32 The News from Dandaragan

A lamb suns itself at The Mount, the Smiths’ farm in Dandaragan, Western Australia

We visit The Mount in Dandaragan, a farm that is trialling regenerative farming practises. We see what some applied earthworks following Peter Andrews’ brilliant hydro-logical thinking can do to sort out a long running erosion problem. At the same time we investigate the Smith family’s strategies to keep themselves and their sheep and the land in good shape.

Thanks are owed to the far-sighted Shire of Dandaragan, who have been sponsored this podcast as part of a grant initiated to trial whole-of-landscape farming practises in their area.

THE MOUNT AT DANDARAGAN

In the late 1970s a fire started on a Dandaragan farm when a farmer made an unwise decision to run his harvester on a hot December day as an extreme nor’easter was blowing. The fire leapt the fence and the Smith family had to make a quick decision to back burn Mt Misery, a major landmark on their property, to limit the damage to their farm.

As soon as the fire passed, the Smiths assessed the damage. They saw the danger inherent in heavy rain falling onto barren, fire-scarred slopes. With no impediment to rain tearing down the hill there was the potential for water to gouge gullies through the surrounding paddocks. They sought advice from the local Department of Agriculture and instituted the solution which was to create long lines of parallel contoured banks about 200 metres apart to slow the flow of water running off the mount’s slopes.   

The thinking was fine, but the banks were not high enough to stop unseasonably heavy rain and, sure enough, soon after, a big rain event hit that breached the banks and created gullies that have been eroding ever since.

HISTORY OF SHIRE SOIL

The Dandaragan Shire runs from the coast around Jurien Bay to inland just short of Moora and has had an agricultural history that is as patchy as its soil types. Kingsley and Christine Smith filled me in on the local conditions: they explained their farm is land that was initially taken up as grazing country.

Christine said: We like to say there is sandplain country, or plain-sand country, which is what you get closer to the coast (farmer humour).

FATAL GRAZING

As grazing country, the sandplain zones have their problems. A couple of the local plants cause death if ingested by non-native grazers. A small prickly box and Champion Bay Poison, (Gastrolobium oxylobioides) a pea flower that contains the acid that is a key component of 1080 created huge problems for settlers trying to build sheep flocks in the early years of white occupation. Today any movement of stock along roadsides or uncleared land has to be monitored for danger to the herd.

The Shire also boast areas of highly desirable red loam country. These acres were swiftly taken up in the early days of the colony as people spread northwards from the Swan and Avon valleys. In the 1950s, when new understanding about trace elements emerged, people started seeing potential for the sandplain country as cropping land. The sandplains, it was discovered, was deficient in three crucial trace elements: zinc, molybdenum and copper. Once this was known, a whole new generation of farmers started to radiate out from the wheatbelt to try their hands at cropping..

HISTORICAL EYES

One of these young men was Charles Williams. Kingsley and Christina got an insight into their farm’s ecological history when Charles visited last year. He was the man who sold the farm to Kingsley’s parents in 1973. Now in his 80’s, he was drawn back to the district for the 50th reunion of the Footy Club and was delighted that Kingsley invited him for a look around.

Charles toured the property and was able to confirm that in his time, from 1950-1970 when the land was first cleared of its natural cover there was no visible cap rock. During the course of the day the Smith’s received first-hand confirmation of what they already knew - that over the decades their farming practises had helped to strip fertility from the land.

Christine said that for some years they grew subterranean clover for seed. It was a profitable enterprise financially, but they are now aware of the ecological costs to the land of a cropping and grazing system that bared the land over summer and left burrs in the ground to be dug up by sheep (further exposing the soil). The whole was exacerbated by set-stocking – practises encouraged by the Ag standards of the time.

Charles’ gentle observations about a more productive landscape have given power to the Smith’s desire to capture carbon and restore fertility.

BACKGROUND TO CHANGE

It is often the women on the farm who find the space and curiosity to search out new ways of doing things and Christine has long been interested in the more nature-based farming methods.

As a biological approach to soil started to gain momentum with growers across WA, she helped set up a group called Soil Restoration Farming. Their aim was to share information about the new science of biological farming through grass roots networks in workshops and forums across the wheatbelt. This group eventually evolved into RegenWA that operates as an information hub within Perth NRM (Natural Resource Management).

CHANGE ON THE FARM

At the family farm, The Mount, Christine has been doing what she can to apply this new learning with help from Kingsley and Wade, their son. As a family they have struggled to work out a way to run the farm that best suits all of their interests and abilities.  Progress has been complicated by the fact that Kingsley and Christine are theoretically, nearing retirement age, and there are long-running differences and tensions that need to be delicately handled to negotiate a process that will allow the farm and all who sail on her to thrive.

The road to regeneration can be fast in a biological sense, but human behaviour often ensures a longer and bumpier ride. Part of what drives Christine is her sense, her hope, that as the land heals, a similar healing can happen within her family.

ZACK AND SELF-HEALING NATURAL SYSTEMS

I think we need a dose of Dr Zach Bush here! He is big on the capacity for humans and the earth to self-heal. Zach made the leap from human to caring for soil health and working with farmers when he realised you couldn’t have one without the other.

Intense study of the microbiome as it functions in people and the earth – in whole systems and in the laboratory - has convinced Zach that when humans cease damaging themselves and their environment it is possible to see healing happen faster than injury.

Zach calls this ‘GRACE at the Cellular Level’ – and who are we to argue with a doctor who has such a handle on the deep mysteries of life?

DANDARAGAN SHIRE GRANT

Christine’s networking skills and determined perseverance have seen her garner some support within her community.  The Smiths were quick to respond to the opportunity offered by the Dandaragan Shire when they invited submissions from landowners willing to trial whole-of-landscape management practises.

The Smiths secured $10,000 from this grant to fund a demonstration of Peter Andrew’s catchment rehydration approach. They hired a team led by landscape consultancy company Tierra Australia in partnership with Rod O’Bree of Yanget Farm.

Rod and Tim agreed to undertake analyse of the catchment functions on the Smiths’ farm and design the placement of earthworks in the landscape to better manage the flow of the rainfall. Ground works to be followed up by the planting of perennial pastures, native fodder shrubs and other vegetation which will benefit from the additional moisture supply.

The grant covers field days geared towards introducing interested farmers to  concepts involved in fixing landscape water function.

THE BIGGER STORY

Tim and Rod are also conducting a Catchment Function Analysis of the whole Minyulo catchment. This analysis could potentially form the basis of a whole catchment rehydration plan, with The Mount as the test farm.  Tierra Australia is exploring new business models where whole landscapes can be restored using income from carbon and natural capital credits.

THE METHOD

The Peter Andrews system is based on holding rainfall for longer, higher in the landscape; spreading water from creeks back on to the slopes and restoring a ‘chain of ponds’ along the valley floors.  Peter’s work is ­­­widely known through his four episodes on ABC’s Australian Stories and his books Back from the Brink and Beyond the Brink. 

YANGET FARM

Rod O’Bree has been using Peter’s approach for ten years on his farm Yanget , 28 kms east of Geraldton.  Yanget Farm covers what historically used to be some of the most desirable grazing/cropping land near Geraldton. By the time Rod got there in 2009, the grandeur was somewhat faded, its rolling hills were bare , the creeks were gouged and eroded and crops were the result of intense applications of chemical weedkillers, pesticides and fertilisers. 

Yanget is a local Aboriginal word for bulrushes – the tubers were a major food source of autumn carbohydrates and although they were gone - the memory of ecologically rich waterways could still be traced in the gently undulating landscape.

Soon after taking on the Farm, Rod watched a big rain event sweep sediment off his land and charge down eroded creek beds heading for Champion Bay. A day later none of the water remained on his farm. This was a turning point for Rod and his family – they decided to move away from the conventional farming system. A chance meeting, brought on by a shared love of horses, bought Peter into his orbit.

A CATCHMENT RE-HYDRATION PROJECT IS BORN

Tim Wiley, an agronomist of 25 years standing in the West Midlands came to a field day conducted by Peter at Yanget in the early days and became convinced these techniques could restore ecosystem functions across all landscapes. Tim in turn introduced Rod to Peter Burgess, director of Tierra Australia Pty Ltd , an agricultural consultancy, and a new force was let loose in the world of agriculture.

Yanget 2009 Before Peter Andrews ideas took hold

Yanget, taken from the same place at the same time of year, 10 years later, 2019

THE MAGIC OF HOLISM

There is a magic that happens when farmers start working with whole systems – a point where the whole becomes way more than the sum of the parts and over the years Rod’s land has responded to the retention of water in the land.

The yangets have returned and there has been exponential regrowth as the soil rebuilds itself.

Yangets, the bulrushes, on Yanget Farm Sept 2019

Nature is cycling through sequences of plants/ from tough, prickly pioneer shrubs and weeds/ to annuals and sweet grasses, until finally Rod is seeing native perennials, once the glory and salvation of this land in the dry seasons, returning.

THE INDIGENOUS FACTOR

Tim and Rod are keen to bring young, local Indigenous people on board and are working with the Batavia Coast Maritime Institute at the Geraldton TAFE to set up training course.

As I record this story in late June, the first group has started working towards their Cert 2 in Conservation and Land Management, with hands-on training at Yanget under elder, Clint Hansen.

FIRST PRINCIPLES

The first principle in the whole-of-landscape approach is to slow the movement of water across the land by putting in interventions at key points.  Understanding where to place these interventions is key – but with trial and error, Rod got a handle on the interplay of water and earth and quickly started seeing results from fairly inexpensive methods. By mimicking nature’s own processes, not being afraid to fail and being prepared to fine-tune as changes occurred, Rod started to learn how to read water as it co-creates, land. As the seasons rolled by, he kept grazing animals on the job to help with the regenerative process and to ensure Yanget had an income while the land began to heal.

Now, 10 years on at Yanget, with every rain event, the pools last longer, and the small amount of water that leaves the property, is clean, a gift to the fishing industry. Rod has taken Peter Andrew’s principals and made them his own and is keen to share and expand his knowledge with other farmers.

CONNECTING WITH CITIZENS

Rod also runs an independent food distributing business in WA and is developing supply chains where local foods are sold into local butchers’ shops, restaurants, hotels and independent supermarkets.  He is supplying meat from his own and other local farms to outlets in Geraldton and will be working with Tierra Australia to develop supply chains for food that is accredited as carbon neutral with positive environmental impacts. 

Erosion at The Mount, Dandaragan Jan 2020

THE EARTHWORKS

On January 21, 2020 Mount Misery was clothed again in its natural greens -  low, prickly health - and Rod and Tim with two young trainees, arrived at the farm to start constructing the ground works. 

Previous to this, Tim had spent time pouring over satellite images of the space to work out the lay of the land and get an idea of how to site the earthworks, in the context of the farm and the broader context of the Irwin catchment.

Wade had been spending time in the shed prepping the front loader to be hauled into service to create the earthworks, and was ready to go.

Early autumn - paddock below Mt Misery, a few modest ‘leaky weirs’

Tim and Rod brought a laser level with them and worked as a team across the paddock, directing Wade on his machine to create the depressions in the earth and shape the mounds, checking levels to get maximum effect from water movement.

Early Autumn, big earth works below Mt Misery

In some of the eroded spots it was decided that vegetation debris or rocks would be enough to shore up a bank or create a ‘leaky weir’ and the young men did the work.

January 2020 Rod explains ‘leaky weirs’ to Dwayne and Clinton

More earth works…

It took two days to complete the placing of earth interventions as they moved from the base of Mount Misery following a major eroded area zig-zagging down through the paddock. Throughout these two days some of the local farmers and Shire members dropped in to inspect the work and have a chat with the team.

Erosion and a few interventions, June 2020

FIVE MONTHS LATER

It hasn’t been a great season so far, but the Smiths have been delighted to watch plants germinate in response to miserly rainfalls in patches that have for years been the domain of shifting sand. The worst weeds come first. In this case, Capeweed is the one of the most common and annoying of paddock weeds ( Capeweed is a prostrate, stemless, sprawling annual herb that germinates during autumn and winter. It has hairless, club-shaped cotyledons and a few annual introduced grasses.) Worst in one sense, -but the best in an ecological sense as the despised weed is always the fastest and cheapest way to assist building soil where interventions in the land have allowed water to remain.

THE WEED SUPERPOWER

The weeds’ superpower: to be pioneers in poor soils, to grow fast, set seed fast, and die fast is not generally acknowledged in conventional farming circles. Many people interested in Peter Andrew’s work have been bought up short in the face of his enthusiasm for weeds as nature’s healing response.

Capeweed growing in the trapped moisture

In their favour, weeds do create the conditions for their own displacement. More plant cover means more carbon captured through photosynthesis and more debris and water is trapped, which means more soil building and more seeds germinating.

Helping out with the fertility June 2020

As fertility grows, conditions change and different seeds are encouraged to germinate. Each plant adds its own particular footprint in terms of microbial action and gradually the underground fauna starts to build. These ag lands often still hold seed biodiversity – it will be interesting to see what emerges as the seasons roll on.

The Smiths will value-add the process, by spraying a bit of microbial juice around and even adding seed - mixture of grasses, annual herbs, forbes, legumes, perenials etc and then let the biodiversity work itself out.

Just add rain.

SMITHS FAMILY GRAZING CHART

In the last podcast Relaxing with Sheep, I extolled the virtues that attend a well-considered Grazing Chart – one of the tools of holistic management. The Smiths have fallen under the influence of someone well versed in these and other tools and are finding new ease and pleasure in their work.

So I asked Christine: what are you doing that’s different?

CHRISTINA’s words: ‘In the past we have followed 'set stocking' where you leave a mob of sheep in the same paddock for an extended period. Only shifting when the feed becomes really short. Kingsley will often say, we have to eat the paddock down. Meaning, not let weeds get away. But by keeping feed short, it also keeps the root system of the plant short which leads to compaction and often baring of the ground.

We have engaged someone to advise us on rotational grazing methods and to help end the conflict between myself and Kingsley.

One, we are learning how to use a grazing chart. Which is understanding the feed capacity of each paddock, how long to leave the mob in a paddock by using visual and measuring means. Recording the rainfall and having a running tally of the previous year's rainfall. That is to do with subsoil moisture. Example, because last year was low and now this year is low, that increases the difficulty in growing sound pasture.

We will keep a fencing programme going that gives us smaller paddocks.  We will also be using a mobile electric fence to gain that same advantage.

We will explore all our production costs to decide the most economical timing for lambing.  I suspect it will be August. More enviro friendly for the lamb, higher survival rate. Plus, we won’t have to supplement pregnant ewes as much.  The supplement feeding will be more with the lambs to get to market, and lambs eat less than pregnant ewes. Also, it will shift the intensity of labour around lambing which currently falls at cropping time. Less stress on us.

The grazing chart is also our guide on when to sell off sheep or buy sheep in. The motto is:’ become a grass farmer and everything else will follow’.

This method also reduces input costs because we are using large mobs of sheep to trample and manure paddocks while grazing for shorter periods, leaving at least one third of grass still standing when shifting out of paddock. It reduces the use of other products, fertilisers etc.

Water is the number one key to running a sound system – so this rehydration work is key. This will probably be our main focust along with fencing. And farm design, to continue to improve shelter belts for biodiversity and protection of stock and pasture.

And feed strategies - like yesterday.  After a discussion, Kingsley decided to buy in more feed barley for the lambing ewes to give them energy because they have so many twins at foot, plus we will continue a salt/molasses lick if we are able to get the molasses. Apparently, molasses has high calcium which pregnant and lactating ewes need.  Because sheep are worth so much money it is worth going the extra miles to get it right.

Our adviser suggests we have very small mobs in suitable lambing paddocks for ease of mothering while trail feeding.  That means we’ll have large paddocks locked off for when lambing is finished so we can then merge mobs and start rotational grazing.  So far our lambing is going well with minimal loss of ewes and lambs compared to past years. I can keep a close eye on each mob and quickly pick up if something is not right when they are in smaller groups.

To date, the short time we have had a consultant has improved Kingsley and my working relationship. And Wade is getting comfortable chatting to him about cropping and management issues. 

Christine ended this email with a big tick for the decisions her family has made about the running of the farm:

t is so good to feel confident in decisions made around the sheep, hence I am more relaxed and more productive as I am not worrying about unnecessary issues.

MORE AMAZING STORIES OF PEOPLE BEING RELAXED BY SHEEP!

The Smiths haven’t changed what they do – they have just got clearer about what they are doing and what they are trying to achieve as individuals and as a team. Having an outside voice – and they clearly all trust this man – has enabled the Smiths to start singing from the same hymnbook.

FIELD DAY AT THE MOUNT

Back to the water story. On February 27, a month after Rod and Tim finished the earthworks, a field day was held at The Mount. Members of the Shire of Dandaragan arrived with a small band of local producers and a mixed mob from Perth and the theory behind the earthworks in the landscape was explained. Rod used a hose to give the audience a practical demo of how water flows and co-creates land. Tim handled questions from the audience.

At The Mount field day Rod O’Bree explains Peter Andrews’ principles of how water works in the land.

Shire President Leslee Holmes was present at this field day and excited by what she witnessed. In her words: All of the attendees were impressed by the (profound) simplicity of this event and understood how this could change the way we think about water. (Leslee didn’t say ‘profound’ – my addition…).

The proof will be in the pudding. A couple of serious downfalls will see the making of the project. 

With thanks to Christine, Kingsley and Wade Smith for their hospitality and for sharing their story with me so generously.