Project Sites
ACTION ON THE GROUND
We are very pleased to have the following farms and farmers involved in the Action on the Ground Project and the adaptive management strategies using Landscape Function Analysis (LFA) to monitor progress.
WINONA
Colin Seis and Nick Seis
Winona, located in the Central Tablelands of NSW is a leading breeder of Fine and Medium Wool Merino Sheep and Australian Kelpie Dogs and produces and supplies native grass seeds.
Colin Seis is well known for his involvement with Daryl Cluff in the development and fine-tuning of Pasture Cropping which is a practice that seeks to improve the production of good quality pasture (including native perennial grasses) and grains at low cost and risk.
Winona is managed for high levels of ecological function and research done by scientists on Winona has found that it has very high levels of biodiversity and healthy soil including high soil organic Carbon levels.
Colin and Nick have kindly provided a Treatment site on Winona to run the trial and control areas and look forward to working with the team to trial and demonstrate the AotG practices.
BULBUDGEREE (MUMBLEBONE)
George & Kerry, Chad & Louise Taylor and family
This AotG site is on Bulbudgeree which is part of the Mumblebone Merino Stud. Mumblebone is a family operation situated in the Central West of NSW near Wellington and offers early maturing, heavy cutting SRS(r) merinos. The Taylor family have a keen passion and skill in managing their grazing so they have highly diverse, mainly native pastures on all the soil types on their properties. This gives them pastures that have adapted best to subtle soil and seasonal variations to provide them with highly nutritious combinations of feed, year round.
It will be interesting to see the effects of the specific treatment proposed for the AotG project over and above the existing very good grazing management.
BONVIEW
Angus & Lucy Maurice
Bonview (part of Gillinghall) is located near Wellington in Central West NSW. The property has been farmed by the family since 1932 and current runs sheep and cattle and produces high quality grains. The Maurice family prefer practices that build soil health and plant biodiversity with a particular interest in increasing the quality and diversity of the native pastures. They utilise grazing management practice and apply techniques such as Pasture Cropping, No-kill Cropping and Keyline cultivation.
In addition to being a Project Site for the Stipa AotG project, Angus is also managing another AotG project that is helping to understand the advantages of Pasture Cropping and No-kill Cropping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in cropping.
VIEWBANK
Doug James and family
Viewbank is located in Central Victoria, West of Wangaratta and the James family have been farming and grazing on Viewbank for five generations. They prefer cropping and grazing management systems that work with nature rather than battling against it and have recently adopted Pasture Cropping and grazing management as the main strategies to improve the quality and reliability of production on Viewbank.
The treatment site on Viewbank will provide a really good idea of the affect of the practices on landscape function and soil Carbon storage in this region and on these soil types.
HAWK HILL
Russell Ellis and family
Hawk Hill is located in Central Victoria, West of Wangaratta and produces prime lamb and crops. Over the last several years, Russell has been using Pasture Cropping to increase the diversity and quality of the pastures and reduce the risk of crop production. Pasture Cropping has given them the flexibility that means they can grow a crop if the season is good or have winter feed in years of lower rainfall.
Participation in the Stipa AotG will provide an opportunity for intensive grazing treatment can be used in combination with Pasture Cropping to rapidly increase landscape function and Soil Carbon storage.
WILLMOND PARK
Craig & Ros Bulloch
Willmond Park is located between Bungendore and Braidwood in the Southern Tablelands. It produces and trades cattle, sheep and goats and works closely with Milton Quality Meats to provide local producers and consumers with a ‘paddock to plate’ service.
Craig and Ros have only been working Willmond Park for four years and are applying their energy and passion in improving the health of the land and have started this process with some strategic tree-planting and use of mulching in the paddocks.
Participation in the AotG project provides a terrific opportunity to show how the treatment protocol will change the landscape function and soil properties in this area and soil type. This ‘scale model’ of the use of intensive grazing management will help the Bullochs to understand the effect of this sort of management and how to adapt it to the broader landscape scale on Willmond Park.
TELOWAR
Tim & Sam Raynolds
Telowar is located in Araluen (near Braidwood) on the Southern Tablelands of NSW. Tim & Sam Raynolds have been using Holistic Management grazing practices on Telowar for several years now.
They breed and sell cattle to the local market and are passionate about working more closely with the natural functions of grasslands and are a highly motivated team for the Stipa AoTg Project.
The treatment area on Telowar already shows good native perennial grasses and it will be interesting to watch it develop further through the life of the project.
WATTLE PARK
Gerard & Sue Deery
Gerard & Sue Deery are sheep producers in the South East of Victoria and Wattle Park is located South West of Bairnsdale , near 90 Mile beach. Gerard and Sue are active Landcare participants and have been actively trying to improve the management of their pasture to increase the quality and diversity of them.
The project site on Wattlepark and Gracemere close by will be very important to show the effect of the animal impact and recovery cycle in this climate and location.
COROONA
Richard Stevenson and family
Richard and his family have been managing Coroona, next door to Graeme Hand’s property Inverary since 1978. Coroona runs 50/50 Merino and Merino-Coopworth ewes. Marino whethers are retained until 5yo. To diversify incomes, Coroona has produced canola, red wheat and oats when wool and sheep prices were low.
Richard is supporting this project because he suspects that the present reliance on fertilisers and sprays is not sustainable and may also be reducing farm profits. He sees the trial, demonstration and development of techniques that improve the function of grasslands for livestock and profitability of grazing enterprises as well as store Carbon in soils as in everyone’s interests. This project gives Richard an opportunity to learn more about these systems so that he can adapt them to the rest of Coroona in the future.
INVERARY
Graeme & Susie Hand
Inverary is a small ‘research’ farm that Graeme and his family use to produce grass-fed beef from a self-replacing herd and to run living experiments on Planned Grazing and regenerative management practices and philosophies to build soil and quality of life.
Graeme is well known to Stipa members as the CEO of Stipa and to his clients and fans as a Holistic Management Educator.
The site that Graeme has chosen for the AotG project is an area that is adjacent to the recently closed Timbercorp Blue Gum MIS scheme and is in a poor condition having been a favourite place for kangaroos to camp. Graeme’s participation as project site (Project Site A) along with the others is a great motivator for all the other project sites to try to stay ahead of Inverary as this site changes with management.
MULLOON CREEK NATURAL FARMS
Tony Coote
Mulloon Creek Natural Farms (MCNF) is a biodynamic producer of beef and Organic free range Eggs. It is located on the Great Dividing Range between Bungendore and Braidwood.
MCNF is best known for it’s demonstration of the Peter Andrews Natural Sequence Farming techniques that have been implemented and are being monitored by ANU to show the capability to rehydrate the land.
GILGAI FARMS
Eric & Wendy Harvey and son Luke
Gilgai Farms produces high quality Grass Fed Beef and Sheep Meats. They have a passion in achieving a balance in the Triple Bottom Line of ecology, finances and people.
They manage their grazing and other practices to encourage high diversity of perennial grasses, trees and shrubs. In addition to the livestock, Gilgai Farms are currently home to more than 180 native grass, forbs and shrub species.
Due to the excellent management, it was very hard to find an appropriately poor site for the AotG Treatment area to be able to demonstrate increase in soil Carbon, but Eric and Luke have kindly provided an area that they think is the poorest performing spot and are actively involved in managing the area as part of the project.
