NEWSLETTER – OCTOBER 2017

Happy 10th Birthday MFS

MFS recently celebrated its10th Birthday at a co-hosted

field day with Rabobank in Nimmitabel on the 6th

September where 60 people attended. Rabobank

speakers, Marc Oostdijk and Georgia Twomey

discussed global Industry image and market trends in

the wool Industry.

Phil Graham gave a three month outlook for feed

availability and pasture growth based on historical

weather data and data gathered from soil moisture

probes located at four Monaro sites; Rhine Falls,

Bungarby, Bombala and Delegate.

In terms of benchmarking data for the Monaro, Sandy

McEachern (Holmes & Sackett) gave another overview

of Monaro farm business performance compared to

previous years.

There has been a slight reduction in profitability for the

Monaro (with approx. 25% increase in land values) in

16 / 17 with an average 6% ROAM (return on assets

managed) compared to 8.5% ROAM in 15/16.

The top 5 Monaro businesses show a ROAM of 11.5%

again demonstrating the variation between businesses

and the capacity for improvement. Prime lamb was the

least profitable enterprise in 16/17 with a profit of $17

($/DSE) compared to the most profitable, dual purpose

at $39 ($/DSE). This was followed closely by beef at

$32 ($/DSE) and wool at $25 ($/DSE).

Again the disparity between the top 20% producing

businesses and the “average” was highlighted with the

top producers enjoying a wool profit of 48 ($/DSE)

compared to 26 ($/DSE) for the average.

Jo Powells from South East Local Land Services

finished of the afternoon by presenting the results of

the serrated tussock herbicide resistance project. 13

sites were sampled across the Monaro region in mid

December 2016 to test for resistance to the herbicide

flupropanate. 5 of the 13 samples showed a high level

of resistance to the chemical.

In this issue

MFS to take the lead...Native

Vegetation legislation

Soil Moisture probe website launched

Project Updates…P efficient pasture

trials…2018 traineeship…worm egg

counts…funding success for S work

New MFS Industry Board appointment

Next Event – Soil Club Field Day & Xmas

lunch -December 7th 2017

MFS NEWSLETTER

Native vegetation legislation

Following a recent poll of members, which showed

unanimous support (87% response rate), MFS will now

work closely with LLS and private sector professionals

to drive research and fieldwork to assist in the

development of evidence based policy for native

vegetation management on Monaro farmland.

It is hoped this will result in;

greater accuracy in identification of higher

conservation native grasslands;

accurate assessment of the economic impact of

current and future legislation on agricultural

businesses;

documentation of the economic and

environmental effect weeds such as African

Love Grass and Serrated Tussock have on

agricultural enterprises.

This will be kicked off at the soils club field day on the

7th of December where we will have speakers

Agricultural Minister Niall Blair (tbc), Richard Bull

(Acting Chair of the state board of LLS) and Kristian

Holz (Group Director Sustainable Land Management)

as well as a Federal Government representative to

explain the interpretation of the current legislation and

what local farmers can and cannot do within the

current legislation.

Soil Moisture Probe Website Launched

http://www.soilmoistureprobes.com.au/

The LLS/MFS/TFS website is now live which

showcases the 14 probes across the Southern

Tablelands. The 4 Monaro probes (Muniong,

Bukalong, Delegate, Bungarby) can be accessed

24hrs a day for current soil moisture and rainfall

information. MFS is currently working with a software

programmer who will link in these probes on the MFS

homepage. It is hoped members can then customize

their homepage to show the moisture probe data most

relevant to them.

This information will also be used by Doug Alcock

when running his Grassgro® seasonal outlooks.

Example of the data display

Expressions Of Intrest - serrated tussock

An expression of interest (EOI) process is now open to

landholders who are interested in testing for

flupropanate resistance on their own properties.

If interested please contact Jo Powells

(jo.powells@lls.nsw.gov.au) or Nancy Spoljaric

(Nancy@meridian-ag.com.au) to get a copy of the

form.

EOI's need to be received by close of business,

Tuesday 31st October. Subsidised test cost $50.

MFS NEWSLETTER

P Efficient Pasture Trials – (CSIRO, NSW DPI)

The sites were sown on the 12th and 13th of April into reasonably good soil moisture at Glen Finnan

but the site at Redcliff had dried out considerably.

Seedling counts show germination appears patchy with serradella (cv Avilla) seedling density less

than 40 plants/m2 at Glen Finnan. Numbers are better at Redcliff with plant densities averaging

around 60 plants/m2. Given the sowing rate of 5kg/ha it would be reasonable to expect 150-200

plants/m2. Poor rates of germination might be the result of variable sowing depth due to the rough

surface of the seed bed and it is possible that there is a considerable amount of seed yet to emerge.

“Overall the plots look better than I expected given the establishment counts and the way the season

has been. Nonetheless there is not much biomass yet.” Doug Alcock, site visit Redcliff October 2017.

Soil test results at the Glenfinnan site

Colwell P Olsen P PBI PBI KCl40 Colwell K

mg/kg mg/kg colwell unadjusted mg/kg mg/kg

Glen Finnan South

Rep 1 37.4 12 76.1 69.3 10.6 51.2

Rep 2 41.2 14 71.6 64.1 8.79 57.7

Rep 3 32.6 11.7 48.1 42.6 7.27 46.8

Glen Finnan East

Rep 1 18.4 6.2 44.2 41 6.5 81

Rep2 20.5 6.25 45.3 41.8 6.6 82.2

Rep 3 19.3 5.71 43.2 46.5 6.4 69.5

The soil at this location is derived predominantly from the typical slate/shale association that

crosses the Monaro and is a soil type that represents around a third of the arable area in the region.

MFS NEWSLETTER

Soil test results at the Redcliff site

Colwell P Olsen P PBI PBI KCl40 Colwell K

mg/kg mg/kg colwell unadjusted mg/kg mg/kg

Redcliff East Rep 1 16.1 4.74 56 53.2 5.5 279

Rep 2 15.3 5.7 55.5 52.8 7.7 291

Rep 3 13.5 5.81 56.8 54.4 7.5 284

Redcliff West Rep 1 23.3 6.13 109 104.3 8.8 296

Rep2 25.3 5.42 107.1 102 8.7 353

Rep 3 21.4 5.54 94.3 90.2 7.2 288

The soil at this site is also derived predominantly from the typical slate/shale association that

crosses the Monaro. The target starting P level was around 20 mg/kg so the Redcliff East site was

given some additional P prior to sowing.

Photos taken of the Redcliff site 11th October 2017 East Site – yellow serradellas (Santorini, Avila) with phalaris

MFS NEWSLETTER

West Site – pink and yellow serradellas and sub clover

A biomass assessment was recently conducted at both sites, results to be presented in the next newsletter.

2018 MFS Traineeship Program

Applications are now open for the MFS 2018

traineeship program. Thanks to all our

producer hosts we have enough commitment to

support one full time position. For the first time

next year the program will include 4 weeks of

fully paid training (covered by MFS funds) which

includes the 3 week Hay Inc certificate. The

position will be advertised in the local papers for

two weeks starting October the 25th. If you

know of anyone interested in applying please

let them know or they can contact Nancy for an

application or download one from the MFS

website.

http://www.monarofarmingsystems.com.au/proj

ects/mfs-agricultural-traineeships-program/

Funding success for S trial work

MFS has been successful in securing $67,845

($16,961 to be contributed as a cash

contribution by MFS) through the MLA donar

company. This one year project which will

commence in Jan 2018, titled “Solving the

Sulphur Story” was developed in conjunction

with Richard Simpson (CSIRO) to try and

address the glaring Sulphur (S) deficiency issue

on the Monaro identified by the soils club. The

phosphorus (P) story in soils is well understood

and has led to significant improvements in

correcting P deficiencies across the district

however the Sulphur story is not, either on the

Monaro or at a wider Industry level.

MFS NEWSLETTER

The project will look at determining the

distribution and content of extractable S in five

(5) soil profiles under the three (3) main soil

types on the Monaro (i.e. basalt, granite and

shale-derived soils) by soil testing to 50cm and

also looking at pasture and soil test

responsiveness to S applications in a replicated

trial design. This will hopefully lead to helping

develop a guideline for fertiliser application rate

calculations and more work on comparing

elemental versus sulphate Sulphur products and

their effectiveness.

New MFS Industry Board appointment

Three very high caliber candidates (Ian

Johnsson, Warick Badgery and Chris Copeland)

have recently been considered by the Board to

fill the vacant Industry Board director position

vacated by Phil Graham. The successful

candidate was Warick and we look forward to

welcoming him onto the Board.

The bulk of Ian Johnsson’s background and

capability is in animal science (including

physiology, nutrition and genetics) and he is an

exceptional specialist in livestock R&D having

worked for the sheep and biosecurity CRC’s,

MLA, Australia Pork and in a private

consultancy capacity.

Chris has a solid background in the commercial

aspects of rural products and services having

run Landmark in Yass for 15 years and worked

as the Merial representative for 10 years

covering Southern NSW.

Warick has extensive experience in grazing

management systems, particularly in native

pastures and serrated tussock management

having working for NSW DPI for twelve years.

He is currently a NSW DPI Research Leader for

rangelands.

Lamb Finishing project kicks off…

John Jeffreys will be the first of five producers

involved in the lamb finishing project to wean

lambs onto his clover/chickory/lucerne/plantain

pasture at Delegate River. Doug Alcock

recently performed a biomass assessment with

the total green herbage mass calculated to be

3595kgDM/ha. Feed quality samples have been

sent away with the DM digestibility expected to

exceed 80%. A sub-set of the lambs have been

tagged with EID and entry and exit weights will

be taken along with an interim weight if

possible. With the dry seasonal conditions the

brassica and lucerne systems to be measured

are still in the establishment phase. Lambs are

soon to go on to the other improved pastures

and rye grass and chickory / clover systems.

Delegate River clover/chickory/Lucerne/plantain

NEWSLETTER – OCTOBER 2017

MFS Worms Club – Sept 2017 Update

Please remember to send any copies of worm tests to Nancy so they can go in the worms club data

base (anonymous) for district reporting updates.

NEWSLETTER – OCTOBER 2017