Better fencing gives us the ability to do this. More fencing allows each plant a greater rest period between grazing and the improvement to pasture and cattle production is immediate. Since buying the property the Doyles have achieved dramatic results simply through the control allowed to them by fencing. The effective grazing area has been reduced from 78 hectares to 70.5 hectares. Water troughs have been established in the new paddocks at points as far away from the creek line as possible.
Tree shading is to be established on the higher ground away from the creek.
The combined effect of these measures is that the cattle deposit their droppings away from the creek line and at the highest point in the paddock. This moves nutrients back up the hill from the fiver flat and reverses set stocking grazing management practices where nutrient flowed from the high ground to the low ground. Good grazing management means there is little nutrient run off. In the past, when cattle camped in the shade in the creek line, their droppings passed directly into the water flow and were lost forever. The number of grazing paddocks has been increased to thirteen and is rapidly being increased to 34.