A drought-inspired survival strategy
Restoring native saltbush to dryland properties provides a hardy source of fodder for the hard times
By Jane Milburn
Where once he grew 1200 hectares of prime hard wheat, Queensland woolgrower Duncan Banks now grows old-man saltbush. The rains failed once too often, so instead of persisting with dryland winter wheat at Dirrandbandi, Duncan planted saltbush for sheep and cattle grazing.
Saltbush was native to the Maranoa region, west of the Darling Downs, until it was grazed out by rabbits and livestock in the 1902 drought. Duncan replanted it from seedlings, which should grow into hardy, deep-rooted, drought-tolerant bushes.
Photo: Evan Collis
On their 4000-hectare property ‘Dunwold’, Duncan and his wife Gerry believe that when the saltbush country is in full production it will lift their carrying capacity to 10,000 DSE (dry sheep equivalent). The entire property is managed using cell grazing, which allows certified organic food and fibre production. They have fenced the saltbush into 20ha paddocks that are intensively grazed for 10 days and then rested for six to nine months to rejuvenate. This is a management tool to handle climate variability and change, which Duncan expects will return a margin similar to cropping once the saltbush is established.
Nigel Brumpton and his wife Rosemary, from ‘Baynham’ at Mitchell, have been growing saltbush for the past 12 years and have planted about 450,000 bushes. The plan is for saltbush plants to maintain stock through drought and to break up some of the hard claypan country for better water infiltration.
Nigel plants the saltbush in the same way he would a crop, by fallowing the land for about 12 months to build up the soil-moisture profile. He then uses a tree-planter behind a tractor. “If you don’t plant it into soil with enough moisture, it always seems to struggle,” Nigel says.
The saltbush at Mitchell is rotationally grazed and seems to be surviving well in the drought, greening up without rain, although the Brumptons have seen substantial losses of saltbush on their Cunnamulla property.
Nigel says the sheep do not really “love” it, and the kangaroos do not eat it, so the saltbush tends to be held over until it is really needed in times of drought. “It is a good tough plant that helps in drought, but is not the whole solution. The sheep need carbohydrates to go with it. It provides good shade and shelter at the same time as having some fodder value.”
Nigel says the saltbush has not spread through self-seeding because conditions have not been wet enough.
Meanwhile, Hughenden producer Bob Little, from ‘Moonby Downs’, tried planting saltbush for the first time last year and had success wherever there was sufficient soil moisture. The seedlings that had enough subsoil moisture have taken off with the rain and are nearly a metre high.
“The sheep seem to like it, particularly those that have come up from Cunnamulla,” Bob says. “They can smell it, and go running to it when we open up the paddock.”
In hindsight, he says, it was a bit ambitious to try to plant 30,000 seedlings in one go, and thinks planting in 10,000-seedling lots might generate a better success rate. “We are going to try it again with the view to having a fenced-off area in each paddock. But this time I know that we can keep the seedlings in the shed and water them until the conditions are right for planting.”
Bob says each seedling costs 26¢, and in total the planting cost was about $10,000. “It is hardy drought fodder which brightens up after rain, and we’ll use it to fatten lambs or as a supplement for ewes,” he says.
Stories such as this are included in the third and final book in the Drought Survival Stories e-book series, published by the Leading Sheep Central West group and available at www.leadingsheep.com.au. Drought Survival Stories 3 concludes the series that evolved from the desire of central-west Queensland producers to share their drought knowledge and experiences in an easy, affordable and readable fashion, thereby recording what they had learned for the future.
More information: www.leadingsheep.com.au
Photo by Gerry Grant - Dancan Banks in saltbush on his Queensland propperty.
Return to Beyond the Bale Issue 29 index page.