New Opportunities for Old Irrigation Land
Dennis Carmichael and Glenice Ficken own and manage a Merino sheep and cropping farm west of Kerang. Faced with the reality of reduced irrigation water allocations and dry years, the “Fairley Downs” managers are considering all options when it comes to pasture production, including a growing interest in native pastures. As part of the farms efficiency improvements, they had one 8 hectare paddock that was difficult to irrigate and so was to be taken out of irrigation. Soil types and an abundance of “Rosinweed” (Cressa australis), a very competitive, palatable, rhizomatous native herb, meant that dryland cropping was not a viable option for this paddock. The paddock had been sown to a cereal crop the previous year, but had failed completely due to low rainfall and Rosinweed competition.