18th Jan 2023 |
Wetheron is a commercial wool, lamb, and cropping property located 3km from Bothwell, Tasmania. Their focus is on sustainable farming practices and improving environmental values across the 2,500ha property.
Currently the property has in excess of 300ha under conservation covenant, extensive areas fenced off to manage and preserve sensitive landscapes (eg north facing slopes), and is undergoing the staged development of a network of interconnecting biodiversity corridors.
They began a new initiative of planting eucalyptus 'paddock trees' from seed collected and propagated on farm. This saw the establishment of over 150 strategically planted trees during spring 2017. This effort is to improve the environmental values of the property which is at risk due to the ongoing effect of 'dieback' in the eucalypt population across the property.
Image: Wetheron Farm, containment pens and troughs © Richard Ellis
From 2017-2019 this group was a recipient of funding during our Tasmanian Landcare Fund Round 21, which they used to construct permanent pens, feed bunkers and water troughs which are used during dry periods and drought to contain sheep. This project's aim is to reduce the degradation effects that livestock could have on the property's vulnerable sandy soils, by destocking these high risk areas and containing the sheep in the pens until ground cover is rejuvenated by seasonal rains. The pens were critical during the dry summer and autumn of 2019/20 which saw over 2,000 sheep contained for a 6 month period. Wetheron saw great successes in their project, particularly for animal welfare, production and land preservation outcomes.
Property owner Richard Ellis said "The effectiveness of the external feed trough system was an underestimated element. Being able to feed 2,000 sheep in 15 minutes made it an incredibly labour efficient system."
"The program was proving to be so effective, both from an animal performance and land management perspective, I expanded the program and constructed additional containment pens to allow even more area of the farm to be destocked" said Richard.
"The most noticeable benefit came following good rains in April. Because the vast majority of our paddocks were destocked, the pasture response from the rainfall through April and May was exponential. Ground cover was improved significantly and biomass production was excellent."
Congratulations to the Wetheron group on smashing your goals and thank you for being a part of the Tasmanian Landcare network.
This projects is part of our Member Support Program. Do you need support for your Landcare project? Submit a proposal to The Project Bank. Read more about how it works, and get your cunning plans together! Funded by: Donations to the Tasmanian Landcare Fund
