Increasing agricultural production and biodiversity outcomes

Introduction

‘Westwood’ is a 653ha cattle grazing property located 60km east of Guyra, on the NSW Northern Tablelands. Historically, the land has been used for cattle and sheep grazing on improved and native pasture, and some rotational farming activities to support grazing. There is also evidence of past logging on the property.  

The Ogilvie family moved to the property from South Australia after looking for a rural investment. ‘Westwood’ is one of four properties run by Richard Ogilvie, his wife and 2 sons in an enterprise that includes the Te Angie Hereford stud with:  

• 600 breeding cows
• 1,500 trade cattle
• some sheep.

‘Westwood’ has a successful history of land management with very little weed burden and only minor signs of feral animal disturbance on site.

Challenge

The landholders were undertaking succession planning and had concerns about parts of the farm being more viable than others. 

Without productivity improvements, they were struggling to ensure an equally profitable and sustainable split between their two sons.

Under the former legislation, ‘Westwood’ was only able to undertake minor thinning of timbered areas and a small amount of clearing in areas that had a history of rotational vegetation management activities. These limitations greatly impacted the productive potential of the property.  

Solution

Local Land Services supported the Ogilvies to apply for authorisation to implement vegetation management under 3 parts of the Land Management Code:

• Pasture Expansion
• Continuing Use
• Equity.

Approximately 385ha of ‘Westwood’ will be managed for increased agricultural production and biodiversity outcomes. Together the three approvals:  

• allow the clearing native trees and shrubs from a treatment area such that adequate vegetation is maintained  
• permit vegetation clearing for continuing rotational management activities that were established prior to 1990  
• enable the removal of native vegetation from areas with strong production potential in exchange for high value set aside areas.

“This work is about making the enterprise more profitable and economic. I’ve got two sons coming back onto the land and I have to divide the farm. It is not fair if one half is viable and the other is not.”

- Richard Ogilvie, owner, ‘Westwood’

Outcomes

Work undertaken with authorisation under the Land Management Code includes:

• rotational land management reinstated on 21ha of the property that had been taking place before 1990 to restore historical productive capacity
• to establish additional land for cropping and/or grazing whereby 81ha of native vegetation will be removed to increase carrying capacity
• 83ha has been identified as an endangered ecological community (EEC), riparian zone, threatened ecological community (TEC) and/or standard set aside area to improve biodiversity
• mosaic thinning of woodland areas will occur on 200ha of the property to improve the grazing capacity of 133ha, with 67ha maintained as retention patches within the treatment area
• 21ha of native vegetation will be cleared for the purpose of continued rotational management of grazing land.  

It is estimated the work will double the amount of useable grazing land and allow the increase in stock numbers from 150 head to around 400. Improved land capacity will also see them finished to a much higher, slaughter-weight quality.  

Local Land Services and the landholders have gone to great lengths to ensure that Eucalyptus nicholii and New England Peppermint Woodland are not directly impacted by this sustainable agricultural development, as both are of high conservation value in the region.

These eucalypts and woodland areas are being conserved through inclusion in required set aside areas. The set aside areas have been selected to maintain existing links in the broader landscape between Guy Fawkes Gorge and the grazing areas of the northern tablelands.

“These works are going to increase our native biodiversity while still allowing us enough land to graze cattle and maintain our viability. If you don’t have biodiversity in your farming area it leads to increased pests, both insects and animal so if you have a balance in your ecological area, it’s more sustainable in the long run.”  

- Richard Ogilvie, owner, ‘Westwood’

The work undertaken will also have multiple benefits for the local area with more than $300,000 spent locally on the Northern Tablelands on earthmoving and fencing contractors, and purchases of fertiliser.  

The Oglivies anticipate that the work done under the Land Management code will mean improvements for the property such as:

• a 100% increase in the property’s gross margin, with a payback of approximately 9.5 years
• improved pasture on ‘Westwood’ which is predicted to produce cattle weight gain of 1kg per day against the daily weight loss of 250g on native pasture.  

The set asides will also generate improved biodiversity outcomes for the region with their strategic landscape scale biodiversity importance, due to the location in relation to other native vegetation in the landscape, and the composition of native vegetation within the set aside. These outcomes include:

• 83ha of set asides areas that will maintain vegetation in perpetuity and conserve local biodiversity through the regeneration of native plant species and the maintenance of fauna corridors and habitat
• the established set-aside areas along riparian corridors will support healthy waterways
• the protection of the Ribbon Gum, Mountain Gum Threatened Ecological community across 2ha.