Rainforest trees are the newest addition to beef producer David Andersen’s property, where a swag of changes is improving the land and productivity.

Two thousand trees were recently planted along stretches of streambank on the Malanda farm.

2000 trees planted to stabilise streambanks

“They’re in areas where cattle have been eroding the steep banks, some of them (banks) three to five metres high,’’ Dave says. “In big rain, the exposed topsoil just washes away.”

The Andersens have been working with natural resource management organisation Terrain NRM to reduce erosion by fencing off and revegetating waterways, as well as fine-tuning grazing management practices.

Smaller paddocks improving pastures

They began dividing paddocks when they first bought the land and, with help from Terrain NRM’s Upper Johnstone Integrated Project, they have recently created another three paddocks.

“By reducing the size of some of our larger paddocks, all of the paddock is more efficiently grazed down instead of just the sweet stuff,” David said.

Cattle rotation changes

“The cattle are then rotated around the farm allowing the tropical grasses and legumes a good recovery period. Whereas before there were big clumps of grass with underlying patches of dirt, the grass is now starting to spread and tighten up.”

Terrain’s Vanessa Drysdale said a combination of grazing management changes and tree-planting was chosen for the Andersen property as an effective solution to the erosion issues.

“On other properties there have been earthworks like Zuni bowls installed, which are then combined with revegetation work,’’ she said. “But we didn’t need the hard works on the Andersen property. Revegetation alone should do the trick for long-term repair on these streambanks. Tree root systems hold banks together and they slow water down in heavy rain events, reducing the chances of topsoil loss and of more erosion.”

The creation of a native fruit orchard, as part of the revegetation work, has been a bonus at the Andersen family’s property.

Grazing cattle to improve productivity while managing the land more sustainably was the focus of a workshop on the Tablelands recently.

Far Northern landholders heard from grazing ecosystem specialist Dick Richardson on improving soil health and pasture performance across properties, one paddock at a time.

New Malanda landholder Natasha MacPherson said information about rotational or cell grazing would help shape cattle production plans for the family’s property.

“This land was historically over-grazed, with cattle having full access to watercourses on the property. This has caused erosion and sediment runoff,’’ she said.

“For us this has been about learning how cattle and the land can get the best out of each other and how we can improve soil health and diversity in our pastures – all while maintaining beef production and improving the quality of water leaving the property.”

Mr Richardson follows a grazing naturally method where a priority paddock is grazed repeatedly and intensely during the pasture-growing season and can later be spelled for up to 12 months.

The aim, among other things, is to optimise the sugar flow in soils and to increase their ability to capture and hold water.

“It’s a bit like preparing a lawn – mow it, water it, feed it, mow it again and repeat,’’ Mr Richardson says. “In no time you’ll end up with a lush thick carpet of grass.”

The workshop was part of Terrain NRM’s Upper Johnstone Integrated Project, funded through the Queensland Government’s Natural Resources Investment Program.