25/03/2009 11:26:00 AM
Three Wellington landholders will showcase their properties and share ideas during a bus tour hosted by the Central West Catchment Management Authority (CWCMA) tomorrow.

Tim Woods 'Mount Nanima', Angus Morris 'Gillinghall' and Sue Rahilly 'Alma' were all participants of the CWCMA Farming Systems Program which aimed to develop innovative solutions to land management issues, in particular salinity.

The participants achieved this through training, required readings, discussions and gathering new information.

The participating landholders were required to develop natural resource plans for their properties to encompass all the themes of the CWCMAs Catchment Action Plan - a long-term plan for natural resources in the Central West catchment.
Grazier, Tim Woods has seen a dramatic increase in the level of native grasses on the slopes on his property following the introduction of a permaculture farming system three years ago.

Mr Woods said permaculture was introduced as a topic in the Central West CMA Farming Systems program.

"I wanted to change but really had nowhere to go and I didn't know what was achievable," he said.

"I had been looking at things in isolation and individually rather than the whole farm itself."

Mr Woods has now adopted the principles surrounding permaculture.
"They are pretty basic, with everyone thinking about it as the vegetable garden or the chock tractor, but I really grasped it as one of the tools for change."
Mr Woods has developed a system to capture as much water runoff as he can on his property, holding it in the soils on the farm to promote growth over long periods of drought.

A solution to growing lower cost winter cereal crops under climate change, has been embraced by the Maurice family, leading to much lower risk in drier years.
Angus Maurice has a mixed farming system, producing stock and traded livestock.
"We had already switched to a time-controlled grazing system and we were examining pasture cropping and no kill cropping when I did the farming systems program conducted by the CWCMA," he said.
"We were in the process of shifting away from no-till cropping to more innovative cropping systems."

The Maurice's farming operation has now moved to a no kill cropping system, whereby no herbicides are applied to the grasses before a cereal crop is planted.
This has seen a significant reduction on the impact to the environment, creating a much lower cost cropping system.
"We're 100 per cent no kill and pasture cropping and still doing the same time control grazing.
"We just have a fair bit more flexibility in the system now because we have successfully been able to recruit perennial grasses with the cropping system just going straight on top of them.
"That means we can swing between grazing and cropping each year, depending upon what the situation is.

"We just make a judgement call on season and grain prices and that sort of thing to decide what we are going to do in each paddock in each year," he said.
Meanwhile, turning back the clock to a more natural grazing system where cattle will be shepherded, is the intended focus of landholders Sue and Patrick Rahilly.

The Rahillys run a time-controlled grazing system with higher stock density beef enterprise where resting paddocks is the most important factor.
"There is a worldwide movement to shepherd stock, rather than fence them and I am hoping to do more of this in the future," Mrs Rahilly said.

"From readings about quantum, systems and chaos theory, I plan less now, being more reliant on observations and willingness to respond quickly, rather than be tied to a "plan"."

"I am intending to make the cattle the biological controls of Barnaby Thistle.
"Knowledge passed down the generations of stock is significant and applies to other behaviours as well as what plants to graze. The pastures are staying as robust as ever. I am also getting to know the stock, which is a great benefit."
Mrs Rahilly's attitude to managing the land has also changed.

"I monitor the land every time I go out to move cattle, and I respond as quickly as I can by removing or adding stock.

"My philosophy to fit into nature actually reduces input costs and increases profit."
A dinner will be held on Thursday night as a forum for like-minded landholders to discuss issues and be inspired by guest speaker Patrice Newell.
Patrice manages a large certified bio-dynamic farm in the Upper Hunter Valley near Scone and is the author of three books, The Olive Grove, The River and Ten Thousand Acres - A Love Story.
Each is a passionate dialogue of her fight for sustainable agriculture and environmental responsibility. Her central belief as a farmer is summed up in the words: "the land must define its use".
Patrice will speak about learning from past mistakes and how our 21st Century farmers can be proud of their adaptability and commitment.