IMPROVING SOIL HEALTH
SOILKEE RENOVATOR DEMONSTRATION DAY
A Malanda dairy farmer is trialling new technology to improve pasture and productivity – and the results will be showcased at a demonstration day on Thursday 6 June.
Glen Drury has been working with Terrain NRM to trial the Soilkee Renovator, a minimum till pasture cropping machine that mulches and aerates the soil while planting multiple species into existing pastures. The renovator was designed by Victorian beef producer Niels Olsen, the first Australian farmer to earn carbon credits for his soil under a government-regulated system.
Niels and Glen will be sharing their learnings and land improvements at the demonstration day, on Thursday 6 June, along with Australian Holistic Management Coop CEO Helen Lewis whose organisation, as part of the project, has begun monitoring Glen’s land to measure regenerative outcomes over the next five years.
Glen has planted a mixture of seasonal crops and pasture seeds with the Soilkee Renovator on 150 acres of his 450-acre property. The aim is to build up pasture biodiversity, soil microbes and carbon.
“We’ve been putting in ryegrass, chicory and clovers for years but the new technology gives us more variety,’’ he said. “We’ve planted legumes, cereal, ryegrass, peas, beans and brassicas. A lot of those seeds are too big to go through the old planter.
“We are looking to grow more feed and more milk.”
He said minimum till was another advantage. “Before, if we worked up a whole paddock, we got really good feed but we had problems when it got wet trying to graze it out. And in the summer when we ploughed and there was heavy rain, it led to erosion.
“This way we are only working up 11 per cent of the paddock to put feed in because the hook blades are about half a metre apart. And that means less soil compaction.”
A Terrain NRM spokesperson said the Soilkee Renovator trial was a first for Queensland, and had been made possible through the Tropical North Queensland Drought Resilience Grant Scheme, supported by the TNQ Drought Hub through funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.
“Bringing Niels to the region too means landholders can learn more about the technology and also about his transition, with the help of it, from traditional farming practices to rotational grazing featuring heavy grazing and longer spell periods and to completely dropping chemical fertilisers and supplementary feed.”
The Soilkee Renovator Demonstration Day is on Thursday 6 June from 9.30am. Find out more and register online at Eventbrite at https://shorturl.at/GIRT6
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