Saltbush ready to graze

On 16th March, PHCC’s Greening Farms team ran a Saltbush Field Day on two farms in the Wandering/Pumphrey’s Bridge district, looking to provide local farmers with the knowledge and experience to make the most of their saltbush fodder plantings. The event couldn’t have come at a better time, as food resources in some paddocks are dwindling, the saltbush is ready and waiting to be grazed. With between 12 -24 months of establishment behind them, new plantings of deep-rooted saltbush fodder in the Hotham-Williams catchment are ready for grazing.

Guest speaker Dustin McCreery from Chatfields Tree Nursery explained the importance of grazing saltbush once they were big enough not to pulled-out by animals feeding on the leaves, as well as the need to retain about 15-20% of the leaf-cover, so plants can recover quickly.

The Greening Farms project has been in operation since 2018, with the goal of increasing green cover on farms to provide food, fibre and shelter for livestock in the Hotham-Williams area. To date, more than 170,000 seedlings have been provided to landholders, over 120,000 of those are various forms of saltbush.

It’s great to see that the species PHCC have supported to be planted in past years are now being used by farmers for grazing in the region, helping them fill the Autumn feed gap and contributing to improving their bottom line, as well as improving landscape function. As well as providing food for stock, these plants also shade the ground, increasing soil health and provide habitat for many native species that benefit farms, like insects, fungi and birds. Different species of saltbush can tolerate different levels of salinity, waterlogging and grazing, so it’s important to understand where in the landscape each species is suited. This is where Dustin and his expert knowledge comes in. As the nation’s only licensed supplier of Anameka saltbush, there were lots of questions for him in the paddock.

Thank you to the Watts and Price families for allowing us to hold the event on their properties.

The Greening Farms project is coordinated by Peel-Harvey Catchment Council through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.