Devising and implementing an action plan
MLA & AWI July 12, 2024
Better management of a farm’s natural assets is about environmental as well as production and financial benefits. Farms are interconnected operating ecosystems. The healthier the natural assets, the better the production outcomes, the more sustainable the farming system, and the more enjoyable it is to live and work on the farm.
After compiling an inventory of a farm’s natural assets, the farm can be made a more attractive place to live and work by managing its natural assets for multiple benefits. For example perennial pastures sown to meet animal feed demand can also reduce salinity and soil erosion when sown in the right spot.
Funding assistance is often available to finance environmental outcomes to protect high value-assets that benefit both the grazing enterprise and the community.
Preventing soil erosion
Sheetwash and gully erosion can be prevented by slowing water movement , letting vegetation regenerate and building ground cover. Re-establish riparian vegetation to filter and trap dissolved nutrients and slow water movement. Maintain existing structural works to slow or divert flows where riparian vegetation is in poor condition.
Aim for 70% ground cover in flatter areas and 90 – 100% on slopes by managing how hard and long stock graze areas. Feed budgeting is a key way to ensure sufficient pasture is available for livestock production, to determine the number of stock to place in a paddock, and determine how long they stay before minimum pasture mass targets are reached or ground cover is compromised.
To manage wind erosion, implement management practices that avoid erosion, not just repair erosion after the event. Maintain vegetation cover across more than 50% of the soil surface to:
- act as a blanket that prevents the wind from picking up any soil particles
- absorb the force of the wind and reduce the wind speed at ground level
- trap eroded soil particles and reduce the bombardment of the soil surface.
Stubble, plants, grass butts or small shrubs (higher than 10 cm) that sit up into the air offer even more protection so slightly less cover is required. Shrubs and tussock grasses protect the soil when the spacing between the plants is less than three times their height, and when they are evenly distributed across the paddock.
It is important to set targets for what priority areas will look like when erosion is managed. An example target may be ‘maintain 1,000 kg DM/ha all year round’; or ‘gully walls stabilised’.
Devise an action plan to achieve the targets for each area. Set a date for achieving these targets. It is much easier to break a big issue into smaller, manageable chunks or individual steps. Commit to monitoring the change.
Controlling salinity with best practice
There are two aspects of best practice to manage salinity:
- reducing recharge
- managing saline areas for production and to prevent further environmental decline.
Reducing recharge requires a regional approach, as often groundwater systems cover expansive areas but localised actions (such as tree plantings on the break of slope above salt patches or surrounding discharge sites) can help reduce on-farm salinity discharge sites.
Reducing groundwater recharge with perennial pastures
A CSIRO report summarised the potential of perennial pastures to reduce leakage:
- High rainfall zone (more than 600 mm/year): near Rutherglen in Victoria, leakage under perennial grasses was estimated to range from 50–120 mm/year depending on grazing management and plant nutrition. Researchers concluded a high proportion of trees would need to be incorporated into the landscape to achieve a significant reduction in recharge.
- Medium rainfall zone (400–600 mm/year): perennial systems can reduce leakage by 20–50% when compared with annuals, but leakage remains 2-3 times greater than leakage under the original woodland. However, lucerne grown continuously can reduce leakage by up to 90%.
- Low rainfall zone (less than 400 mm/year): in the Upper South East of SA, lucerne reduced leakage to the level of natural Mallee vegetation (<1 year). In western NSW, there appeared to be no increase in leakage on heavier soils when trees were replaced by well-managed grazing systems.
If large-scale replanting of catchments to trees is not possible, to improve water use by pastures and reduce water table recharge rates, use pasture plants that grow longer into the season and explore a greater volume of soil (deeper root systems). Provide the right soil conditions for growth (see MMFS Module 7 Grow More Pasture) to improve water use efficiency.
Perennial pasture establishment can be expensive. However, perennial pastures on recharge areas can deliver multiple benefits by reducing additions to the water table and increasing pasture productivity.
Set targets for the outcome of preventing or addressing salinity for the priority areas identified in the farm inventory. Example targets may be ‘plant perennial pasture (or trees) on the mid-slopes’ or ‘implement a simple four-paddock rotational grazing system’.
Devise an action plan to achieve the targets for the priority areas. Set a date for achieving these targets. Remember, it is much easier to break a big issue into smaller manageable steps. Commit to monitoring the change.
Managing discharge
Saline soils are one of the ‘problem issues’ included in MMFS Module 6 Healthy Soils. Saline soils are also included here because saline discharge sites are often associated with water quality problems (e.g. salt wash-off into streams and increased erosion and the decline and death of native vegetation).
Apply the Best practice guidelines for salt land to better manage saline sites.
Manage native vegetation
When managing native vegetation, there are two elements of overriding importance — extent (amount and degree of connection between patches) and condition.
The following general principles for native pasture management can give both production and environmental benefits:
- Avoid overgrazing: Regrowth is slow when pastures have been overgrazed and native species diversity will decline (negative for conservation).
- Rotationally graze perennial species: Rotational grazing (rather than set stocking) favours perennial plants (native and exotic) over annuals (see MMFS Module 8 Turn pasture into product).
- Bare ground benefits many weeds: Manage grazing to minimise bare ground but remember the forbs and other small non-grass plants that contribute to the diversity in native pastures rely on some bare ground between grass plants and tussocks.
Apply the “3Rs” – Retain then Restore then Revegetate – when managing, protecting and enhancing native vegetation and biodiversity. Cost and degree of difficulty increase as you move from retain, through restore to revegetate:
- Retain: Areas of native vegetation that are in healthy condition are extremely valuable and retaining them in that condition should be the focus.
- Restore: Most remnant vegetation on sheep properties has been altered, reducing its conservation value. Restoration of ‘somewhat degraded’ native vegetation (through changes in grazing management, weed eradication, natural regeneration, or enhancement planting) is easier than starting from scratch.
- Revegetate: While ‘revegetation’ is nominally the last resort, the reality on many properties is there is insufficient native vegetation to underpin a healthy farm ecosystem. Revegetation is most effective if it is used to enhance, enlarge or link existing patches of native vegetation. Natural regeneration is the cheapest and most effective if there is a bank of seed of the key species still in the soil. Seed banks will be low on properties that have been extensively cleared for many years, slowing the pace of natural regeneration.
Set targets for priority areas of native vegetation that describe the desired changes. Example targets may be ‘increase remnant areas by 10 ha each year up to 10% of the farm’; ‘manage native pastures to increase their perennial content from 40% to 70%’; or ‘fence a 1 ha area around individual paddock trees to encourage revegetation’.
Devise an action plan to achieve the targets for the priority areas. Set a date for achieving these targets. Remember, it is much easier to break a big issue into smaller manageable steps.
Designing for birds
The following guidelines will attract birds while improving the natural assets on which a grazing enterprise depends:
- Local native vegetation (including native pastures) should cover at least 30% of the total farm area.
- Re-create local conditions.
- Exclude high-impact land uses (e.g. cropping or intensive grazing) from at least 30% of the farm area.
- Maintain native pastures and avoid heavy grazing.
- Native vegetation cover should be in patches of at least 10 ha and linked by strips at least 50 m wide.
- Manage at least 10% of the farm area for wildlife.
- Maintain a range of tree ages.
- Leave fallen trees to break down naturally (hollows provide nesting sites for birds).
- Maintain shrub cover or underplant native grasses or shrubs over at least one-third of the area within a patch of remnant farm trees.
- Dams in areas with an open flight path are most likely to be visited by ducks and other water birds (i.e. don’t plant trees around all sides of the dam).
- Maintain native vegetation around water.
While it is preferable to follow the suggestions about size, shape, structure and connectivity of vegetation, even small, isolated patches of revegetation provide habitat for some native birds and lay a foundation for future bird scaping endeavours. Some model bird havens started out as barren and degraded landscapes. You’ve got to start somewhere.
Use a diversity of approaches to manage weeds
Choose a diverse combination of weed control activities, targeting the weak points in weed lifecycles. The diversity table in The 3D approach to weed management offers a range of methods for weed control. Select from the weed management tools listed and to achieve the goals identified using the deliberation table. The diligence table helps keep the weed management plan on track.
In the Weed control tactics tool, the CRC for Weed Management describes five ‘tactic’ groups of interventions where producers can aim the particular intervention to the weak points in the weed’s armour. The focus is on weeds in native vegetation, but the principles stated are relevant to pasture weeds in general.
Set targets that describe success in weed management for priority areas. Example targets may be ‘thistles occupy less than 10% of the paddock within five years’ or ‘weed spraying costs will be 30% lower within five years.’
Devise an action plan to achieve the targets for the priority areas. Set a date for achieving these targets. Remember, it is much easier to break a big issue into smaller manageable steps.
Integrated management of insect pests
Integrated pest management (IPM) is recommended for managing insect pests by monitoring populations, replacing broad-spectrum insecticides that kill pests and beneficial insects alike with more selective insecticides and strategies like baiting and seed dressings and control through heavy grazing.
Producers who have tested an IPM approach have reduced their reliance on broad acre spraying with direct savings of between $5/ha and $30/ha.
Time spent spraying is often replaced with regular monitoring of paddocks. A new level of skill is required to identify the beneficial insects as well as the pests and to know the appropriate strategies to apply. Producers who have tried an IPM approach say holding your nerve and waiting for the beneficial insects to do their job is the most difficult part.
IPM results are confirming what many have suspected for years — well balanced farms, with an extensive range of more ‘native’ areas have fewer problems with insect pests in crops and pastures. Successful IPM can be implemented by:
- increasing the number and diversity of birds – birds are natural predators of many insect pests
- establishing windbreaks for animal shelter, NRM benefits, and, with a complex understorey, harbour for predatory invertebrates that prey on insect pests in the adjacent pastures
- sowing tolerant plant varieties – plant varieties and cultivars can vary significantly in their tolerance to invertebrate pests (e.g. some sub clover cultivars have been bred with more resistance to redlegged earth mite (RLEM) attack, while gland clover has increased tolerance to RLEM). Sow pasture species with increased tolerance to invertebrate pests to decrease pesticide use
- applying pesticides at the appropriate time and location. For RLEM, TIMERITE® predicts the optimal date for spraying in spring to minimise insecticide use and to maximise effectiveness.
Managing vertebrate pests
Vertebrate pest management plans can be built into annual, on-farm work programs (particularly coordinated baiting or aerial shooting programs). Where possible, small amounts of ongoing control can be built into daily and weekly on-farm management duties. Baits and traps, for instance, can be checked while doing water or fence maintenance runs. Small amounts of targeted control (e.g. baits for foxes or wild dogs, or pig traps) can yield long-term benefits in reducing impacts on natural resources and livestock production.
Persist with ongoing management of rabbit populations
A range of control techniques is available for rabbit management including physical harbour destruction, poisoning and more recently biological control. No one technique will fully control rabbit populations and even if rabbits disappear, a failure to destroy warrens and harbour can encourage re-population from rabbits on other properties. Ideally, management actions need to be planned with targets set for effective control. Control activities should target periods when rabbits are at their lowest densities either ecologically (i.e. outside of breeding season) or due to the deliberate or natural spread of biological control.
Warren ripping and harbour destruction when populations are at their lowest or non-existent will limit or delay any chance of populations rebuilding or establishing on the property. Research has shown it takes a significant period of time for rabbits to establish burrows and warren systems, so by removing harbour and ripping warrens any remaining rabbits are exposed to the elements and predation by native and introduced carnivores. The delivery of additional management options, such as poisoning, trapping and shooting, can further remove any remaining rabbits that have eluded the biocontrol and harbour destruction. Review current rabbit control options and use a combination of these – with rabbits, it’s a matter of persistence.
Set targets for rabbit management. Example targets may be ‘rabbit density will be 60% lower in five years’; or ‘50% of the farm’s warrens are ripped in two years.’
Devise an action plan to achieve the rabbit control targets in priority areas. Set a date for achieving these targets. Remember, it is much easier to break a big issue into smaller ‘manageable chunks’, or individual steps.
Target weak points in the fox lifecycle
There is a range of control measures for foxes and as for rabbit control, it is often best to use a combination. Foxes are highly mobile so without a coordinated effort with neighbours, control programs are unlikely to have a lasting impact. However, there are a range of best-practice methods and strategies that can delivered at a property scale to manage fox populations, including the use of annual control programs using Canid Pest Ejectors (CPE) or replacement baiting strategies (using a small number of baits at known locations throughout the year). These baiting strategies can be found in the PestSmart Toolkit Glovebox Guide for Managing Foxes and need to be considered when developing a management plan.
Concentrate fox baiting efforts in March–April and August–September each year for population management by targeting young and immature foxes. Around August–September is when mating season has finished and vixens are actively seeking additional food before whelping and the fox population is at its lowest. During March, juvenile foxes disperse to find their own territory, displacing older foxes. Well-placed baits will be readily taken in March. This concentrated, twice-yearly baiting slows the recovery of the fox population, as foxes only breed once a year. When used in conjunction with other control techniques baiting is extremely effective.
In some production systems, foxes are highly dependent on rabbits for prey but they rarely kill enough to provide any genuine control of rabbit populations. However, when rabbit numbers are decimated through other control actions (such as baiting or biological control) this provides an excellent opportunity to control foxes with baits as they desperately scavenge for food in the absence of rabbits to hunt. While this may be outside of lambing or the regular breeding periods for foxes, there is no better time to bait than when food availability is scarce, so factor this into your management planning and take advantage of this when the opportunity occurs.
Consider using Canid Pest Ejectors (CPE) – mechanical devices designed to deliver a measured dose of toxin (1080 or PAPP) directly into the mouth of foxes or wild dogs. The device is activated when a fox or dog pulls firmly (with a force greater than 1.6 kg) in an upward motion on the lure head. This motion triggers the deice and a spring-loaded piston ejects the contents of the capsule into the animal’s mouth. The device cannot be shifted, and it is extremely target-specific due to the amount of vertical force require to activate the device. They can be easily deactivated and removed prior to using working dogs so provide a good option for those foxes that frequent yards and buildings. CPEs are a good option for use in and around areas where domestic dogs might be at risk.
In terms of protecting lambs, additional asset-based baiting and control programs can be delivered to manage for migration of foxes from adjoining properties leading up to lambing season. These strategies are discussed in more detail in MMFS Module 10 Wean More Lambs.
Monitor feral pigs and respond when active
Feral pig activity (rooting and digging up the ground) is easily visible and should be monitored throughout the year. In a plentiful season feral pigs can breed throughout the year, so control needs to be delivered in response to activity, but particularly prior to lambing.
Feral pigs depend heavily on water (causing fouling of waterholes and troughs), which provides a focal point for control, particularly in arid and semi-arid pastoral country. A range of integrated techniques including trapping, baiting and shooting (both ground and aerial) can effectively remodel pig populations.
Baiting feral pigs can be extremely effective in various production settings and while sodium fluoroacetate (1080) is the most widely used toxin, the newly developed HOGGONE® bait (sodium nitrite) has been found to be extremely effective and has less non-target risk due to the bait delivery system.
Seek local advice on managing native browsers
Many farms with or near large areas of bushland face significant grazing competition from native animals, especially kangaroos and wallabies. In most cases, these are native animals that have benefited considerably from the creation of extensive grasslands and watering points for sheep and cattle and are often present in greatly increased numbers.
Control of native animals often faces strong community resistance. It is not possible to provide best practice guidelines here because what is appropriate in one jurisdiction can be illegal in another.
In most states, sheep producers can obtain permits to cull if certain native animals are causing damage or economic hardship. In extensive grazing areas, culling is the only viable control method. In more intensive grazing areas where competition from native browsers is high, exclusion fencing can be viable. Local advice is essential, as the type of fencing required varies depending on the animals to be excluded.
Managing stock access to water supplies
There are many sound reasons to exclude stock from waterways, including the:
- damage they can cause to vegetation and stream banks
- decline in water quality they cause through pugging and fouling
- damage they can do to favourite fishing, yabbying or picnic spots
- risk of stock losses or stock straying into neighbouring properties.
Many management options are available to minimise the downsides of direct stock access to water bodies. These actions involve the careful design and construction of:
- crossing points that allow stock (and vehicles) to cross creeks or other water bodies. These are best located where the slope of the banks is not steep, where the stream bed is firm and, if possible, across a narrow section
- water access points that restrict stock to a limited number of sites and can involve ‘strengthening’ the access point with concrete, gravel or logs to minimise pugging. The best water access points have the same basic features as crossing points, but they also have minimal shade or shelter to discourage stock from remaining in the area other than to drink.
Consider reticulated water supplies
Carefully designed reticulated stock watering systems require more maintenance than other stock water supplies, such as dams, however, solar-powered watering systems and remote management of water levels is making management easier. Reticulated systems can provide multiple benefits for production and the environment. Some simple principles include:
- Single watering points in large paddocks lead to uneven grazing. Minimise uneven grazing by locating the trough near the centre of the paddock or consider multiple watering points in each paddock. In cropping paddocks, troughs are best placed close to fences but away from gateways.
- Troughs are best located away from:
- stock camping areas: to minimise dung and dust contamination and algal growth
- trees: sheep will lie down around the trough and prevent timid animals from accessing the water
- remnant vegetation: overgrazing and nutrient build up in the vicinity of the trough will escalate the degradation of the remnant vegetation
- steep or erosion prone areas: where the constant trampling will exacerbate any problems.
- A shade structure over troughs will limit algal growth, reduce evaporation and keep the water cool, but must be kept to a minimum size to discourage camping.
Multiple benefits from farm water storages
Some farm dams are ideal candidates for the concept of multiple benefits. Strategic design and management of farm dams and the surrounding vegetation can protect the farm dam, improve water quality and water yield and increase the value of the dam and surrounds for wildlife habitat. Most farms have one or two dams that can provide excellent habitat for a range of wildlife like birds, frogs, mammals and fish.
Restricting stock access lets vegetation establish around the dam. Consider limiting stock to a controlled watering area or providing a reticulated supply. Stock access to some parts of the dam will benefit birds (like swans and ducks) that prefer open space beside water.
Sufficient ground cover in the dam catchment will improve water quality by reducing soil, nutrient and faecal contamination and sedimentation. Shelterbelts provide shade and can reduce evaporation from the dam’s surface. Reduce wave action with strategic placement of islands and surrounding vegetation and allow taller reeds and sedges in parts of the dam.
Another simple (but potentially expensive) way to increase wildlife habitat is to construct a dam island. Add vegetation or tree logs to provide nesting and roosting sites for waterbirds on the island. Next time a dam has to be cleaned out, include an island or a vegetated buffer zone in the new design.
Reduce the impact of climate change
An emissions calculator is a useful way to review the range of options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from a farming operation.
Options available to sheep enterprises include:
- reducing emissions from livestock
- offseting livestock emissions by storing more carbon in the landscape.
Reducing emissions from sheep
Currently, the key to reducing livestock emissions is to maximise their growth rates and convert as much of their energy intake as possible into progeny, meat and fibre (increase productivity).
Feed options, commercialisation of supplements, and methane production traits for ASBVs are being investigated for potential to reduce methane emissions and improve feed efficiency and growth rates.
Selective breeding and improving livestock genetics (see MMFS Module 9 Boost Business with Breeding), improved feed management (see MMFS Module 8 Turn Pasture into Product) and maximising animal health (see MMFS Module 11 Healthy and Contented Sheep) are essential to the future profitability and sustainability of the livestock industry and the environment.
Storing carbon in the landscape
Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a potential significant carbon sink and work is underway to determine the potential to build soil carbon in Australia in response to grazing management practices that include multi-species perennials, legumes, time-controlled grazing and fertiliser regimes.
Soil can store around 50–300 tonnes carbon per ha, equivalent to 180–1100 t CO2.
Pastures and crops store 2–20 tonnes of carbon per hectare, while plantation forests can store up to 250 tonnes of carbon per hectare.
Maintaining ground cover (see MMFS Module 6 Healthy Soils) will minimise erosion losses and maximise organic input to soil by maximising plant growth (see MMFS Module 7 Grow More Pasture).
Inclusion of soil carbon management in carbon reduction schemes will rely on the development of cost-effective methods for estimating soil carbon change under changed land management practices.