I Bought A Farm: Where to start?

I recently was chatting with friends on acreage just outside of Brisbane. One of their

challenges is their horses keep most of the grass short, with some bare patches starting to appear and on other areas the grass is tall and rank. This is a common challenge for small landholders, and it doesn’t matter what animals we are grazing, whether it be horses, a couple of cows or a handful of sheep or goats. How do we look after our animals as well as looking after our land?

Working with nature is complex. In this situation there are many variables; land area, soil type, grass species, rainfall amount and effectiveness, season, temperature, animal

numbers, type of animal, feed requirements, wildlife habitat, water quality, … The list goes on and on.

As I said, working with nature is complex, every block, every season, and every situation is different. The only constant is change. Therefore, how do we manage complex systems? The answer lies in having a guiding set of principles. It doesn’t matter what animals we’re keeping, the principles remain the same. How we implement these principles will be Different.

One of the key principles is to match the feed demand (number and type of animals) with the supply of feed (the amount of grass we are growing). The amount of grass we grow in our pastures is dependent on the soil type, species growing, time of year and most importantly, how much rain we are receiving and its effectiveness. We all know that sometimes we have wet years and sometimes we have dry years. By monitoring our rainfall, we can continually see if it is getting wetter, or if it is getting drier, which will have a direct impact on how much pasture we can grow. Our job as livestock owners is to be aware of how much pasture we have, and then adjust the number of animals we are running to match the feed available. When we do this well, our animals will always have enough to eat, and our land will

appreciate this too.

During our I Bought a Farm Bootcamp we take a deeper dive into this principle and the other principles to sustainably and regeneratively manage the land we are stewards of. When is the best time to plant a tree? 20 years ago. The next best is today.