Wednesday morning's field day held at "Urandangie", on Urandangie Road south-east of Guyra, was attended by about 50 people, all keen to gain an insight into how guest speakers property owner and manager Bill Perrottet, and Mr Milton Curkpatrick from Precision Pastures were operating during the drought.
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Topics such as benefits of protecting riparian areas on-farm and practical ways to do that, the relevant financial costs and benefits, and information about Bill's approach to whole-farm planning and precision fertiliser application were discussed.
Bill and Jackie Perrottet were from Dirranbandi and spent two years looking for the "right" property. He said the land was cheap at the time and they were not fussy about enterprises.
"We had one at Lake Cargelligo, Goondiwindi, Mitchell and we looked in the Flinders Ranges," he said.
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"I've always been a bit of a greenie, and I joined the Southern New England Landcare's Malpas Catchment group within a month of getting here.
"They came and saw me and they had projects here that were outstanding. They asked if I wanted to continue with them and I said yes."
Bill has been involved with the group for about eight years and is now a board member.
Having a property plan for Urandangie enabled Bill and Jackie to tackle a range of issues in priority order, not least, rehydrating the soil.
"Since finalising our property plan in 2008, and fencing off Urandangie Creek during the High Country Urban Biodiversity Project in 2010, we've been restoring riparian areas using techniques that help hydrate the whole farm," Bill said.
"We've also begun a program of soil testing to increase data, knowledge and efficiency, that helps us make the right nutrient application decisions."
Southern New England Landcare's Malpas Catchment (SNELMC) co-ordinator, Rachel Lawrence said Bill and Jackie had done impressive work.
"I'm really excited by the possibilities these methods offer other producers in the catchment," she said.
"Increased soil hydration is really key, and this can be achieved by slowing the flow of water and trapping more water in the root zones of plants.
"Of course, this has huge benefits in a water supply catchment such as Malpas, because the water that ends up in the dam is filtered before it gets there."
SNELMC executive officer Karen Zirkler is also a Landcare coordinator and was very pleased with the size of the crowd for the day.
"We have about 200 financial members at the moment, right across the southern New England region. From Nowendoc up to Ben Lomond and from Ebor to Kingstown," she said.
"In general our field days are a way for people to network and learn about new ideas and techniques, have a bit of a stickybeak at what other people are doing that might be a bit different to the traditional things that others are doing.
"But when it all boils down, what we are really trying to do is looking at how we can improve the sustainability or regenerative nature of agriculture."
