Letting natural instincts guide grazing practices is the style behind much of Sam and Claire Johnsons success.
Along with their son Sid, and two full-time staff, the Johnson's run cattle, sheep and pigs on Windermere, their property 35 kilometres outside of Young, NSW.
Their stock includes 230 Angus cows, 300 First-Cross Merino ewes and 20 sows.
They take a very holistic approach to grazing where even the pigs roam free.
The Johnsons allow the animals to use their instincts to determine when to move on, giving the pasture time to recover.
Sam said this approach has seen their pastures remain in a far better state than they would be under conventional grazing methods.
"Both Claire and I grew up on farms with standard grazing operations," he said.
"We saw the impact from droughts and we didn't feel that bare landscape was good enough.
"We did some other stuff on a smaller farm before coming across material from Allan Savory on holistic management in the mid-90s.
"It was a bit of a light bulb moment for us. He said that the animal wasn't the problem, it is the way they are managed.
"If you manage them in a way that works with the grass, you can regenerate the pasture. You can have your cake and eat it too.
"This has seen a great result for us. We have been able to use the animals to produce a living while improving the environmental outcomes on the farm and improve soil health.
"Our approach is based around understanding the interactions between the animals and the grass, and manipulating that so you rebuild the ecological processes which underlie the landscape."
This method has proven economically viable with reduced input costs both in regards to the pasture and the animals.
The Johnsons do not require any top dressing of pastures, or any fertilisers or herbicides.
They compost their butchery waste and spread it on some of the paddocks.
The Johnsons do not need to make hay or supplement feed their stock either.
"It is very much working with the resources we have on-farm, and aiming to constantly improve the resilience and the capacity of the land so it can absorb more water, grow feed for longer and get better species of pasture," Sam said.
"We don't do anything with the animals either. They don't need any inoculation, backlining or drenching.
"We don't need to do any of that because there is sufficient break in the recovery period of the pastures which breaks the life cycle of the pathogens. The grasses the animals are going onto always have a good mix of carbohydrates and proteins."
Through their business Boxgum Grazing, the Johnsons sell their cuts to restaurants in Canberra and at the Canberra Farmers Markets each weekend.
"Each week we select a couple of cows, about eight pigs and 10 to 15 lambs when they are on," Sam said.
"We only have one joining period for the cattle and an extended period for the sheep which have a lambing percentage above 100 per cent.
"They go to the abbottoir to be butchered, cattle starting from 14 months or around 220 kilograms dressed, up to 24 months and 300kg dressed.
"The whole body returns here where we have a licensed light meat processing plant on the farm - a boning and butcher shop if you like.
"So we bone them out and cut them up into cuts and do the brining of the ham and bacon that is required.
"We then vacuum pack all the beef and pork cuts for the orders which have come in for the week from restaurants or via our website, and then the remainder is vacuum packed as individual cuts.
"We go over to the markets with everything, including the pre-ordered stock where people pick-up their orders and we deliver to the dozen restaurants and cafes in Canberra who have ongoing orders with us.
"We decided to market our meat this way because it was a shame to breed the animals and grow them this way only for them to disappear in the commodities market with no recognition."
