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WA SHEEP FARMER PLANS TO DOUBLE HIS STOCK NUMBERS WITH TOPOCLIMATE
FARM PLANNING
This
is Kevin Moir.
He
and his wife, Ally, farm 600 hectares at Wilga, 18 km northwest of Boyup Brook
in southwest Western Australia. Kevin heard about the Topoclimate Process
in 2000 when the Boyup Brook Shire Council invited Gary Hutchinson to the area
to investigate the potential for a regional scale Topoclimate Project
similar to the Southland, NZ Region.
As
a registered surveyor, Kevin was intrigued by the concept and got eight of his
neighbours interested in participating in a pilot project with soil and
microclimate surveys being carried out in 2001/2.
Kevin's
property was one of the first properties surveyed in Australia for
microclimates and microclimates and Kevin was impressed by the quality of data
produced by the programme.
However,
after he examined the maps, he commented to Gary Hutchinson, (Topoclimate
Consultant) that the real challenge was to convert all the data into
information so that he could actually use it to improve his farming system.
“Show me how I can make money from all this mapping and information”
he said. “I've invested over $15,000* in this topoclimate process and I want
to see how I can get a return on my investment”
The Topoclimate team
responded to his challenge and produced a radical Farm Plan that changed his
farming system completely and dealt with the land use challenges that the
survey programme had identified. Their proposal included:
- Subdivision of the 27 existing paddock on the
property into 46 new paddocks with 7930 metres of fence to be erected
generally along soil boundaries.
- Establishment of new direct-drilled pastures on
each of the paddocks based on an assessment of pasture growth patterns
based on soil type.
- Major changes in the grazing system from
set-stocking of sheep throughout paddocks to rotational grazing of age
mobs through defined groups of paddocks.
Other
parts of the Topoclimate farm plan included:
- Establishment of stands of Lucerne harvested for
both hay and silage to be fed as a high quality feed to stock during feed
stress periods.
- Reservation of some silage as a drought management
strategy .
·
Establishment of fodderbanks of grazeable shrubs and pastures for
occasional grazing by stock as a drought management strategy.
Kevin Moir admires his newly established Lucerne stand developed
as part of his Topoclimate Farm Plan
The
Plan allows for a doubling of stock numbers on the property from the relatively
lightly stocked 2500 ewes carried at the start of the programme to over 5000
sheep by the end of the development.
“ That's the best investment I've
ever made, “ says Kevin. “It means in real terms, a doubling of
gross income from my farm from about $200,000 per year to over $400,000 per
year for a one-off investment of $15,000* in planning”.
Gary
Hutchinson comments ”Results like Kevin Moir have been achieved by most
of the 200 farmers who have undertaken Topoclimate
Farm Plans using the Topoclimate
process to date. I can't think of a single property where the process hasn't
worked with most farms improving their returns by at least 25%. The Planning
system is robust and works! “
The
whole Topoclimate
System is now available for you to use on your farm by undertaking FARMING
SMARTER.
* You can now obtain the same information through FARMING SMARTER which
requires an investment of only $595.00 and may also attract a 65% FarmBis
subsidy.
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