This project is evaluating the principles of regenerative agriculture within East Coast farming systems.
Feel free to follow us on facebook
Virtual fencing
On the original diverse farmlet we are trialling the use of collars to control the area the steers are grazing and frequency of moving to a new area. These animals have just had the collars put around their necks before they are returned to their paddock
Current grazing new farmlets
The lambs off the diverse and ryegrass farmlets have all been weighed off and sold. The two farmlets are now being grazed with R1 bulls but still with a higher residuals being left behind on the diverse species. After 12 months the total animal product produced on the...
Update new farmlets
The pastures are all growing well currently and dry matter production is measured monthly by mowing a known strip as well as plate meter measures
Examining effects on worm numbers
Any treatment effects on earthworm numbers or type are examined by counting the number in a known volume of soil
Sheep farmlets
Farmlets sown 2023 The latest set of farmlets ( a diverse species mix suitable for sheep) and a ryegrass white clover farmlet are now being grazed by finishing lambs.
Measuring Microbial activity
before and after being in the ground We put a known amount of linen material into the ground. leave for eight weeks and then measure how much of the material has disappeared
Species composition
After quadrats are taken in the paddock. The samples are then taken back to the laboratory where each piece is separated by species. This allows us to look at what plants are present in different treatments and times of the year
Measurement week
Cutting quadrats for species composition . In this we are looking to see what our different treatments (sowing rate, grazing vs non, residual left and species sown) had on species composition
Busy weeks
First set of small plot trials have been coming to an end so measured dry matter, water infiltration rate, and species composition plus soil carbon, and rate of cotton disappearance
Latest farmlets sown
The weather has allowed us to sow down the next set of trial plots that will be used to compare the effect of harvest residual and frequency of harvest of a diverse species mix and a ryegrass clover mix. In addition, we have sown another set of farmlets to compare a...