Schools Property Planning Competition 2014 ‘Rosedale’

1. Schools Property Planning Competition 2014‘Rosedale’

2. Property Management Planning • Is an “ongoing process for total management of a farm business which assists producers to improve their profitability and achieve more sustainable natural resource use”

3. Plan Do Review Check • Effective planning requires the assessment and consideration of all resources • It also requires continual improvement

5. Setting the Scene You are a team of farm advisory consultants who have been asked by the landholder to plan the property ensuring it is both ecologically and economically sustainable.

6. The Question • Your task is to use the principles of whole farm planning to plan the sustainable and profitable development of your case study farm. • You need to develop a map, where you will mark on where the infrastructure will be located. In each of the paddocks you will need to decide how you think they should be managed to ensure the sustainability of the farm in the long term. • When you finish your map of the property you are to write a 4-5 page report that explains and justifies the decisions you have made in your plan.

7. Up for Grabs

8. Landholder’s Goals • While property plans can be based purely on the physical resources, it is the landholder who will implement the plan. It is therefore desirable that any plan not only accounts for the physical factors but also the aims of the landholder. • The goals of the owners of “Rosedale” are to: • Increase property value for sale in the future • Increase productivity of the cattle enterprise • Improve pasture quality and quantity (including having a mix of types of pastures and provision of seasonal shortages) • Encouraging water to stay longer in the creek with better waterholes

10. What are the Assets? • Think about what you see at “Rosedale” • What are the resources available to the landholders?

11. Assets could include: • Soil and nutrients • Water / Dams / Soil Moisture • Infrastructure (fencing, sheds etc) • Pasture / Groundcover • Biodiversity – Remnant Vegetation • Knowledge/Networks • Equity / Cash

12. Soil constraints: Some problems you just shouldn’t ignore!

13. Which is the Healthy Soil?

14. Soils and Land Capability • What do you remember from the Field Day? • Soil relates to land capability • What is Land Capability? • What are the main indicators of land capability?

15. Why use grazing management strategies to improve catchment health? • Improved profit • Maintains adequate groundcover to reduce run off. • Prevent soil erosion. • Improve soil health. • Increase perenniality. • Improve the quality of water entering waterways. • Reduce deep drainage. • Resist weed invasion.

16. The main challenges on this property are: • improving and maintaining groundcover to at least 70% or above • minimising erosion in the creek and adjacent paddocks • improving the condition of the creek and encouraging habitat for native flora and fauna • improving water quality in the creek • selecting appropriate grazing and or cropping enterprises • seasonal feed value and availability • shade and shelter for stock • planning for emergencies such as bushfires and floods as well as biosecurity issues. These challenges should be addressed in the property plan.

17. Plan the fencesThis will be guided by watering points, but also by the different soil types, drainage lines, erosion and planned stock movements (ie – location of yards, laneways, etc)Though the lower slopes have water troughs in all paddocks, the large mid-slope paddock has just one dam.Can paddocks and watering points in the mid-upper areas be improved?

18. Hazards or Liabilities • Soil erosion – gully, sheet, rill • Soil structure decline • Loss in Groundcover and desirable perennial pasture species • Excess moisture loss • Loss of biodiversity • Biosecurity and emergency response • Infrastructure – fencing and water • Shade trees for shelter

19. Any other suggestions? The role of: • Earthworks – gully control structures and management of these structures • Fencing • Planning paddocks – size, shape • Fertiliser • Farm trees • Improving biodiversity • Other enterprises…..

20. Emergency Response and Bio-Security Think about the types of emergency and/or bio-security threats ‘Rosedale’ faces and how to minimise them. List the types of threats which may require a plan and or emergency response. Where would you find information to develop a fire preparedness or other plans.

21. Emergency Response and Biosecurity (Continued)

22. Monitoring • Decide on some indicators of change that you can use to monitor physical changes on the property. Think about some of the tests and assessments you participated in at the field day. Some examples could include: • Pasture and/or groundcover percentage • Pasture and/or crop yields • Soil carbon or structural changes and soil pH • Groundwater levels • Records of bird sightings as an increase in the number and diversity of species signals better environmental conditions • Water quality

23. A helpful hint…. • When you make suggestions – think about how these are going to be managed. • How are the landholders going to know they have achieved their goals? (Monitoring) • How are they going to measure the improvements?

24. MARKING SCHEDULE. Part A

25. MARKING SCHEDULE. Part B

26. Good Luck! Best two entries due in by 26 May