Women on Farms

Understandably, most women are familiar with 'motherhood statements'. Prior to Mothers Day 2022, the farm visit of WOFWG heard many such comments, with good reason. The group was at a property with an over-riding commitment to the soil.

The day focused on the owners' learnings about the fundamentals of soil care. In turn, healthy soils provide what farmers expect of it. Simply, mother earth needs to be understood and also nurtured.

The members visited Bacchus Beef, Tonimbuk, where Ingrid and Robert Green have a regenerative, grass-fed beef and horse enterprise. The property, now several hundred hectares of owned and leased land, started much smaller. It was firstly a hobby farm for the family to enjoy healthy rural living after years overseas in countries with heavy pollution and questionable food choices.

What the Greens purchased at Tonimbuk had been a dairy farm and had grown turnips. The soil was tired, in many places it was shallow and unable to sustain viable grazing. The Greens undertook to turn this around.

This goal became a passion which tested their resolve, especially in the 2019 bush fires. This crisis took out fencing, yards and sheds. It burnt trees and also the soil. Three years later, on our visit, we walked over paddocks which clearly were flourishing with a range of grasses and herbaceous plants. These added to the diet of the stock, contributed to organic matter needed by soil microorganisms and improved soil structure.

Here, cattle, mainly 'black baldies' (Hereford X Angus), move onto fresh pasture every 12 – 24 hours. They only return when pasture is fully recovered, with manure turned in by dung beetles also working to support fresh growth.

Multi plant species are grown using the 'Soilkee' system where soil disturbance is minimal. A Soilkee renovator machine plants seasonal crop and pasture seeds into existing pasture, eliminating paddock down-time usual with traditional pasture renovation. The somewhat revolutionary Soilkee system is said to trigger regenerative soil function by improving soil structure, building carbon sequestration, and increasing water holding capacity and nutrient presence.

Members learned about the concept of 'regenerative agriculture'. This practice uses soil health and adaptive livestock management to improve farm profitability, human and ecosystem health, and food system resiliency.

Ingrid's final comment on a successful WOFWG visit to her impressive property – "We believe healthy soils lead to healthy pastures, healthy animals and healthy humans." So true.

Any woman is welcome to join Women on Farms. The key criterion is an interest in farming and farming friendships. There is no need to be actively farming. For more details contact secretary, Jean Irvine (0429488156), or go to the website womenonfarms-wg.org.au for the monthly program.