Gympie Beef Liason Group hosted a highly successful field day on natural sequence farming at Kybong. ERLE LEVEY was there to follow this remarkable journey into the better use of water and increased biodiversity to bring about more productive outcomes.
Keep it simple – that was the underlying message from an innovative field day and seminar at Kybong focussing on natural sequence farming.
There is no need to mess with nature … it’s a matter of observing the environment and making informed decisions as a result of that.
Retaining water on the land for longer is one aspect, letting it find its true level is another. This is in order for the water to do the most good in what is generally regarded as a dry landscape.
Hosted by the Andrews family of Forage Farms, the field day was organised by Gympie District Beef Liaison Group.
From the day, 10 participants were to be selected to continue with a peer-to-peer training group including four workshops in the next 12 months.
Stuart Andrews of Tarwyn Park Training ran the workshop while eldest son Hamish joined him for the farm walk to give a practical demonstration on how correct application of this method, leads to better use of water and the improvement in soil biodiversity.
Stuart introduced participants to the world of natural sequence farming, talking through how it is possible to transform a degraded landscape back into a thriving eco-system.
It was quite remarkable to have 75 cattle breeders and others with similar interests attending this field day which was about changing attitudes.
The benefits were speaking for themself judging by the amount of interest shown, the seeking of further information on how to improve the land and see a resulting rise in productivity.
The field day spoke volumes for the existing changes some participants had made to their land and encouraged those with a newfound interest to engage more fully.
While those who attended were across a broad range of farming interests – cattle, horses and hay producers – and age demographics, there was a common thread of taking care of the land.
This approach may not have had such an impact 20-30 years ago, but it seems a younger generation has helped bring about this desire to be more open to new ideas and techniques.
Not that it is in any way a new technique. Stuart Andrews is carrying on much of what he learnt 40 years ago from his father Peter Andrews, who has been a leader in natural sequence farming from his base in the Upper Hunter of New South Wales.
“Learning this stuff is simple yet our mind makes it seem complex,’’ Stuart said at the start of the workshop. “We overthink it.
“What are we most likely to do next? Nothing. The more complex the subject the less likely we are to do anything about it.
“Today is really about making it simple, but there is a lot of information that makes it complex. It’s a matter of picking the bits that are important to you.
“Ask questions, that’s how you learn.’’
That’s what Stuart did. He said growing up with his father was quite an experience, due to different approaches to regeneration of the land.
“As fathers and sons we tend to butt heads … we did that a lot of the time.
“I thought it was him but later realised it was about me too. Me not listening to his message.
“For 15 years he was hitting me with this stuff.
“When did I realise what he was saying was of importance? When I did it. Not when someone was talking to me about it.
“Your journey starts the day you start doing something.
“You learn from mistakes. You need to get out and do stuff to learn.’’
As a farmer, a grazier and speaker about natural sequencing, Stuart said the care of the land was something that had to be done. A rehabilitation if you like, to understand what the natural landscape looked like and the benefits that flowed from it.
“We don’t have to do things, but we do if it has merit.
“You can increase productivity, even on steep land. You don’t know by how much, until you do it.’’
Natural sequence farming means slowing the water down, and improving the soil.
When Peter Andrews set up Tarwyn Park Training in the Upper Hunter in 1974, the work he was doing ostensibly upset a lot of others in the valley.
His ideas on better use of water, of planting trees and cover crops, meant they thought it would decrease the amount of water available.
Yet putting water into the soil by simple means of weirs and contours, of putting plant matter back into it, he was able to show that instead of getting less they actually get more in the soil by slowing the run-off.
“We get more water yet our head says less. And we get it over a longer period of time.
“A creek after rain will run for a few days. What if I said it would run for a year? Would that make a difference?
“The thing is that’s the way this landscape used to be.
“This is not a Peter Andrews idea – it’s his ability to look at the landscape and understand how it functioned before it was changed.
“What changed it? People everywhere and over a long, long period of time.’’
Stuart and Megan Andrews bought their 107-hectare property at Kybong in 2015, and moved from the Upper Hunter at the end 2016.
Since then they have created a property that fits in with natural sequence farming. There are grass-fed and finished cattle, pasture-raised pigs and egg-laying chickens.
The changes in the property are marked from my first visit four years ago.
The family has had its challenges with drought conditions as well as floods. Yet they have survived and flourished … and improved the property no end.
“We have been changing the hydrology, increasing animal diversity, and undertaking better grazing management,’’ Hamish said.
“The number of paddocks have been increased but their size has decreased.’’
This to be more responsive to animal demands but also environmental conditions.
Internal fences are more moveable while the perimeter fencing is permanent.
More temporary fences have been installed where the cattle graze as they are on the creek flats a lot of of the time. Those areas are more susceptible to flooding and the fencing now designed to lay over rather than be washed away.
While the cattle are moved regularly for grazing, temporary fences are erected for the chickens as they are being continually rotated. They eat the grass, aerate the soil, and spread manure which helps with the biodiversity.
“We are building resilience into the landscape,’’ Stuart said, “because it has been flooded many, many times – and not just over the 230-odd years of European settlement.
“We have got it to a situation where it can be flooded for a short period of time and then it responds. The land needs plants with resilience to respond.
“It’s been a matter of learning from issues. We were already resilient.’’
To restore the land to its original structure and level of biodiversity needs everyone around the world to contribute, Stuart said.
“Some of best country is now deserts. With our knowledge it is a matter of how to work with it. We have better tools. We need to blend this knowledge with the landscape.’’
Loss of diversity through clearing of trees, bushfires and drought changes the eco-system. However, the selection of plants can do as much as a firebreak in containing or minimising bushfires.
The wrong plants – and this can include eucalypts – can create a landscape that must burn. Not can burn, but must burn.
“If you graze cattle in one place, you lose diversity,’’ Stuart said. “Yet if you move them around it works better.
“It’s the same with fire … we need to maintain diversity, otherwise we lose soil life and end up with erosion.
“The diversity is what is holding the structure in the soil.’’
What we don’t always see is the plant matter that is holding the soil together.
Lose it and the tiny soil particles dissolve in times of heavy rainfall and are carried away, Stuart said.
“You recognise it through the amount of dirty water. That’s your landscape dissolving in front of you.
“If fire has been used 40,000-50000 years, we need to recognise the type of plants we are dealing with.
“Do we continue or change? What do we need to do?
“The drier the landscape the hotter it gets. A landscape needs to be wetter and cooler. Pretty simple isn’t it.
“Build in more diversity so the soil does not wash away.’’
Holding more water in the landscape leads to better productivity. It’s about growing plants that are lasting longer and being more productive.
While the coastal regions get enough rain to survive by being an average manager, the inland areas are not as insulated and they need good management of the water so the landscape turns around.
“We are not building dams, but storing water in the ground,’’ Stuart said. “If it is in the ground, it can only leave by gravity or through the plants.’’
By adding structure to the soil the result is it can hold more water – a bale of hay can hold five-times the weight when wet and the moisture is then slowly released. That is what happens when plant matter including green cover is put back into the soil.
Then, during the farm walk, Stuart provided a practical example of natural sequence farming by creating a model of a weir and contours.
He carried this out along a pathway where water would normally run off quickly.
By using a hoe, he showed how to slow the water then allow it to spread out and soak into a far wider expanse of land.
It is a matter of reading the landscape and adapting it so the that it functions and production levels work effectively.
“There are two energy systems that run your farm … sunlight and gravity,’’ Stuart said. “Otherwise you end up with desert.
“Good grass is only part of the equation. Create biodiversity with more water and more green cover, but there is also carbon.
“Plants take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and put it into the soil.
“For photosynthesis to occur, plants need sun and water. Through the process they are releasing water into the atmosphere and cooling the climate.
“The more green plants, the cooler the landscape. There are things we can do … the more green surface area the better.
“As well as rain there is the dew … plants transpire and we get dew the next day.
“We don’t realise, we don’t understand how beneficial that can be.
“When grass is short it evaporates more. It’s cooler under a tree than in a shed.
“The tree – through evapotranspiration – traps cool air. When hot air rises, the cool air is brought in.’’
KICKING SOME MILESTONES
Gympie Beef Group event co-ordinator Warren McEwan was an early adaptor of regenerative and natural sequence farming at Goomboorian.
“We kicked some milestones and basically we did it hard,’’ Warren said, while cooking up the barbecue lunch.
“It’s about being open to new ideas.
“The numbers at these field days have been impressive. More and more are realising they have to change, they have to adapt … and that’s where a lot of it is coming from.
“It’s a good thing in a way. The Mary Valley region is changing. A lot more is happening in the area.
“Growing up, it was dairy, dairy, dairy and a bit of beef. Now, virtually all of the dairy properties have gone.’’
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Formed in 1982, the Gympie District Beef Liaison Group is one of the largest and longest serving independent beef industry groups in Queensland.
It has a diverse membership of about 300 family and business members, drawn largely from the broader Gympie region, which encompasses the Wide Bay, South Burnett, Sunshine Coast and Brisbane Valley Districts.
The group’s mission is to organise extension and training activities for the benefit of beef producers and the beef industry in the Gympie and surrounding districts of South East Queensland.
President Jim Viner said it was a fantastic response to the Kybong field day with a big number attending who were not already members.
The day attracted peer-to-peer group funding to organise further training, so that other members will learn from 10 who were to be selected to attend a series of workshops.
Those 10 will then hold field days to see how they are implementing what they have learned – what they are implementing, what they are proud of, lessons on what could have been done better, and what they recommend.
Everyone is expected to learn something from the program that is designed to show some level of improvement in their property or farming methods through an increase in biodiversity, moisture profile, ground cover or soil health.
CONCLUSION
The fact that an industry group such as this has invested time and resource into educating its members is refreshing, but also makes sense in terms of sharing knowledge within that network of members.
I’m sure everyone came away much the richer for attending the field day.
Until now I thought salt would rise in the soil, but it moves sideways according to gravity. And there are ways of overcoming it.
It was encouraging to see such a good attendance at the field day, and the level of interest from different geographic areas, and those growing or farming different species.
Farmers are interested in different ways of thinking, and this reflects changes of attitude in the community.
There were participants from as far afield as Dalby and Eidsvold, who have to deal with a drier, harsher landscape than those in the Mary Valley and surrounds.
The recent Wide Bay-Burnett Regional seminar at Gayndah attracted 300-plus, and more than 200 at Maryborough.
These events show it is more than getting productivity out of the soil. A changing dynamic in the weather is adding to the realisation of having to do things differently.
The recent flooding in the South Burnett shows how easy it is to lose topsoil. Yet those who are managing their properties well, are trapping the soil and nutrients.
It’s a matter of using good seasons to prepare for the next flood, the next drought. That’s what good farming is about.
