Marshall plan for farming regenerates the landscape

There's nothing conventional in the management of the Marshall family's farm at Reidsdale, NSW, and nothing conventional about the results, either.

Willows, poplars, chestnuts, oaks and bamboo are used as fodder and to regenerate farm soils and streams, running against the official preference for native speciesand yet by any measure of health, the landscape is flourishing.

Soils are friable and well-structured, ensuring that any moisture that falls on the farm stays there.

Streams flow permanently, in contrast to when Peter and Kate Marshall and their children Keith, Gus and Rita, bought the former dairy farm 'Woodford Lagoon' in 1990.

At the time, the farmnow 250 hectareswas "ruined", Mr Marshall said, with no permanent water; compacted, acidic soil with no 'A' horizon, and dozens of hectares infested with broom bush.

In one spot, water penetrated only about two centimetres deep during a 10 hour immersion under a flood.

For much of the property, the first step toward health has been a Yeomans plow towed behind a low-ground pressure Antonio Carraro 4WD tractor. With a seven-tonne break-out on the tynes, the plow rips to 700 millimetres deep, shattering compaction and opening up the soil volume available to plant roots.

"We've got some areas where we excluded the stock 20 years ago and the soil still hasn't loosened up," Mr Marshall said. "But the minute we've passed a Yeoman's through it, everything comes to life."

Only sheep and goats are allowed back on the uncompacted soil, because the Marshalls have found that cattle hooves apply enough pressure to cause the farm's soils to "plastically fail", or compact beyond a point where natural processes can undo the damage.

Goats have been an essential tool in the farm's regeneration. Killing the broom with chemical wasnt an option, Mr Marshall said, because it encourages the seeds scattered beneath the bush to germinate, requiring another dose of chemicalan ongoing vicious cycle.

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Marshall plan for farming regenerates the landscape