Knowing what you’re looking at in the paddock, when to use animals to graze the landscape and when to let it recover, are all crucial to keeping your farm and your livestock profitable, healthy and sustainable.
Sam White from Sidonia Beef has been implementing regenerative grazing on his Sidonia property since 2016 and hasn’t looked back.
“This isn’t another fad, regenerative grazing management is here to stay and is, in my opinion, the only way to increase biodiversity and health on your farm,” he said.
It was a cold and wet November day last Friday for the inaugural Healthy Landscapes for Healthy Livestock course.
The course forms part of the Healthy Landscapes – Practical Regenerative Agricultural Communities program, which aims to raise awareness about sustainable land management practices that improve soil health, reduce exposure to climate risk, enhance biodiversity and increase productivity. The 2020 Healthy Landscapes program has recently been announced as a finalist in the Premier’s Sustainability Awards.
Sam and Jason McAinch, private land conservation officer for Macedon Ranges Shire Council, are presenting the course over the next six months.
There was overwhelming interest from land owners to join the course with 28 businesses attending session one. The group was very eager to learn hands on what grass species were growing in Sam’s paddock and observe the cattle doing what they do best – converting grass into healthy protein and all the while feeding the soil microbes from hoof pressure on standing material and manure.
“It was such a great day and participants have learnt a lot about grasses – how they grow, when to graze them and when to let them recover,” Sam said.
“Our cattle are moved every one to three days, mimicking the large grazing herds of the African plains, not returning to that same patch of land for some months.”
The regenerative movement is growing at a rapid pace around Australia and indeed the world.
The course was strongly oversubscribed and has resulted in a small property course being designed to begin in February for residents of Macedon Ranges Shire, City of Greater Bendigo and Hepburn Shire. Visit www.mrsc.vic.gov.au/healthylandscapes to register your interest.
