stawell Urban Landcare and Black Range Land Management. “Having access to these crews has been vital in delivering targeted and broad scale environmental work in the upper Wimmera,” he said. “We’ve been working close-

ly with the Wimmera CMA and Landcare groups to identify priority works and deliver on some projects that have proven difficult in previous years due to reduced funding and high labour hire costs.” Mr McIntyre said Project Platypus would continue to make the most of the full-time workers to complete priority jobs. “At this stage we have Working for Victoria crews available through to December,” he said. Mr McIntyre said the help came at a ‘much needed’ time, with reduced funding compounded by the economic impacts of the pandemic.

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Reminder to rural communities 95 Nelson Street, Nhill CALL 03 5391 2106

As Victorian Mental Health Month draws to a close, Rural Aid is reminding rural communities that one conversation at the right time, with the right person, can change everything. Rural Aid chief executive John Warlters said whether it be about relationships, life on the land or just not feeling ‘right’, having a chat could be one of the most powerful tools a farmer could use. He said Rural Aid, one of Australia’s largest rural charities, was committed to supporting farmers and their wellbeing. “Sometimes restoring balance in our mental wellbeing can be found just in enjoying an

activity that is not farm-related for an hour. It could be reading, riding, running or being in the garden, golfing or going fishing,” he said. “We’re seeing farmers becoming more and more comfortable with taking up counselling when they need it. We had nearly 1600 primary producers reach out to our counselling services in the last quarter. Some received support via phone, others face-to-face, and also through our monthly webinars.” People can visit www.ruralaid.org.au, call 1300 327 624 or search Rural Aid Australia on Facebook for more information about the organisation.

Mark Heaslip, east Australia operations manager for hay export business GILMAC

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or the past decade, South Australian grower Sam Irish has been exporting hay.

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The industry has boomed in Australia, with hay exports increasing 20 percent throughout the past five years. Australia has developed a strong record of exporting good-quality hay, and more than one million metric tonnes are now exported each year to countries such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China. For Mr Irish, one integral piece of infrastructure has proven key for running a successful hay export business: a quality hay shed. He had his first shed installed back in 2007, followed by a shed by custom shed manufacturer Entegra in 2016. “I think if you’re growing hay, you need a hay shed, and a shed is one of the most critical parts of your hay game,” he said. “You need to buy a shed before you buy a hay baler. It might sound silly but you can use a contractor for a baler, but with a shed – a lot of people have sheds and they don’t rent them out, so you need a shed. And during years like this, having a shed will pay.” Like with many industries, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected Australia’s hay exporting. Mark Heaslip, east Australia operations manager for hay export business GILMAC, said there had been a combination of factors affecting the industry, with slightly reduced demand, shipping routes being slowed down or ceased and a reduction in availability of good quality containers. But he said export hay in Australia had been a growing market over 30 years, and indicators showed it would continue on that trajectory. “I think the hay industry has been quite positive for a long time, and I expect that to continue. It’s a good management tool for farmers and so I think hay, along with wheat and barley, will

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still be sought after,” he said. “You need all the tools of the trade, so you need to know you can get it cut on time, baled on time, and trucked to either a shed or an exporter. And if you do it in good timing, you’ll get good quality hay and it’ll become a profitable enterprise.” Mr Heaslip said opportunities existed in the current environment, as long as you had a hay shed. “Shedded hay is the best option. If you’re making export oaten hay you need to protect it the best you can,” he said. “So, you get it baled and get it into a shed. Shedding your hay is the best protection for the quality of the hay, and it can stay there for a reasonable amount of time and not deteriorate. “If it’s well looked after and kept dry and clean, it holds its quality for a long period of time.” Homegrown engineering success story Entegra Signature Structures has taken a leadership position in the hay shed market with pre-engineered hay shed kits complementing its capability for custom-designed sheds. The company’s long-term sponsorship of the Australian Fodder Industry Association has also been instrumental in how it has understood the market and engineered its sheds with premium features such as galvanised columns and box gutters included as standard. The success of Entegra with the export hay market came on the back of record prices the previous year flowing through to on-farm investment. Entegra has further enhanced its position in a more challenging market this year with the acquisition of Gympie-based Blueprint Engineered Sheds. The combined business is now able to reach more farmers with increased manufacturing capacity. People can call Entegra on 1300 296 206 or visit www.entegra.com.au to view hay shed kits or custom shed options.

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Rail plan shortcoming BY DYLAN DE JONG

immera-Mallee agriculture and political leaders are ‘disappointed’ a revised plan to fix a failed rail upgrade in north-west Victoria is unlikely to achieve the project’s original goal.

The State Government revealed a revised business plan last week that proposed an extra $244-million be spent fixing the Murray Basin Rail Project. But the plans will not involve standardising lines. The jointly funded $440-million plan, first proposed in 2014, was set to standardise north-west Victoria’s freight rail network. It ran out of money in 2019 with half the project incomplete. Victorian Farmers Federation president David Jochinke said the revised business case was ‘disrespectful’ to grain handlers who were anticipating plans to involve the whole network to be standardised. “We can’t support the project that is being presented to us because it doesn’t finish off on the clear objectives that we want the rail network to look like,” he said. “As an industry, I haven’t heard from anyone who’s satisfied.

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

That includes rail and transport workers, farmers, freight and port operators – none are happy with the current proposals.” The revised plan included re-railing an 88-kilometre section of track that was originally completed between Maryborough and Ararat in 2017. The project will also install passing loops to allow for more freight paths, as well as new or upgraded sidings at Maryborough, Donald and Merbein to improve flexibility in the network.

Missing pieces

But there was no indication in the plan that Sea Lake and Manangatang lines would be upgraded from broad gauge to standard gauge – plans that were a key part of the initial project. “The original project was to create competition between the three ports at Portland, Geelong and Melbourne,” Mr Jochinke said. “For grain growers, about 20 to 30 percent of our cost goes into freight. This project was designed to increase competition and productivity of the system and by retaining the lines as broad gauge and not upgrading them to 21-tonnes standard

gauge, which is what the proposal is under this current review, is quite frankly unacceptable.”

Pressure on roads

Mr Jochinke said it was crucial the governments completed the project as promised. “The under investment in rail puts more trucks and pressure on our roads. Our road network in many areas is crumbling away and needs significant investment in it as well,” he said. “We’re in a position here where we started with good intentions to create a functional system, but we’re now not even half done on this project. We can’t go back, so we have to go forward.” Mr Jochinke’s comments were echoed by Federal Member for Mallee Anne Webster. She said the revised plan would fail to improve rail efficiency. “I’ve spoken with stakeholders across Mallee who have expressed their great disappointment that the original plan is not being adhered to, but rather a partial version, with yet more investigation to be completed,” she said. “This partial version will not deliver the cost savings or effi-

ciency improvements originally promised to the community, and highlights once again, the state Labor government’s focus on Melbourne, with the disregard for the regions that drive our economy.” The business case proposes works which require an additional $244-million toward the project, taking the overall investment in the Murray Basin Rail Project to $814-million. The Victorian government intends to commit $48.8-million in further funding. Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan said the State Government would seek the remaining $195.2-million from the Federal Government. “This project is too important to play politics with – we want the Commonwealth to come forward with their support so we can get more freight on trains and more trucks off regional roads,” she said. “Our rail freight and passenger network has transformed since the project was first developed, and this revised set of works will make sure this project delivers for Victorian farmers and freight operators well into the future.”

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Weed detection 95 Nelson Street, Nhill CALL 03 5391 2106

A biosecurity expert is urging Wimmera famers to keep an eye out for noxious weeds that are poisonous to both animals and humans. Agriculture Victoria leading biosecurity officer Michael Moerkerk said weeds such as cape tulip were likely to emerge on farms in the region during spring. He said the weeds were toxic to humans and livestock and in severe cases poisoning could lead to paralysis and death. “The plants typically flower from September to October, so now is the time for farmers to identify if their property is infected,” he said. Mr Moerkerk said even dry material from cape tulips could cause poisoning of stock. The flowers of both species, cape tulip one-leaf and cape tulip two-leaf, look similar, with six pink-salmon coloured petal-like segments with a yellow centre. Stems are usually zig-zagged in appearance and grow to 75cm in height. “Both species have long strap-like leaves and as the names imply, cape tulip one-leaf has only one leaf per plant, whereas cape tulip has two to three leaves per plant,” Mr Moerkerk said. He said there were two control methods to remove cape tulip from an infected area – the application of a registered herbicide, or the physical removal of the entire plant, including the roots, from the soil. “To control the spread of cape tulip early identification and management before the plants become established and set seed in an area is critical,” he said. Cape tulip one-leaf is a declared Regionally Controlled Weed in the Wimmera catchment under the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994 and all landowners have a responsibility to take all reasonable steps to prevent the growth and spread on their land. Cape tulip two-leaf is not as widely distributed throughout the Wimmera catchment and is declared as a Regionally Prohibited Weed. Further information can be found online at agriculture. vic.gov.au/biosecurity/weeds/priority-weeds.

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SMS Rural Services welcome Austin Smith to the business Austin Smith has joined the team at Horsham as an agronomist. Austin grew up on a sheep and cattle farm at Dartmoor before shifting to Kapunda in the mid-north SA. Since finishing high school, Austin has always been involved in agriculture. He has experienced a range of roles in agribusiness from working for an export hay company, merchandise sales, farm supplies manager; and over the last two years as an agronomist after completing a Diploma of Agronomy at Longerenong.

Austin is passionate about the evolution of agriculture, “The continual improvements to technologies and practices to help improve sustainability and profitability for my clients is what I find most interesting. The best thing about agriculture is that no one will ever know it all, as the industry changes we all learn and adjust, that’s an exciting thing to be a part of.” For anyone needing agronomic advice, be sure to come in and see Austin at the SMS Rural Services Horsham office or phone him on 0400 626 658.

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More lambs, less weeds in systems 95 Nelson Street, Nhill CALL 03 5391 2106

BY CINDY BENJAMIN

hat started as a drought mitigation measure for Horsham mixed-enterprise farmers Sam and Emily Eagle in 2014 has proven to be a valuable long-term livestock production and weed control tool.

Livestock containment areas allow the Eagles to rest their pastures and fodder crops, efficiently use a variety of feeds and restrict the spread of weed seeds. On top of this they have also seen benefits in growth rates and lambing percentages. Sam said their six or seven hectares available for containment was not expensive to build and had made it much easier to manage their livestock and cropping enterprises. “I’d definitely recommend building containment areas for sheep,” he said. “It is such a simple concept that has so many benefits. They really help to manage ground cover on your pastures and cropping paddocks, and in dry times they make feeding out much less stressful. “In the last drought we had up to 6500 sheep in containment, including lambs, and I could feed them all in less than three hours, and didn’t have to feed every day.” Sam and Emily use the containment areas for several purposes throughout the year.

Although they generally keep their pasture and cropping paddocks separate, the sheep play an important role in weed management across the whole farm. “The containment areas allow us to bring in feed from outside if necessary and feed out screenings from our own grain, being confident that any weed seeds that come with that feed won’t be spread around the farm,” Sam said. “It is easy to manage any weeds that germinate in such a defined and small area of the farm. “When we buy in sheep we shear them as soon as they arrive to remove any risk of them introducing weeds. “We use the containment areas to avoid overgrazing pastures, so the sheep eat the weeds like barley grass as well as the more palatable species. “They also provide an effective double-knock effect for weeds that have herbicide resistance.” The Eagles cut weedy paddocks for hay or silage and feed it out in the containment areas where they can control any weeds that germinate. Sam said above-ground pit silage had been very cost effective at about $10 a cubic meter, to cut the silage and store it under a tarp before feeding out in the containment paddocks. “Silage is a very good weed control tactic,” he said. “You cut it early, so you are stopping weed seed set, and after three days of

IN CONTROL: Horsham producer Sam Eagle uses every opportunity to maximise the synergies within a mixed farming operation. good weather you can spray out the paddock for a spray fallow.” The Eagles prefer to either graze a crop fully or grow it for grain, having found the ‘grain and graze’ tactic for dual purpose crops had an unacceptable yield penalty and opened up the canopy to allow weeds to grow through and compete in the grain phase. Sam said Moby barley plus clover was the best cover crop to graze and then spray out. “Oats and pasture are both cut either for hay or silage to conserve fodder and remove weed seeds,” he said. “In the cropping paddocks sheep will eat most of the weeds that have developed herbicide resistance, like wild radish, annual ryegrass, fleabane and whip thistle. They also generate

cash flow from cover crops and from grain crops that don’t go through to harvest due to drought, flood, weeds or frost. “Over summer the sheep reduce our herbicide costs and reduce the stubble load, which makes sowing easier. “Once the feed supply runs out, we put the sheep into containment until they start to lamb. This allows the pastures and crops to get ahead and gives us good feed to put the ewes into for lambing. The sheep can make interrow sowing more difficult in our CTF system so we have to be careful to cut the stubble 300mm or less above ground level so the stalks don’t lodge across the inter-row as the sheep graze the stubbles.” Having used narrow windrow burning as their harvest weed seed control

tactic for six years, Sam and Emily used a contract harvester with an impact mill for their harvester for the 2018 season. Sam said they were pleased with the job the mill did and were looking to purchase one of their own once the technology matured a little more. “We use crop-topping in pulses and windrowing in canola to stop weed seed set and also spray herbicide under the cutter bar in canola,” he said. “We test weeds for herbicide resistance so we know what still works and plan out a diverse herbicide program with multiple chemical groups used in a broad crop rotation.” Other than the grazing and weed management benefits, Sam and Emily have also found numerous productivity benefits for their 2500-strong merino flock. Sam said using the containment yards for joining had seen increased conception rates. “After preg-testing our ewes we make separate mobs for the twins and singles so we can better manage the ewe’s nutrition while in containment,” he said. “Once the lambs are weaned and are brought into containment their growth and feed utilisation rates are higher than when paddock grazed, meaning the returns on feed inputs are higher and we are able to either turn off hoggets earlier or at a higher weight.”

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Gorst Rural now has our own Faecal Egg Counting machine. If you bring a sample into one of our stores in the morning, we can usually have your counts back to you by the end of the day. Worm egg counts during the last month have ranged from 50 eggs per gram (epg) up to 900 epg. It is extremely important to monitor worm activity during the spring period as the weather conditions are ideal for worm activity which can lead to rapid increases in worm burdens in your stock.

If you would like a count done, give Annaliese a call on 5350 2440 to book in a time.

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