Willyung Farm

About Willyung Farm

Sandy and Narelle Lyon are the owners and managers of Willyung Farm, Albany. Sandy was born and raised on the family farm and has taken over from his father. Narelle is from the Fitzgerald area and was raised on sheep farms.

Willyung is a mixed farming enterprise incorporating livestock, avocado production, & agritourism.

Farm Fact File:

• Farm Size: 1500 acres
• Location: Willyung is in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. It is 13.2km from Albany.
• Soil Type: Characteristic Soils Map
• Topography: Undulating pasture land with highest elevation at Willyung Hill (not on property) of 25 metres.

Weather: Hottest in 2023 - 38.9 degrees | Coldest in 2023 - 0.7 degrees | Wettest in 2023 36.4mm (August) | Driest in 2023 - 0.0mm (January) | Long Term Average Rainfall 126.4mm 22.5 days

Willyung is situated near Albany which has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb) with dry, warm summers, mild, wet winters, and pleasant springs and autumns.^[24] Albany has 44.8 clear days annually. July is the wettest month, with a long-term average of 144.0 mm (5.67 in). Rain in excess of 0.2 mm (0.01 in) occurs on two days out of every three during an average winter. The driest month is February with a mean of 22.9 mm (0.90 in).

Sandy and Narelle explain how they got started with composting...

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Sandy and Narelle are both committed to sustainable farming principles and soil health has become a major consideration as they manage their farm. Introducing compost and boosting microbes in their soil has become an integral part of their farming program.

However, they are keen to point out that they aren't an organic farm - artificial fertilisers are used when they are needed. Nitrogen is used to push pastures on when they need a boost, but ..

Compost is the core fertiliser and fulfils about 70% of the farm's fertiliser requirements

The compost is currently spread on the paddocks, but problems have arisen. When the compost's dry, it can be spread, but when it gets wet it gets stuck in the machine. To alleviate the issues they recently invested in a new machine that can handle the damp compost.

They currently don't use an extract or tea - they prefer to keep it simple. They consider themselves 'opportunist composters'; if they have the raw materials on the farm and the weather seems right they will do it, but they don't currently have a formal process or composting schedule.

Sandy and Narelle explain their recent success with compost:

Sandy and Narelle currently produce around 2000 tonnes of compost per year (the volume varies depending on how many cattle go through the feedlot).

Manure and straw from the feedlot are key ingredients, but again, the couple will add other appropriate material if it's available.

The compost windrows have been established on a higher paddock to the east of the farm. They are close to the feedlot, but in a drier area to avoid machinery bogging.

Due to the volume of the material Sandy and Narelle have invested in a compost mixer:

This mixer is designed to go over the windrows and mix the materials. At this scale mixing by hand would be impossible.

The windrows at Willyung Farm are Thermal Aerobic Composts. The windrows are piles of controlled, decomposing materials which are turned and mixed regularly - ideally daily - for the first two weeks.

Regular mixing is essential in the early stages of composting - the centre of the pile heats up quickly, potentially burning the inner core of the pile, using up oxygen and suffocating bacteria, fungi and humus

When the core of the pile reaches 65 degrees it must be mixed to reduce temperature.