The days are short and there’s frost on the ground which means that the Mudgee Small Farm Field Days must be just around the corner. Watershed Landcare have been busy organising our lecture series for this year’s event and the program will feature a great line up of speakers on a variety of topics.

Are you a keen gardener? Watershed Landcare have invited passionate gardiner, Sarah Curry, to share her expertise and provide yo with some practical skills to boost the health of your soil.

Sarah Curry is a 5^th generation farmer, agronomist and gardener with a strong belief that healthy gardens and produce come from healthy productive soils. Together with Husband, Josh, and three young children, Ted, Cate and Jimmy, they run a large dryland farm in South West NSW, producing cereal, oilseed and pulse crops. Sarah has a degree in Agricultural science majoring in Soil Science (B App Sc) and is an agronomist with 18 years experience.

Sarah also manages Majors Mulch, a business named after their property “Majors Point”. Majors Mulch grows and supplies, Mulching Pellets an innovative solution to the common problems of mulching. Mulching Pellets are easy to apply, weed and dust free and act as soil conditioners, improving soil organic nutrient levels. There are two types of Mulching Pellets, Premium Lucerne and Pea Straw. Both are legumes naturally high in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and a range of trace elements. As well as conserving soil moisture, both types of mulch improve soil water holding capacity and naturally improve soil organic nutrient levels, organically feeding plants.

Majors Mulch also produces Complete Compost, a rich blend of Lucerne hay, sheep manure and wheat straw slow roasted and aged to perfection. Complete compost can be added to pots, veggie gardens and garden beds to replenish organic nutrient levels.

Sarah will be presenting a talk to help gardeners understand the key elements of healthy soils and how to overcome common problems to boost your gardens health and production.

‘Healthy Soils = Healthy Plants’ will be held at the Straw Bale Building (L8) at 11:30am on Friday 12 and Saturday 13 July.

Want to attract more birds and pollinators to your garden?

We have also invited Tamara Bowman to present a talk about local plants and gardening tips that will attract birds and insects to your backyard. Come along and learn about the ‘Birds and the bees’ at 3pm on Saturday, 13 July.

These events are supported by Watershed Landcare and are a part of the NSW Government’s Local Landcare Coordinators Initiative, supported through the partnership of Local Land Services and Landcare NSW.

The ideal time to control most weeds is when they are actively growing. This is usually in the warmer months. There are a few that can be controlled at any time of the year.

Two of those significant to this area are Serrated Tussock (Nassella trichotoma) and Cineraria (Cineraria lyratiformis). Both species are, unfortunately, common, and have adaptations for wind dispersal, but can also be spread by water, contaminated fodder, animals and vehicles.

Cinneraria has bright yellow flowers with eight petals which are borne in flat topped clusters at the ends of the branches. Mature leaves are oblong in shape and deeply divided. Juvenile leaves are small and rounded with soft serrations, somewhat similar to geraniums.

Cineraria is an annual plant that can grow and flower through winter. Being an annual, the root system is not very extensive and most plants can be pulled out.

This plant has the ability to produce seeds even if it is pulled out with young buds present. Therefore plants with any sign of a flower or bud must be bagged and later destroyed. At present there are no chemicals registered for Cineraria lyratiformis.

Cineraria is palatable to sheep and can be effectively controlled by confining a number of animals over an infestation. This plant is highly invasive and a dense perennial pasture is the best way of preventing seedling survival.

Serrated Tussock is a highly invasive perennial grass, which, if left untreated, can take only seven years to dominate a pasture or native grassland. It has low grazing value due to a high fibre and low protein content.

The leaves of Serrated Tussock are very fine and when rolled between the index finger and thumb, roll smoothly – like a needle. In Autumn and Winter the leaves are a yellow-green, the tips of older leaves are often bleached by frost.

Isolated Serrated tussock plants can be dug up before flowering and turned upside down so no roots make contact with the soil. Fluproponate is the main chemical used in the control of Serrated Tussock. It is a residual chemical that will stop seedlings emerging for a period of about 2 years. Fluproponate is somewhat selective in that it will only kill certain types of grass. However, many of the grasses susceptible to Fluproponate are highly beneficial.

As with Cineraria a dense perennial pasture is the best way of preventing seedling survival.

Further information for identification of Cineraria can be found on the web, for example http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/biosecurity/weeds or http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au.

There are also many good resources for Serrated Tussock on the web. However, Serrated Tussock as a grass is a lot more difficult to identify, and more importantly, to distinguish it from other similar species. A hands on approach is recommended.

Are you interested in keeping bees but don’t know where to start? Join us for a 2 day Backyard Beekeeping course with Bruce White OAM.

The Mudgee Bee Group will be hosting a Backyard Beekeeping course in October and invite novice and experienced beekeepers, as well as people interested in starting up their first hives, to attended.

Renowned beekeeper and industry expert, Bruce White OAM has spent his career in the apiary industry in NSW DPI. He has extensive knowledge of rural beekeeping and frequently delivers courses for Local Land Services and the Amateur Beekeepers Association.

A retired apiary officer from the NSW Department of Agriculture and a hobby beekeeper, Mr White became fascinated with bees when he was in primary school. He got his first hive when he was 13 years old and now boasts over 60 years beekeeping experience.

Mr White is a master at sharing his skills and experience with participants to give each of them the confidence to handle bees and manage a beehive. The course will cover the essentials such as protective clothing, hive design, hive management, biosecurity, honey extraction and a whole lot more in a hands-on, practical weekend.

The Mudgee Bee Group’s community hives will be available for participants to practise on and gain confidence in handling bees.

The course will be held on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 October at the Straw Bale Building, Australian Rural Education Centre (AREC), Ulan Rd Mudgee.

Cost is $285 per person and includes course notes, lunch and morning tea on both days. A discount rate of $215 is available for Watershed Landcare and Mudgee Bee Group financial members.
Numbers are strictly limited and you must pay in full to secure your spot. If you’d like to participate send an expressions of interest to Claudia Wythes, Watershed Landcare Coordinator, on 0412 011 064 or claudia.wythes@watershedlandcare.com.au.

The Mudgee Bee Group and Watershed Landcare would like to acknowledge support from AREC, for hosting the Mudgee Bee Group hives and providing a venue for meetings and the course.

This event is supported by Watershed Landcare and is a part of the NSW Government’s Local Landcare Coordinators Initiative, supported through the partnership of Local Land Services and Landcare NSW.

Students from the University of Sydney tour farms in our region to study regenerative agriculture practices

Long before the term ‘Regen Ag’ was coined, many farmers in our region have been implementing innovative, ecological approaches to land management and are now promoting and encouraging the adoption of regenerative landscape management practices to help build healthy, productive and profitable landscapes which are more resilient to the impacts of a changing climate to the next generation of farmers and land managers.

As part of a first year field trip, 55 Agricultural Science and Food and Agribussiness students and 4 staff toured various farming enterprises in the Central West last week. The last day of their expedition brought them to our district to visit properties practising regenerative agriculture.

The first stop was a visit to a 1200 acre grazing property in Goolma producing superfine merino wool. The owners have been trialling and implementing various regenerative agriculture techniques since the mid 90s and the students heard about their focus on managing native pasture, selecting genetics for a more resilient flock, encouraging animals to utilise a diversity of feed and using the livestock as a land management tool. Native biodiversity is also actively managed on the property and a watercourse and wetland have been fenced off for this purpose.

Next the students travelled to Gulgong to explore pasture cropping and enterprise stacking.

Colin Seis developed the method of ‘Pasture Cropping’ in the 1990’s, a no-till practice of sowing annual crops into dormant perennial grass, and since that time has been perfecting the practice on his Gulgong property, ‘Winona’. ‘Pasture Cropping’, combined with planned grazing of livestock enables multiple productive uses from a single paddock, with minimal use of herbicides or other inputs.

‘Pasture Cropping’ has also produced significant improvements in soil health. Studies conducted by Sydney University and CSIRO/Department of Primary Industries showed increases of 204% in organic carbon and 200% in the water holding capacity of ‘Winonas’ soils, over a 10 year period. Soil nutrients and trace elements have increased by an average of 172%.

The benefits of improving landscape function and increasing production results have been internationally recognised. ‘Pasture Cropping’ has been adopted in the United States, South Africa and Norway as well as over 2,500 farms across Australia. Colin Seis has been recognised as a leading performer of regenerative landscape management practices and now spends much of his time travelling all over Australia and overseas training other farmers to implement the technique.

A successful, profitable farm is about more than just land management, and relies on having a robust business structure. One strategy is not ‘putting all your eggs in the one basket’. Colin Seis has built resilience into his farm by diversifying interests. ‘Winona’, traditionally a fine wool property, now also produces fat lambs, grain and native grass seed (it’s most profitable venture). Colin is also a renowned dog trainer and breeder, and dogs from his Kelpie stud are much sought after.

Capertee Valley project providing habitat for one of Australia’s rarest birds

With only 350–400 mature adults remaining in the wild, the regent honeyeater is one of Australia’s rarest birds.

The striking black and yellow birds were once widespread along the eastern Australian coast, from as far north as Rockhampton to Melbourne in the south. Extensive clearing of woodland habitat has seen their numbers decline and the range of their distribution contract. Competition from more aggressive honeyeaters for their increasingly scarce woodland habitat has also put pressure on their numbers.

The regent honeyeater’s habitat is now mostly restricted to the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in Victoria and New South Wales and the Capertee Valley is a key habitat and breeding site.

The Capertee Valley Landcare Group have been working on enhancing woodland habitat for this critically endangered bird and are seeking volunteers to help with their latest planting efforts.

The planting is the first in a five year project to restore habitat and provide increased habitat connectivity. Support from local landholders along the Capertee River has meant the project can strategically target key regent honeyeater habitat and the plantings will supplement feed trees at breeding sites.

The project follows on from a pilot study conducted last year where volunteers planted 150 trees. Survival rates have been very good despite a very hot summer and drought conditions. The plantings have also been designed in a way that the river bank will be stabilised and prevent further erosion and improve water quality.

Capertee Valley Landcare Group are inviting volunteers to help plant 200 tubestock and install tree guards on Tuesday 28 and Wednesday 29 May. There will also be a further two planting days with high school students, on Friday 24 and Friday 31 May, where help will be required.

For further information or to register your interest contact Julie Gibson, Capertee Valley Landcare Secretary, cvlandcare@gmail.com.