They used to be useless claypans, but a system of ponding banks and ripping over the red soil on the property Polpah in the Western Division has helped maintain a new green sheen to a once desert-like area of the sheep run.
The transformation has been amazing with the help of about 70mm of rain over the Easter weekend, with the water pooling behind new ponding banks and trickling over ripped parts of the paddock.
Barry Turner had no hesitation in implementing the system known as Ecosystem Management Understanding (EMU) on his place with another five property owners on rangelands near White Cliffs. The system of contours and ripped areas is being replicated with another pod of six landholders near Packsaddle. The creators of the EMU system have nothing but praise for the enthusiasm of the Western Division landholders and ability to get the systems up and running in one of the toughest droughts in memory.
Mr Turner sees an investment in a new grader worthwhile, with about 400 hectares selectively ripped and contoured that will shift his productivity on Polpah from about 70 per cent to 90 per cent productivity in that particular paddock. With the new grader he used ripping tines down to 400mm, which was mostly consistent at that depth, apart from a few areas that might have gone 300mm, the beneficial effect can be seen already (in pictures taken this week).
Some of the ripped areas were unproductive claypans that are now naturally reseeding with Mitchell grass and copper burr. He's done some seeding as well himself.
"We started in June last year and got a bit excited about the whole system and started into the eastern slopes. It was a big decision with the drought on. We started ripping up selected flats where there had been no feed. At the bottom of the hill there were claypans and we held the water up when it rained and it spread into the ripped areas. This was unproductive land. We think we can increase the productivity in that paddock from about 70-80 per cent to 90 per cent." It may take up to three years for the new pastures including Mitchell grass to fully establish.
He bought a new grader for the operation, but the Local Land Services were able to fund $10,000 for the diesel. "We have no doubt the returns from this system will pay us back, absolutely.'' Mr Turner will be running Merino cross ewes with White Suffolks into the pastures, with a spring sale of lambs to get in some cashflow immediately after the good rains in the district. "Ultimately we.want to get back into wool," he said.
The EMU system is the brainchild of Hugh Pringle, who owns the EMU trademark. He has worked closely with Western LLS Cobar officer Paul Theakston to successfully refine the system for the Western Division pastoralists.
Mr Pringle first put the system in place in Africa, where he hails from, in such remote places as Namibia. The system was then started in Western Australia and most recently in the Northern Territory. He left Alice Springs to help the LLS start up the system on western rangelands, supported by a grant from National Landcare Programs.
"A few years ago the LLS engaged me to help them with setting up a strategic based plan to help with projects they had in mind with local rehabilitation works. One of the senior guys knew of the EMU process and asked me to be involved with a group of six station owners - and one of those was at Polpah."
It's turned into an oasis instead of a desert.
- Barry Turner, Polpah, White Cliffs
Mr Pringle said the concept was completely different from the old Soil Con contour based system on properties.
"What EMU brought to the Western Division was a catchment plan that looked at the bigger picture. Yes there is a lot of the old Soil Con service in it, but we are looking at a larger system of fixing whole systems and what's required for them. I found deep commitment to repairing legacies on the farm. Getting 100 per cent commitment from the property owners was amazing. They are at the apex of people I've worked with."
John Ellicott
journalist and author
journalist and author
