2014 SCHOOLS PROPERTY PLANNING COMPETITION
The Schools Property Planning Competition will be run in 2014 by North West Local Land Services for schools in the north western region of NSW. With contributions and assistance from many organisations, this competition will again be an excellent opportunity for school students to learn about agriculture and the environment.
The winning entries will include the most realistic and useful property plans for sustainable management of the host property this year, “Rosedale”. Winner and runner up individuals and teams (plus their teachers) will be presented with prizes in a special ceremony at Ag-Quip 2014.
Timetable for 2014
Wednesday 18th February: Property Planning Competition Launch
Wednesday 18th February: Resources sent on a CD and will be available on
the web at http://northwest.lls.nsw.gov.au
Wednesday 5th March: Field Day at “Rosedale” Currabubula
7th – 13th March: Tutorials in schools around the catchment
Monday 26th May: The two best entries per class due for marking. Post
to: Col Easton, North West LLS, PO Box 528,
Tamworth NSW 2340
Wednesday 20th August: Award Ceremony at Ag-Quip, Gunnedah
Disclaimer
This manual has been prepared by North West Local Land Services staff for the purposes of the 2014 Schools Property Planning Competition. Information included in this manual may be fictitious to be used only as part of the competition.
North West Local Land Services accepts no responsibility for any person acting on, or relying on, or upon any opinion, advice, representation, statement or information expressed or implied in or from the manual.
Contents
INTRODUCTION FOR TEACHERS 3
DEVELOPING YOUR PROPERTY PLAN 4
PROPERTY INFORMATION – ‘ROSEDALE’ 5
1. History and Current Enterprises 5
2. Landholder’s Goals 6
STOCKTAKE OF RESOURCES 7
1. Land Use, Maps and Measuring Area 7
2. Contours and Drainage 7
3. Current Infrastructure and Water Resources 7
4. Soil Landscapes 8
5. Soil Salinity 10
6. Land Capability Classes 11
7. Vegetation and Habitat Areas 12
8. Climate 12
9. Aboriginal Cultural Heritage 14
Photos from ‘Rosedale’ 15
MANAGING THE RESOURCES 16
1. Specific Issues 16
2. Legal Obligations 17
PUTTING THE PLAN TOGETHER 18
1. Specific Works 18
2. Management Recommendations 19
3. Monitoring 20
THE PLAN AND REPORT 21
1. The Physical Plan 21
2. The Report 21
EXTRA RESOURCES 22
1. Expertise 22
2. Funding Opportunities 22
3. Other relevant organisations and websites 22
APPENDIX I: MARKING SCHEDULE 23
APPENDIX II: THE DOT GRID 24
APPENDIX III: VEGETATION SPECIES EXPECTED AT ‘Rosedale’ 26
APPENDIX IV: Cover page template 27
INTRODUCTION FOR TEACHERS
The Property Planning Competition is designed to give students an opportunity to study a local rural property in detail. The students are required to prepare a plan that provides for long term profitability as well as sustaining the natural resources of the area.
The exercise draws together a number of land management themes and gives students the chance to apply their skills and knowledge to a real-life situation. The field day on Wednesday 5th March will provide an opportunity for students to participate in a range of activities and to engage with relevant government and industry experts.
Tutorials
After the field day, North West LLS staff will be available to run tutorials at schools who are participating. The aim of the tutorials is to help students learn and produce the best property plan they can.
Please contact Col Easton by email: or ph: 6764 5940 fax: 6764 5995 as to your school’s availability to host or attend as a guest.
Syllabus Links
The Schools Property Planning Competition has been designed to address numerous outcomes of TAFE Agriculture courses, the School Certificate and HSC Agriculture syllabus, particularly the Farm Case Study unit. Links can also be made to the HSC Geography syllabus and the VET Primary Industries curriculum.
Because the activity has been structured to accommodate students studying a range of subjects and abilities, teachers will need to determine the depth of study undertaken. A marking schedule is provided in Appendix I, which will be used to judge entries submitted.
Getting Started
Resources provided are sufficient for students to work in small groups or individually. All material will print out clearly in black and white, but colour may make some things clearer. Each student group should be given a copy of the relevant chapters and maps available. In addition, students should access other resources from libraries, government departments or the Internet (suggested websites are included throughout this document).
To participate in the Schools Property Planning Competition you need to:
¨ Download the manual, maps and other information from Namoi CMA’s website or the CD provided to your school
¨ Follow the prompts from: http://northwest.lls.nsw.gov.au
¨ Attend the fully paid for field day at Rosedale on 5th March 2014
¨ Attend one of the tutorials in March (optional)
¨ Include a cover page for each entry with the name of your school, class name and all contributing students’ names clearly marked. See Appendix IV for a template.
¨ Only send the best two entries per class to North West LLS by 26th May 2014
DEVELOPING YOUR PROPERTY PLAN
Property planning aids the landholder to match production systems on the property to its level of capability to assure future productivity and sustainability. When land is used beyond its capability it causes resource degradation and thereafter has reduced ability to support production, conversely if land is used below its potential the opportunity for greater production is being wasted. Property Planning aims to help the landholder to manage their resources and address issues in a methodical and logical manner.
Property planning enables us to plan for not only the management of stock, irrigated and dryland crops and other farm enterprises such as ecotourism but also for soils, trees, wildlife, water supply and other resources that make up a property. Property Planning also assists in planning of emergency response and biosecurity management.
Financial considerations will often be the deciding factors in determining what can be achieved in a property plan. As the major aim is to produce a practical physical plan, profitability and funding sources should be considered and described in the final report but only broad terms.
The final property plan should:
Ø Take into account natural characteristics of the land, water and vegetation
Ø Minimise land and water degradation by the identification of existing and possible problem areas and adapting management
Ø Be aware of social, legal and economic aspects
Ø Optimise profitability of enterprises
Ø Consider broader issues – for example what are surrounding landholders doing? What is happening in the catchment?
Ø Plan management response to biosecurity issues and other emergencies such as bushfires and floods.
For the purposes of this competition, the scenario is that you are a team of farm advisory consultants that have been contracted to undertake a property plan.
The Question
Your task is to use the principles of physical property planning to plan the sustainable and profitable development of the case study farm “Rosedale”.
You need to develop a map of the property, where you will mark on your suggested improvements such as infrastructure and new management practices. To accompany your map, provide a report that describes the management practices you believe should be implemented on the farm over the next 5 – 10 years and justify the decisions you have made on your plan.
To be eligible to enter the competition you are required to submit a:
§ Physical plan (the map with your recommendations marked)
§ A report to go with the map explaining the recommendations you have made
§ Cover page with all of the details required (names, class, school)
PROPERTY INFORMATION – “ROSEDALE”
The following section outlines the information relevant to “Rosedale” that you will need to take into account when developing your plan. It includes information on the history of the property, the aims of the landholder, and a physical stock take of the property.
Conducting a physical stock take of the property is a key element in developing a property management plan. By examining a farm thoroughly you will see a complete picture of the current state of its resources, and how best to use these resources in the future. Some factors cannot easily be changed (e.g. climate and soils) while others can be (e.g. land use and fence lines).
1. History and Current Enterprises
“Rosedale” is approximately 600 hectares in size on the outskirts of Currabubula between Tamworth and Werris Creek. The elevation runs from 400m near the creek to 790m at the top of the mountains. It was purchased by the Lyons family in 2003 as a fairly run down sheep farm. Currently the property is running 100 cows and 60 calves with some weaners on adjistment off farm.
The lower slopes on the southern section of the property adjacent to Currabubula Creek (approx 150ha) has had a history of cropping and was likely cleared for this purpose in the 1950’s. This area now has a mix of paddocks with tropical pastures, lucerne, temperate pastures and paddocks that are currently fallow with no crop or pasture. Groundcover along with desirable and palatable pasture species have been in decline over the past few years in these paddocks. Weeds have also invaded these paddocks including but not limited to: Fleabane, Mexican Poppy, Bathurst Burr and also Tiger Pear.
Currabubula Creek runs along the southern boundary of the property. In places the creek has been incised (bed lowering) and some of the banks are unstable. There are some large old trees however there is a lack of new young trees growing. Introduced species and weeds are very evident including Willows, Peppercorns, Tiger Pear and African Boxthorn. Stock have unrestricted access to most of the creek and use some of the remaining water holes for stock water although it has been noticed that these waterholes dry up much more quickly than they used to. Only a few kilometers upstream from “Rosedale” there are known habitats and populations of platypus and catfish.
The mid section of the property is native pastures and has been partially cleared of trees, steep in places with rocky outcrops. There are a number of dams that are the water supply for grazing animals and this section is divided into 2 paddocks with a total area of approximately 450ha. There are pine regrowth issues in this paddock which can limit pasture growth and therefore grazing potential.
Rising above this paddock is the very steep slopes (up to 790m) which form part of the Melville Ranges and the northern end of the property. There is minimum grazing potential in this area due to the steepness, inaccessibility, rockiness and tree cover. St. Johns Wort is often found in these steep areas and is starting to creep into the lower slopes.
Cattle are kept in the southern paddocks around the creek for most of the year. Lucerne is cut and given to cattle for feed when available and required. When the cows are calving they are moved into the mid section of the property where there is more shelter.
Current fences are in good condition with much of this work being undertaken over the past 10 years. A tank and series of troughs have been set up in all of the paddocks adjacent to the creek.
The owners live on the property in a house that has been recently renovated. There is a new hay shed for storage and a new set of cattle yards.
The main challenges on this property are:
· improving and maintaining groundcover to at least 70% or above
· minimising erosion in the creek and adjacent paddocks
· improving the condition of the creek and encouraging habitat for native flora and fauna
· improving water quality in the creek
· selecting appropriate grazing and or cropping enterprises
· seasonal feed value and availability
· shade and shelter for stock
· planning for emergencies such as bushfires and floods as well as biosecurity issues.
These challenges should be addressed in the property plan.
2. Landholder’s Goals
While property plans can be based purely on the physical resources, it is the landholder who will implement the plan. It is therefore desirable that any plan not only accounts for the physical factors but also the aims of the landholder.
The goals of the owners of “Rosedale” are to:
Ø Increase property value for sale in the future
Ø Increase productivity of the cattle enterprise
Ø Improve pasture quality and quantity (including having a mix of types of pastures and provision of seasonal shortages)
Ø Encouraging water to stay longer in the creek with better waterholes
STOCKTAKE OF RESOURCES
1. Land Use, Maps and Measuring Area
Current landuse on “Rosedale” is predominately grazing with a mix of introduced pastures including tropicals, temperates and lucerne along the creek and native perennial pastures and remnant native vegetation on the steeper slopes.
You have been provided with a series of maps to print and undertake your property planning. The north arrow, property boundary and scale are displayed on each map.
The following information in Table 1 can be used as a guide to calculate areas on the map. A scale bar will appear on the maps which will also help you to work out distances and areas. If you need help, please discuss at the tutorials. A dot grid can also be used to calculate land areas (see Appendix II).
Table 1: Area statistics
Example – not scale of mapsScale - 1:20 000
1 cm : 200 m
1 cm square: 200 m x 200 m
1 cm square: 40,000 square metres
1 hectare = 10,000 square metres
So 1cm square (on the map) = 4 hectares (on the ground)
2. Contours and Drainage
The map shows contour lines, which represent areas of uniform elevation, with a constant interval in height between them. This means that where contours are spaced more closely together, the land surface is steeper, so may require conservative management to offset the potential erosion hazard. A key consideration should be:
Ø Drainage lines, watercourses and riparian vegetation should be retained and carefully managed. They are at risk of erosion if cultivated or overgrazed.