In the Starborough-Flaxbourne area the local farming
community, alarmed at the increasing hill slope erosion,
set up a soil conservation group. Accelerated erosion
was a symptom of the past 12 years of below average
rainfall. Removal of vegetative cover by livestock had
enabled wind to erode areas of the thin topsoil exposing
vulnerable sodic subsoil to rill and tunnel erosion. This
highlighted the need for farms to adapt their livestock
systems to a drier environment if they were to survive.
An adaptation process had been undertaken on Bonavaree
by the land owners, the Avery family. In redesigning
their farm system they moved away from ryegrass
pastures and brassica crops to a lucerne grazing system.
This system prioritised the performance of multiple
bearing ewes, high pre-weaning lamb liveweight gains
(390 g/day) and a rigorous decision making process that
avoided relying on the most risky periods of forage
growth. The result has been 5 years of an improving
economic farm surplus, lower grazing pressure on hill
slopes and improving vegetative cover.[Show full abstract]
![[PDF]](/themes/LURA/images/mimes/b_pdf.png "PDF file"){kind=small}
