Case Study: Regenerative Agriculture in Practice
Summer Time Farm - Karridale,WA
Fact File:
Property Location: Karridale, Western Australia
Property Use: Commercial Beef Farm
Landholders: Jeff John and Ken John
Size: 163 Hectares plus lease property
Climate: Mediterranean
Average Rainfall: 1068mm
Project: Regenerative Agriculture in Practice Program (RAPP) 2024
Ken John
Ken John
Black Angus on Summertime Farm
Black Angus on Summertime Farm
Background:
Ken John always had a love for the land and being armed with a Certificate in Agriculture that seemed a likely outcome. In 2002, Ken came across the 112-acre property he later named Summertime Farm. Things got serious in 2013 when he added the neighbour’s 300 acres to his portfolio and moved from being a lifestyle farmer to a commercial beef producer.
The property was very run down when Ken took it on – the infrastructure had been let go and the pastures needed substantial improvement to become a productive asset. Not shy of a challenge, Ken set about turning the farm around and in the process developed a love of the rural life and his cattle. Like many farmers though, tight margins have sometimes limited options and at times it has been a labour of love rather than profit.
“My challenge was everything I did was just with my two hands. That, and trying to find some money to buy some fence posts, and then try to find some money to buy some cattle and keep everything turning”.
Ken was motivated to participate in RAPP 2021 and with son Jeff joining the program in 2023 & 2024. This case study is an update on activities and outcomes in the interim.
Landscape:
Summertime Farm sits on an elevation of around 36m above sea level with an average annual rainfall of 1068 mm. Prior to clearing for agricultural purposes the landscape would have consisted of what is now classified as a low forest & woodland. Jarrah (E. marginata), banksia (Banksia spp.) or casuarina (Allocasuarina spp.) trees would have been present in large numbers, along with some patches of Karri (E. diversicolour) in the landscape.
The property had limited remnant bush remaining on it when Ken purchased it but he has since fenced off and revegetated areas along his creek-line and an area of parkland clearing with the longer-term goal of getting it back to ‘bush’.
The topography of the land is slightly undulating with parts of it very low lying. Around 40% of the farm becomes very wet in the winter, sometimes too wet for livestock – the flip side of this is that these areas provide good summer grazing.
There are a wide range of soil types across the property however the area sampled for the project was assessed as a fine silty sandy loam, pH 6.2 with a good crumb structure in top 100mm & only a mild hardpan plating at 100-150mm. With organic carbon levels at 4.2%, this particular part of Ken’s property is highly conducive to supporting a biologically driven system.
Typical pastures across the property are a mix of rye grass (annual and perennial), a variety of annual clovers, Kikuyu, strawberry clover, winter grass, phalaris, plantain, flat weed & dock.
Due to the run down nature of the pastures when Ken purchased the property Ken has spread fertilisers over the years with regular applications of potash & super, plus a regular strong liming program. Now fertiliser and lime applied based on soil testing and agronomic recommendations, the paddocks continue to improve with multispecies, rye, various clovers and more perennial species.
Example of soil texture on Summertime Farm
Example of soil texture on Summertime Farm
Remnant Bushland
Remnant Bushland
Production:
Summertime Farm is an Angus breeding cattle operation with 124 head of breeders as of 2024. In the last few years all of their weaner steers have been sold between 9 to 12 months.
Since being a part of the RAPP 2021, Jeff and Ken have decided to split paddocks in half with permanent fencing with a plan to continue to increase paddock numbers, eventually doubling their paddock number. The current carrying capacity is 1.3 cows /ha, which a is roughly 80% carrying capacity
“The goal is to have an appropriate stocking rate for the farm and ensuring that we have effective strategies to minimise risk for challenging seasons.”
Jeff has been a part of the Regenerative Agriculture in Practice Program (RAPP) from RAPP 2023 to 2024. Jeff says he's learnt a lot throughout the program, of particular help was the Whole Farm Planning four-day-course, presented by agroecologist David Hardwick.
"... it has given us the ability to establish structures for short, medium and long term goals for the property, including fencing, revegetation, slowly work toward a slightly higher stocking density in our paddocks and more..."
Jeff has also developed a better understanding about soil biology and drivers of healthy soil, and thus pastures. RAPP has given him the tools to know how to try more intervention on the property – or not to. For example, instead of spraying out weeds, he can change the grazing plan for lower chemical intervention but still getting the same weed control goals.
Summer Grazing
Summer Grazing
Winter Grazing
Winter Grazing
Changes to Come
Managed Grazing:
Through his time in RAPP, Jeff has discovered that rotational grazing has worked well on their property. He plans to continuing to try and wait for "the three-leaf-stage" to eliminate the risk of a "second bite" to allow the root system of the perennials to strengthen.
Jeff has also started using holding paddocks for his cattle and feeding out during that autumn feed-gap to allow his other paddocks to better establish after germination. This sets the pasture up for stronger growth and more feed-on-offer in the long run, which gave a huge positive impact on their grazing for the year and further into the winter.
Another key point that Jeff has picked up from program coach Mark Tupman, is that he is less concerned about strictly following his rotational grazing plan. He's more happy to let a paddock to "get away" to maximise the pasture growth as soil biology will increase with longer rested paddocks improving the soil and pasture health in the long term, even though it comes with a slight decrease in access to metabolisable feed in the short-term.
Experimenting with the Tumble Wheel for mobile fencing options
Experimenting with the Tumble Wheel for mobile fencing options
Ken with Grazing Trainer Dick Richardson in 2021
Ken with Grazing Trainer Dick Richardson in 2021
Multispecies on Summertime Farm
Multispecies on Summertime Farm
Seeding
Seeding
Perennials & Multispecies
After being a part of the RAPP and the MLA: Filling the Autumn Feed Gap projects, Jeff and Ken have planted multispecies perennials on their farm. During these projects, they learnt more about the value of multispecies pastures and perennials on the overall soil health and production.
In the ‘Filling the Summer-Autumn Feed Gap’ project, a range of different species were trialled for summer growth in the catchment. Included in the trials were a mix of annuals and perennials that can provide summer feed for livestock, these summer growing plants also benefit the soil biology which need living roots to survive.
Jeff and Ken are now refining and establishing which perennials and blends of multispecies trying grow the best on their land. Jeff says that the last three summers where difficult in helping them figure out what works due to extensive dry periods, this summer is looking more promising.
They both agree that a mix of different perennials in with their normal annuals is a very important step for the farm production. It's integral to them that they ensure that the mix they decide on works for them and establishes well before they start the grazing plan they want to achieve.
Jeff checking seed has good soil to seed contact
Jeff checking seed has good soil to seed contact
Motivation & Challenges
The next step for Summertime Farm is creating actionable plans to achieve set goals, which is something Jeff and Ken are striving for.
Their main challenge is ability to budget their finances and workload and continue to improve the property including a revegetation plan – which was identified in the Whole Farm Planning mapping Jeff completed.
Ken and Jeff are both equally and actively striving towards a healthier landscape and a more sustainable farm.
"This a pretty precious part of the world and it’s a unique position to manage a healthy ecosystem that can be productive as an ecosystem and a farm. Our aim is to bring together a healthy ecosystem and a healthy production system as one thing. We want to do the whole thing in one go, rather than limiting the healthy ecosystem on our property to the revegetation and other like sites, and then having the producing side as well – conservationists don’t facilitate production and producers don’t facilitate conservation. It's a continual process, it has no end point to refinement, no end point to development, and so there’s no endpoint to learning. Which is exciting not daunting, that’s the joy and the world is our oyster.
Creekline requiring revegetation
Creekline requiring revegetation
Summertime Farms
Summertime Farms
About this Case Study
This case study forms part of the Lower Blackwood LCDC's project 'Regenerative Agriculture in Practice Program (RAPP) 2024, and is supported through the Shire of Augusta Margaret River Environmental Management Fund and Soil Wise. Soil Wise is funded by the National Landcare Program Smart Farms Small Grants – an Australian Government initiative. It is supported by Healthy Estuaries WA – a State Government program.
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