"Curlew" In brief..

Property:

Curlew

Address:

Coonamble

Owners:

David Strudwick

Phone:

(02) 68238216

Area (in hectares)

5000 ha

Rainfall (mm/pa)

525 mm

Oldman Saltbush area (hecatares)

1250 ha

year of first Planting

1998

Q & A: an interview with David Strudwick

Why OMSB planted? To increase my carrying capacity and to allow for better drought management. So I could improve my business profitability without buying more land.

What grazing and pasture benefits have been observed? All my grass country is getting better from having the advantage from strategic destocking. The animals dont appear to have the same worm problems while they are on the bush. Actually I think it gives then a real tonic lift as they do much better on grass country after coming of the saltbush. You cant fatten stock on omsb but you sure can grow them out well. Dry sheep do perform well on straight omsb and produce good wool.

What financial benefits have been observed? I can run more stock while improving the ecological health of my country. What I can say is that since saltbush and grazing our family has enjoyed the property more. We have a lot more chances to spend time as a family. Our stock always have feed so Im not forced to sell on a falling market when it becomes dry. I have never been able to do that unless I spent big money on supplementary feeding.

Biggest OMSB impact? It has allowed me to enjoy farming again. Before omsb we were cropping, doing lots of hard work and going nowhere. Our country was going backward as well. This has all changed. The water cycle is improving along with our nutrient cycle and the omsb has been the catalyst to this. I reckon you could say it is a backbone to better land management and profit.

Any problems with OMSB? On light sandy country it is not growing as well. Some stock take a bit of time to get use to it

Do you / if you had a salinity problem, do you think OMSB would help with controlling deep drainage and/or lowering the water table? It would have to. It just pumps water out of the ground because the roots are so strong.

Would you like to increase your area sown to OMSB? We are

What limits your planting of a larger area? Finance

Our Comments:

David has changed from a cropping/grazing operation to that of a straight grazing. OMSB has been the catalyst and the backbone for this change. He is now planning new developments with the grazing control he has from his omsb based grazing. Droughts now create many opportunities for financial gain, just because he has big saltbush fodder reserves.