Chris Mirams would have preferred to have managed the 2700-hectare Woomargama Station through good seasons rather than nearly a decade of rolling drought, but having done so, he feels he is on a much firmer footing for the future.
“I love the ideal of using challenges as stepping stones to success. We have certainly had our fair share of challenges recently,” Mr Mirams says.
He’s rediscovered the value of permanent perennial pastures, confirmed the value of rotational grazing, and above all, learned to take opportunistic advantage of any rain, anywhere, any time.
“We’re learning to be a whole lot more responsive to whatever situation presents itself, whether it is about using available rainfall, or taking advantage of markets,” said Mr Mirams, who has managed Woomargama Station, Albury, for the Darling family since 1993.
The rainfall record reflects the management challenges Mr Mirams has dealt with in the past few years.
In the 20th century, the worst drought on the historic station’s record books was in 1967, when 311 millimetres was recorded.
Long-term average rainfall for the area is 750mm, but in 2006 Woo-
margama recorded just 239mm, followed by 596mm in 2007 and 580mm last year – tough enough years in isolation, let alone one after another, Mr Mirams observed.
These years, and the less-than-satisfactory years that preceded them, have given Mr Mirams a deeper insight into the value of protecting “environmental capital”.
“Maintaining ground cover, protecting pastures and top soil and considering soil health are real challenges in prolonged droughts, but these assets are so important for our future,” he said.
The property runs about 24,000 dry sheep equivalents (DSE), split between about 1000 cattle and 10,000 sheep.
About one third of the property is arable and maintains well fertilised improved pastures, predominantly phalaris based.
This is the backbone of the system, providing a huge amount of high quality feed.
Half of the property is steep and carries native pasture, which used to be set stocked, mainly with dry stock, at two to four DSE.
The pasture was managed poorly, Mr Mirams acknowledged, and accordingly the stock did not thrive and native pasture contributed little to the bottom line.
All that has changed as Mr Mirams re-assessed the value of the property’s assets during a run of tough seasons.
He said the tough seasons had taught them they needed to have the pasture species on hand to take advantage of whatever rain fell.
Using Evergraze principles (see www.evergraze.com.au) the native and improved pastures are managed in an integrated grazing system.
“We now have three grazing blocks, one for the ewes, one for wethers and one for cows. Each block includes 15 to 20 existing paddocks, some improved and some native,” Mr Mirams said.
“Managing improved and native pastures in the same system works extremely well.
“For much of the year it is a continuous rotation, but in the spring we graze the phalaris particularly heavily, while the native pastures enjoy a rest.”
“During summer, when phalaris is in senescence, the summer active natives earn their keep.”
“We now are managing a suite of drought tolerant, productive and permanent perennial grasses, that respond to rainfall all year round.”
Rotational grazing contributes to the strategy by allowing precise management of the feed base.
Rotations are “very flexible”, with the focus on individual paddock performance rather than an overarching set of rules.
“If we’re at the point that the entire feed base is collapsing, we pull the stock off and either sell them or put them in a sacrifice paddock,” Mr Mirams said.
Stock in sacrifice paddocks are fed “precision chop” silage cut from surplus pasture during the spring flush.
Mr Mirams aims to produce 2000 tonnes of silage a year.
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