Take a look at how much Southern New England Landcare achieved towards its strategic objectives in the 12 months to 30 June 2023!
Our mission is to lead, connect and enable our communities to reach their sustainability goals in a changing environment.
Southern New England Landcare congratulates all its members and friends for the great work you've been doing in our region.
Kristy Youman from Soil Land Food delivered a dynamic workshop on Soils to farmers and graziers from across the New England at recent workshops held in Guyra and Walcha.
The first in a series of workshops entitled ‘Reboot Your Grazing Landscapes’, day one explored the essentials of soils - understanding your topsoil, soil types, soil health and soil fertility and the 4 steps to soil success.
90% of participants said that their soil knowledge had increased, and they came away from the day with different strategies to implement at home.
We all understand that healthy soils are fundamentally linked to strong regional communities through their connections to agriculture and the environment.
We have the opportunity to improve soil health, by strengthening soil knowledge and capability. This is one of the main goals of the National Soil Strategy.
Tell us about soil extension/advisory needs in your area by completing the National Soil Survey at
How accurate are our visual estimates of herbage mass? Are you worried about how much feed you have available, as conditions dry?
“Uncertainty about estimating herbage mass (pasture availability) can undermine confidence in the feed budgeting process, and that’s not warranted”, says University of New England pasture coach Jaimi-lee Edwards.
A grant has been awarded so that landholders that in areas surrounding the Armidale Area of Regional Koala Significance (ARKS) can restore habitat connectivity for threatened fauna and flora.
Southern New England Landcare is pleased to announce it has obtained funding from Northern Tablelands Local Land Services under the Northern Tablelands Koala Habitat Restoration and Protection Project to assist landholders to increase koala habitat.
The project will run from July 2023 to April 2024.
Join us for an exclusive screening of "Rachel's Farm," a powerful film directed by renowned actor Rachel Ward.
Southern New England Landcare welcomes our new Receptionist, Janet Hodge. Janet grew up in Cootamundra, NSW and has a rural background.
Her career has taken many turns from health and electoral office positions to a 10-year office position within the NSW Public Works Regional Office in Cootamundra until the Regional Office was relocated to Bathurst. After a stint at Harden Shire Council, Janet embarked on a 3-month adventure travelling on horseback from a Harden property in NSW to Licola in Victoria and then settling with job at a Horse-Riding Tour Business. For the next 12 months, she enjoyed the company of tourists and their horses taking them across the ranges of the Bennison Plains in the Victorian High Country.
Due to an injury, Janet moved to Sale also in Victoria, where she mended and then set off again to employment on Legune Cattle Station in the Northern Territory for the 9 month season enjoying the station life, work and barramundi fishing.
In the following year, Janet gained employment at Walla Downs Cattle Station above Port Kembla for a short mustering season of 5 months which then lead to employment at Landsdowne Cattle Station, in the Kimberley WA where she met her now partner of 23 years. They returned to his hometown of Girgarre, Vic and settling down to raise a family and run a small dairy farm for 20 years.
The decision came to finish up their dairy life and start afresh seeking a northern NSW property where they purchased a farm in 2021 on the Moredun Creek at New Valley northwest of Guyra and now run a small mob of Australian Whites and Wagyu Cattle.
SNEL is delighted that Janet has joined our office team.
Southern New England Landcare is pleased to welcome Elizabeth Rosser to the team as the new Project Officer - Sustainable Agriculture.
Elizabeth grew up in South Western Queensland, having spent her early childhood in Quilpie and then primary school years at Goodooga before moving to Brisbane to complete her schooling.
After finishing school, Elizabeth studied a Bachelor of Nursing at the University of Southern Queensland before the call to go west took her to Cunnamulla as a Governess. From there, she returned to her studies but to a dual degree in Agribusiness and Applied Science (Production Animals) at the University of Queensland.
Since then, Elizabeth has worked across Southern Australia in a variety of industries from rural consultancy, feedlots, beef cattle, free range egg production and a very short stint in a dairy. Her favourite role to date has been as a Project Officer for Neighbourhood Houses Tasmania on King Island. This is where she discovered a love of project management and facilitation while working closely alongside community.
In 2021, Elizabeth moved to the New England, with her husband and young family, to manage a beef cattle trading enterprise near Ben Lomond. Elizabeth and her husband run the property using regenerative principals and have a deep love of learning, people and community. Elizabeth is enthusiastic about her new role as the Sustainable Agriculture- Project Officer with SNEL as this allows her to stretch her wings and apply learning from on farm to work and back again.
Farmers who are members of the nine coaching groups of the Drought Resilient Pasture Landscapes project, have spent some time during their third round of coaching sessions looking at their predicted pastureavailability for the coming spring.
Aside from calibrating their eye for estimating pasture availability (also called herbage mass) and the green (quality) content of the pasture, these members have customised their Ag360 accounts with paddock and animal details for their property.
Resilient, healthy and productive grazing landscapes will be the focus of a free workshop series for farmers in the Guyra and Walcha districts over the coming months.
The first Reboot Your Grazing workshops are designed to increase farmers understanding of soil types and soil health.
‘The workshops are designed to give farmers a holistic overview to landscape management’, said David Hardwick, Agroecologist from Soil Land Food.
For farmer participants involved in the Drought Resilient Pasture Landscapes Project, navigating the changing seasons and climate has been supported by new skills and confidence to make early management decisions after the first round of pasture coaching.
Image: Glen Ardlair Pasture Coaching Day. Courtesy of Lewis Kahn
The NSW Government has appointed the Energy Corporation of NSW (EnergyCo) as the infrastructure planner for the New England REZ.
Part of EnergyCo’s role is assessing options for the development of the transmission infrastructure needed for the REZ. Currently they are assessing a 500 kv transmission line through the Southern New England region.
Calling all Walcha Local Government Area Residents - your input is requested.
Did you know, that 98% of the Walcha Local Government Area (LGA) is Bushfire Prone, which classifies it as a Disaster Risk Area?
Disasters are becoming more common; managing risks and impacts of the next disaster has never been more critical.
Screening at The Playhouse, Armidale
Come on a magical journey through Australia’s native forests to understand the sophistication and complex artistry of the lyrebird, leading humanity to a deeper understanding of the natural world.
Where: 309 Beardy Street, Armidale
When: Wednesday, 24 May at 6:00pm
Is your woodland functional? Is your property Koala connected?
How to build habitat into your whole farm plan. Join Southern New England Landcare for this exciting field day.
When: Friday, 12 May 2023
Time: 8.30am for a 9amstart - 3pm
Where: Big Ridge Road, Uralla NSW
Southern New England Landcare's Member Muster is just around the corner on 10th May in Uralla, and we are delighted to introduce our guest speaker, Dr Sarah Mika.
Dr Mika’s topic for the Muster is The Importance of Protecting Aquatic Habitats in Agricultural & Urban Landscapes.
“The New England Tablelands sit on the Great Dividing Range, forming the headwaters of the northern Murray Darling Basin and large coastal catchments such as the Clarence and Macleay," said Dr Mika.
"So, our land management in the New England has a large footprint."
"We affect water quality and aquatic ecosystem health over a much larger area than just the New England," she said.
GLENRAC’s Stock Water Project has combined with Southern New England’s Malpas Catchment Project to bring you a great line up of speakers for a morning exploring the value of Enhancing Farm Dams.
When: Wednesday 3rd May 2023, New England Community College, Guyra.
The future of Landcare has been assured with the announcement that a Minn’s Labor Government will boost its funding to a record $59 million over the next four years to support the 60,000 volunteers, 3000 local groups and 84 full-time coordinators across NSW.
The announcement will ensure the grassroots volunteer organisation can get more boots on the ground to restore natural environments; expanding their program to attract and coordinate more volunteers, increase engagement with young people, and more quickly identify and tackle local environment issues.
The 21st New England & North West Landcare Adventure is coming to Tamworth, at the end of this month. And what an awesome event it is going to be!!
Success for Koala Vehicle Sign Strategy in Uralla. The Northern Tablelands Koala Partnership has teamed up with Uralla Shire Council and Golf Club to deliver strategies and information to reduce koala vehicle strike.
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