Woodside graziers Guy and Mark Watson are the first to admit that improving soil health by intensive grazing seems counter-intuitive.
But after attending a grazing clinic run at Nuriootpa by Resource Consulting Services' Nic Kentish, and conducting a few trials of his own, Guy is ready to start carrying out the practice on their 212-hectare property Taminga.
Guy said soil health at Taminga had been on a downward spiral for a number of years, and a "quantum leap" in management was needed.
"Continuing as we were would mean continuing degradation," he said.
"We did a soil test, and at some points our top soil was 800 millimetres deep, yet we were only activating the top inch. After talking to (sustainable agriculture officer) Eliza Rieger, we realised that by maximising nutrient and energy cycling, we would be able to activate that entire top layer.
"And if you get the humus right, you retain more moisture, there is more diversity in the soil, so you get better grass, and healthier cattle."
Guy said grazing was the key to improving soil health, rather than what to do after improvement.
"Nic Kentish taught me that improving soils requires 'hoof and tooth'," he said.
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"If you put 50 head of cattle into 40ha, they selectively graze, and large areas are untouched.
"But if the 50 head are in 2ha, they crush 90 per cent of the land, not killing the grass but letting the air in, and stalks that don't get eaten get pushed into the soil, as does manure.
"Energy and nutrient cycling is happening at a far greater level than if cattle selectively graze."
Barriers just dissolve. It isn't nearly as hard as it looks.
- GUY WATSON
Guy is splitting about half the property - 100ha - into small paddocks. Originally, the 100ha was split into six paddocks, averaging 15ha each, with the area now split into 16 paddocks, averaging 6ha each.
The paddock split follows two, two-week trials at Taminga with 50 head of cattle, on the remaining 112ha separate to the planned 16-paddock split. One trial was in November, splitting a 9ha paddock into five paddocks, with the other at Easter, splitting 8ha into three paddocks.
Cattle, kept altogether as one mob, were moved to a new paddock every two days for the trials, which Guy intends to continue.
"Each paddock will be rested for about 30 days before cattle are in again, and by then, the paddock is once again pretty robust," he said.
The Watsons were completely burnt out in the 2019 Cudlee Creek fire, prior to which they carried about 140 Angus cattle.
But with improved soil health, Guy is aiming to be increase stocking numbers by two-fold.
"Right now we have 80 cows and 30 calves. We'll keep the females and continue to breed from them, and buy stock in to keep building numbers," he said.
SAVINGS STACK UP WITH NEW SET-UP
WHILE splitting up existing paddocks may be thought to be cost, time and labour intensive, Woodside grazier Guy Watson said the opposite was true, with smaller paddocks being easier and cheaper to manage.
"Barriers just dissolve. It isn't nearly as hard as it looks," he said.
The fences around the original six 15-hectare paddocks is mainly five or six-strand barbed wire fences with wooden posts. To split each paddock up, Guy has used star droppers for "ends and bends", and any place in between where wire gates are being put in, as well as tread-in poly posts for everywhere else, and two-strand electric fence wire.
"Building a seven-strand barbed wire fence costs about $12,000 a kilometre, but with this setup, star droppers are $8 each, and the wire is $250 for 1500 metres, so setup is below $1000 a kilometre," he said.
"And it's quick - there's about 6km of fencing to put up, and a few mates and I have done 5km in a few weeks."
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Guy said cattle management was also easy, if results from his two trials were anything to go by.
"I moved 50 head in the trials, and they were on new good feed every second day," he said.
"After two days, cattle were waiting at the gate, ready for the next paddock.
"Yet, the cattle don't try to move earlier - at one point, the electric fence wasn't working, and it still kept them in. They are happy and used to the routine, so management is easy."
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