A story of success in progress in Mt Egerton

  • Roger Macraild
  • VSTWP Extension Officer
  • 2017

As an Extension Officer I have the privilege of meeting hundreds of landowners and witnessing many different approaches to land management. While there are some that need advice, encouragement or even stern persuasion, there are a few like Anthony Grodzki who are leading the way.

  • The productive pastures of the property help prevent germination of serrated tussock through competition.

The Grodzki’s 100-hectare home property is a great example of applying the right principles and best practice serrated tussock management:

  • Pasture renovation has created good competitive cover to minimise weed invasion of any sort.
  • Stock management has maintained the ground cover throughout the year.
  • Careful use of flupropanate has provided residual selective control to suppress serrated tussock on marginal country at the top of a river escarpment.
  • Revegetation has been used to provide long term cover on marginal land infested with serrated tussock
  • Sensible farm planning has optimised paddock configuration to facilitate rotation and allowing shelter belt planting to shelter pasture and stock and provide ecosystem services. These diverse, well-structured, indigenous shelter belts link right through the property creating habitat corridors from neighbouring State Forest.
  • The existing native vegetation has been left intact and allows for habitat corridors from the adjoining State Forest.

The Grodzkis have started to apply the same approach to the 160-hectare blue gum plantation north east of their home property. One of the first things done on the recently purchased bloc was to have aerial application of flupropanate done on a couple of well-established patches of serrated tussock.. This is not only a solid step toward productivity, but a service to the whole community through preventing seed production.

This is an early step in a comprehensive plan toward harvesting the trees and returning the land to a productive grazing cropping system.

  • Grazing is managed to keep good ground cover throughout the seasons.