Extensive soil erosion prompted Victorian beef producers Russell (pictured above) and Janine Washusen to start planting trees on their farms in the 1980s, and the multiple benefits realised has seen them continue.
Russell and Janine are participating in the MLA and Victorian Department of Jobs, Regions and Precincts-funded ‘Trees on Farm’ project.
“A lot of the forestry we’ve planted was aimed at addressing land degradation such as soil erosion, because we have so many waterways on-farm,” Russell said.
He said the trees not only help manage surface and groundwater, but have other benefits.
“The trees – along with improvements in pasture management – have helped continually increase our stocking rate because they provide shade to livestock during the warmer months.
“If it’s cold or windy, the livestock will also be in the plantations because it’s warmer and more protected.
“Because the livestock are protected from the weather this probably impacts the amount of feed the animals need to maintain their body weight, so they eat less too.”
Calculating carbon storage
Russell and Janine used the sheep and beef Greenhouse Accounting Framework tool (SBGAF) to calculate the carbon storage of their tree plantations.
“It’s an estimate, but the sequestration in trees component of the calculator suggested our property for the last 10 years has been about carbon neutral.
“It hasn’t been possible to calculate methane emissions in years prior to 2017 because of stock movement between farms.
“However, the sequestration in trees component of the calculator showed that a reduction in age of the trees produced greater sequestration great sequestration, suggesting our farm ‘Glenisla’ was carbon was carbon neutral for several years since about 2005, if the stocking rate was constant,” Russell said.
“The SB-GAF calculator is essential for us, and I think it’s going to be an essential first step for most producers.”
Learnings
Russell’s advice to other producers heading down the forestry path is to link up with local forestry markets to find out what trees are in demand.
“You want to make sure you plant the right trees as it’s a long-term project – you don’t want to find out in 35 to 40 years that there is no market to sell your trees,” he said.
It’s also important to consider the ongoing management requirements of tree plantations.
“For the first 10 years the management is quite labour intensive as you need to prune the trees to control branching.
“The cost of getting trees to 10 years would be about one-third for planting and establishment and then two-thirds for ongoing management.
“After 10 years the trees look after themselves and now the cattle just wander in and out.”
