BestWool/BestLamb – Making informed decisionsAugust 2020

Picture: Rod Hodges, Dave Hansen and Rob Heal learning composting techniques from Bill Daley in NSW – Measuring the temperature of the compost to ensure correct fermentation. 2019

Making informed decisions – developing trigger points The Soil Health Group has a diverse range of members from across central Victoria, with enterprises including prime lamb and wool production, organic beef, cropping and trading operations. A diverse range of topography, soil types and pastures types are represented in the group, with members embracing a variety of farming practices including cell grazing and pasture cropping. But the real strength of this group, is that these likeminded participants are keen to explore a range of topics and share ideas, while providing support and encouragement to each other.

A focus for many members of the group has been farm benchmarking. Benchmarking has provided the opportunity for members to gauge how they are performing, not only against top performing farms, but more importantly monitoring their own business’ performance. It can be particularly helpful in developing trigger points for management decisions and supporting other business decisions.

Dave Hansen, a group member, has made several business decisions based on comprehensive analysis of this data. When he began benchmarking, he was a cattle trader, but now trades lambs. Dave said once he saw the economics it was an opportunity too good to miss. Having the data to compare has allowed him to develop trigger points including

Coordinator – Norm Tozer, PeragsGroup – Soil Health, Central Victoria

● 15 businesses, with members from Euroa, Strathbogie, Castlemaine and NumurkahEnterprise mix

● Lamb trading, prime lamb, wool, organic beef, chickens

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Issued August 2020.

BestWool/BestLamb – Making informed decisionsAugust 2020

break-even prices and when to purchase irrigation water. These trigger points are the backbone of making everyday farming decisions.

The group’s diversity of enterprises, age groups and business models, is a great platform for ‘bouncing ideas’ around according to Dave, allowing him to broaden his knowledge and gain new ideas. Sharing information within a trusted group provides another set of eyes and different perspectives to challenge your thinking and can also result in picking up on things that may have otherwise been missed.

These thoughts are echoed by fellow group member, Neil Harris. The group provides moral support, encouragement and a challenge, and is the basis for ‘doing what he is doing’, Neil explained.

He along with some other members are involved in a Soil Health sub-group, which specifically focus on sustainable soil health practices. Their vision is to steer away from chemical farming inputs, towards a more holistic farming practice, while maintaining farm productivity.

Each year the group members take soil tests which are analysed by an independent testing laboratory and used to develop an annual nutrient management plan including lime, manure compost and trace elements. These plans are revisited on a regular basis.

Neil, who started on his soil health journey 20 years ago said that once he got his soil fertility right, his farming business became less stressful to manage. ‘The costs seemed to plateau, although the maintenance of nutrients (N,P,K & S) are still vitally important as in any farming operation’, Neil explained.

The group welcomes new members interested in learning or imparting their own learnings on holistic agriculture.

Picture: Group members visiting the property of member Paul Righettis, in 2019.