Achieving sustainability and profitability through improved soil structure, water infiltration, plant and animal health is the goal of southern NSW livestock producers Joe and Susanne Weir. The couple use a blend of biological and regenerative farming to achieve reduced water logging and increased stocking rates on reduced inputs of fertiliser, fungicide and insecticides.

They trialled TM Agricultural, a liquid formulation biostimulant produced by Best Farming Systems, on waterlogged and compacted paddocks with beneficial results and now uses the product across most of the farm. Joe and Susanne farm the 413ha property “Bimbella” at Finley, running 350 crossbred cows joined to Hereford bulls, and Merino and first-cross ewes joined to Merino and Suffolk rams turning off lambs at 22kg carcase weight.

Trade cattle are backgrounded on pasture, finished on grain-based pellets for 60 days in an on-farm opportunity feedlot, and value added at 420kg liveweight with 10mm of fat through a retail butchery in Deniliquin or over the hooks.

Set in a 425mm rainfall zone, the property consists of sandy and clay loam soils of a neutral pH and is 70 per cent lasered for flood irrigation.

The couple had relocated to Finley in 2005 from a high rainfall beef operation at Lismore in northern NSW.

Their general security allocation went from almost 100 per cent in 2005 to 3 per cent and bottomed at zero per cent over the following years.

“We came down here overwhelmed by the drought and shrinking allocation, had the whole farm surveyed and set up for irrigation but had to learn to farm without irrigation,” Susanne said.

“It was a crazy time as everything I planned to do, I had to rehash and ended up trading stock, buying yearling steers for $300-$400 in the drought affected market,” Joe added.

The steers were finished on a failed wheat crop and sold for a solid profit to Cargill Australia, Tamworth, solidifying Joe’s thoughts around the enterprise mix.

“We quickly found out we were better off doing what we knew rather than cropping,” he said.

Once the water allocations returned, Joe resowed paddocks to lucerne and began experimenting with his own multi-species pasture blends and organic fertilisers.

“I do a shotgun mix of paspalum, oats or Moby grazing barley (100kg/ha), forage brassica (0.5kg/ha), Aurora lucerne (1kg/ha) and clover (Balansa, white or strawberry clover),” Joe said.

“The brassica and lucerne gives us good feed on the back of summer storms. I have also tried chicory and rape seed in the mix.”

The blend is direct drilled on a 15cm row spacing at a depth of 2.5cm, followed by a foliar application at 250ml/ha of TM Agricultural.

The 28ha multi-species pasture was grazed over three months in spring/summer by 350 crossbred weaner lambs averaging 25kg to an average exit weight of 48kg along with 60 trade cattle for six weeks.

He does a light spot spray pre-sowing with Roundup for burrs and Horehound.

In the early years, one of the first tasks on Bimbella was to soil test the paddocks, revealing large amounts of phosphorus locked up and trace element deficiencies.

“There were water logging and compaction issues with a hard pan – I tried deep ripping and got a small response, but the problems returned within three years,” Joe said.

The Weirs fertilised the paddocks heavily with pig and chicken litter.

A mixture of straw and cow manure from the Bimbella on-farm opportunity feedlot is spread every second year around selected paddocks.

Joe was encouraged by a dairy farming neighbour to try TM Agricultural two years ago.

“I plant dry, water up the paddock then apply the TM at 250ml/ha via a tray-mounted boom spray.

“I used three applications of TM on the worst paddock for waterlogging – after the first application the irrigation water soaked through like a sponge in six hours when it would normally lay on top for three weeks.

“It has made a huge difference – the way the paddock hangs on now is chalk and cheese.

“Last year I applied the TM once in winter to 70 per cent of the farm and noticed a big positive change in two paddocks in particular.”

He will follow up with a second application in autumn in conjunction with fish emulsion and a compost tea made from cow manure.

Joe has observed a change in soil biology with plenty of earthworm activity and increased friability, porosity, root depth and plant biomass.

He no longer uses insecticides on the lucerne and clover, or fungicides on the cereals.

Joe aims for a year-round ground cover to prevent soil and wind erosion, which in turn has minimized pink eye problems in the livestock.

“My philosophy is to have the farm healthy and efficient while maximising production at a lower cost.

“The improved animal health results in a decreased workload, improved profitability and improved weight gains, adding to the bottom line.”

Media Release By
Kim Woods | Director
Outcross Media | www.ogacreative.com.au
540 Young Street, Albury NSW 2640
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