LANDSCAN - PROfarm testimonial

The Pearces

With the dedication required to achieve sustainable productivity and improved environmental outcomes, beef producers Matt and Angela Pearce of ‘Muronga’, along with Matt’s parents Kerry and Marlene, near Yaven Creek, New South Wales, have matched production and management decisions to the potential of their landscape.

In the challenging terrain of the south-west slopes of the Snowy Mountains, the Pearces run a Hereford and Angus breeding herd across 1485 hectares (including 135 hectares of leased country) for the feedlot and domestic markets, with a good outlet through Coles.

While the last four years have been extremely difficult under severe drought conditions, Matt Pearce said they had managed to keep their cattle numbers up.

‘We’ve maintained our breeding numbers by sending heifers on agistment and by using the 135 hectares of river country that we leased a couple of years ago to run young cattle,’ Mr Pearce explained.

‘While the heifers were on agistment at Quirindi, we sent bulls up to join them. We usually join around 650 to 720 cows a year with a pregnancy rate of 90 per cent and try to calve around 600 females for the year as a minimum.

‘In the height of the drought we also took on a large feeding program using silage pits and hay sourced on the property.’

With a degree in resources and environmental science, majoring in soil science and well aware of the importance of land care for grazing practices Mr Pearce decided to undertake the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) LANDSCAN® workshop series to refresh his knowledge and skills of landscape and soil test interpretation.

‘For me and Angela, the main focus was soil fertility and fencing to land class,’ Mr Pearce said. ‘It was good to gain a better understanding of soil test results, assessing paddock potential, and to learn more about our landscape limitations. We are also careful to match stock requirements with landscape variability.

‘We run a fairly heavy fertiliser program and traditionally we had blanket spread the fertiliser. Now, through the course, we’ve found new ways to better utilise our fertiliser and we’re doing a lot more soil testing to monitor the soil condition.

‘We know there are benefits through rotational grazing, such as increasing the perenniality of pastures and providing increased competition to annual weeds and grasses. These are some of the areas we’re looking at now.

‘While we have undertaken a lot of pasture improvement, splitting paddocks and getting water to them for a rotational system is more of a challenge for us due to our hilly country. We’re aware of the country that can be improved and of the higher carrying capacity country and we’re also aware of the country that should be left alone’

Matt recently completed the LANDSCAN course and said they were able to incorporate the water quality, soil health and biodiversity information into their management plans for long-term benefits.

The NSW DPI LANDSCAN workshop series has been developed for farmers, graziers and land managers. Delivered by lectures, discussions and practical, in-paddock demonstrations, the sessions include reading landscapes, soil types and sampling, understanding soil tests and soil fertility, soil degradation issues, management strategies for production and sustainable land use, assessing paddocks and deciding on priorities for property development and management.