Farm Business and Biodiversity
| Managing grazing properties to improve native vegetation can also help produce more wool and meat. Research on case study farms throughout Central and Northern Victoria has shown grazing properties can be both more profitable and have better biodiversity. More than half of Victorian woolgrowers have native vegetation on their land, and many of them already manage it well. Most is in the form of native bush, isolated paddock trees and native grasses in pastures. Evidence shows that 15 of the 17 farms studied in two recent research projects will be able to increase profitability if they adopt at least one of the practical changes to farm management as described below. On this page: Also see our research papers and reports and Dog Collars Take the Lead, a novel way of getting the messages to woolgrowers. |  |  “The farm has to be sustainable in every sense of the word... hopefully if the next generation wants to keep farming, it is available as a truly sustainable enterprise.” Mathew Allen – Byawatha/Springhurst woolgrower |
Practical ideas for farm management
Simple recommendations for improving both biodiversity and farm profits by fine-tuning property management have been developed, based on scientific and economic research. These are outlined in Dog Collars Take the Lead and three Extension Notes published by Land and Water Australia:
Extension Note 1: Farm Businesses, wool production and biodiversity (PDF - 779 KB) Extension Note 2: How can managing hill country be more profitable? (PDF - 1.0 MB) Extension Note 3: Using natural regeneration to establish shelter on wool properties (PDF - 1,011 KB)- Deferred grazing of hill country over summer months (see Extension Note 2)
Deferred grazing involves the spelling of steep hills during summer months, which will improve diversity of perennial native pastures and ground cover over time. It offers potential to improve under-story biodiversity in particular. Improved pasture utilisation year-round is expected to increase stocking rates by a conservative 25% - 50% within 3 years on hill country currently carrying less than 8 DSE/ha. It requires land-class fencing and watering points in each paddock. More ground cover, especially in summer months, should help reduce salinity and erosion and improve water quality.
- Intensive rotational grazing of productive paddocks and targeted vegetation management (see Extension Note 2)
Grazing the most productive paddocks with large numbers of sheep or cattle for short times, with long rest periods in between, is expected to increase stocking rates over the whole farm. This will offset the cost of improving management of native vegetation on more ‘marginal’ areas of the farm, i.e. those with low stocking rate or unstocked. On native pastures, rotational grazing is expected to also increase the cover of perennial species, which can help reduce salinity and erosion and improve water quality.
- Targeting soil nutrient deficiencies and vegetation management (see Extension Note 2)
Targeted fertiliser application and targeted vegetation management can go hand in hand. Fertiliser on the most productive paddocks can improve stocking rates and farm profitability, and thus offset the cost of enhancing native biodiversity on other parts of the property, such as reducing stocking rates on creek-lines, remnant bush, and hill tops. Targeting is important. Fertiliser, in particular phosphorous, has been shown to harm native vegetation. It is therefore critical to carefully select which paddocks to fertilise. Those with native vegetation should not be fertilised. In addition, care needs to be taken with fertiliser application, especially in paddocks next to waterways and areas with good native vegetation.
- Establishing stock shelter through natural regeneration (see Extension Note 3)
Using natural regeneration to increase the cover of trees and shrubs across the landscape has great potential. It is a realistic alternative to planting and direct seeding. There are wide-ranging benefits for biodiversity, as well as for natural resource management. The shelter benefits from natural regeneration are expected to reduce lamb mortality and off-shears mortality of adult sheep. When shelter is provided, sheep also require less pasture to maintain body heat in cold conditions.
The research has identified and tested new pathways for productive farms. Results of field surveys show that the traditional approach to agricultural intensification has adversely affected native biodiversity. However the findings present opportunities for planning landscape restoration.
The published papers and reports from the project expand on these implications.
The recent Green Graze pilot project trialled a tender system to help fund graziers to adopt some of the findings of this research. The findings of this pilot project will help shape the direction of similar tender schemes for graziers in the future. It was funded by the Federal Department of Agriculture Fisheries & Forestry. See the Green Graze pilot report for more information.
Research projects
| The two Victorian-based projects that highlighted these strategies were “Farm business, wool production and biodiversity” (DAV 39) and “Managing landscapes to meet public biodiversity and farm business goals” (DAV 40). Both projects included detailed financial, vegetation and agronomic assessments as a key part of their data collection and analysis. “These projects have to fit in with the farmer’s personal, productivity and profit goals. First and foremost, the research has to consider maintaining a commercial enterprise that meets the needs of the family and the next generation of farmers..." Jim Moll, Project Leader for both projects. | |  |
 | | The research was undertaken on seventeen case study farms throughout Victoria, including in the Springhurst, Upper Goulburn, Mid Goulburn, Ararat Hills and Maryborough/Lexton districts. The study areas were foothill country consisting of hills, low hills and some flat country. The soil types are generally fragile or light and the substantial land clearing in the past has contributed to some large areas of soil erosion and low productivity. Native pastures and vegetation occur in much of this hill country. |
One project (DAV39) was funded by Land, Water & Wool, which is a joint investment between Australian Wool Innovation Limited, the wool industry's peak research and development body, and Land & Water Australia. The Native Vegetation and Biodiversity sub-program of Land, Water & Wool consisted of five major regional projects across eastern Australia bringing woolgrowers and researchers together.
The other project (DAV40) was funded by Land & Water Australia and the Murray Darling Basin Commission under the native vegetation program.
See also: Research papers and reports
Please note: Document(s) on this page are presented in PDF format. If you do not have the Adobe Reader, you can download a copy free from the Adobe website.