Rural Living & Agriculture
'Getting away from it all' is an Australian dream. In our area, getting away from it all often involves buying a rural block. Rural blocks can be productive farmland, a bush block, or a combination of both.
This webpage is about careful use of natural resources such as water, soil, and vegetation to optimise biodiversity conservation and productivity on your rural property. It will help you plan carefully and fully understand your responsibilities as caretakers of the land.
This page draws from the Wingecarribee Rural Living Handbook(PDF, 66MB) (the Handbook) and is targeted at properties within Rural or Environmental zones but may have useful information for all properties. Click on the flipbook below to view it on your browser or click the download icon to download a copy.
Sustainable Rural Living
Property plan
There are a range of things to consider when buying a rural property. Once you’ve purchased your rural property, it’s time to develop your property plan. A property plan (see page 8-9 of the Handbook) helps you set out your vision for the property, map out its important features including soil types, water courses, rock outcrops, flood prone areas, landscape features and more. You should conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis to understand your property better. These processes will help ensure you can get the most out of your property while protecting the natural environment.
Once you’ve developed your property plan, next you’ll need to consider management of your natural assets such as water, soil, native plants and animals, as well as firewood collection and pest animal management. The Handbook covers all these aspects as well as waste management, stock management, storm water, effluent, farm safety, skill development, and use of chemicals.
Natural resources
It is important to ensure the sustainable use and protection of natural resources on your property for the benefit of the environment, productivity and future generations. Sustainable management of water, soil and native plants and animals on your property will ensure that you get the most of your property and boost the long-term health of the landscape.
Water
Managing water is a vital part of successfully managing your property. Your aim is to use water efficiently to minimise costs and maximise water quality and quantity to benefit you, your property, and downstream users. Water users are also subject to the provisions of the Water Management Act 2000, which aims to provide for the sustainable management of water for the benefit of both present and future generations. For more information view page 11 onwards of the handbook or explore the following links:
Soil
Your topsoil is a valuable resource containing nutrients for your pastures, crops, and for the growth of native plant species. Soil erosion caused by wind and water can be exacerbated by animals, vehicles (including recreational vehicles) and vegetation removal. Erosion removes valuable topsoil from your property. It reduces the productivity of your land and pollutes creeks and dams with muddy water that is full of nutrients. The rate of erosion often far exceeds the rate of soil formation, creating a net loss of fertile soil over time.
For more information, including how to manage erosion, view page 17 onwards of the handbook.
Find out about the soil on your property and soil management at the following links:
Native plants and animals
Wingecarribee Shire has approximately 60% cover of native vegetation, supporting diverse ecosystems and wildlife. This area is a vital part of the Great Eastern Ranges corridor, a significant national wildlife corridor connecting Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland. The corridor is crucial for biodiversity conservation, especially considering climate change and habitat loss from urban and agricultural development. Protecting, enhancing and expanding these corridors is vital for the long-term survival of many native species.
Native vegetation can enhance the value of your farm and increase productivity by:
- stabilising soils to reduce erosion,
- providing shade and shelter for stock,
- providing windbreaks for crops and pasture, and
- providing habitat for wildlife.
Thick strips of native trees and shrubs can also improve the survival rate of lambs and ewes, protect against drying winds, moderate temperature extremes, prevent nutrient runoff, and provide effective barriers against windblown weed seeds. For more information, see page 21 of the Handbook.
Council’s private land conservation program Land for Wildlife is a free, entry-level program for properties with over half a hectare of native vegetation on the property. The program helps you learn more about the native plants and animals on your property and you’ll receive access to resources, funding opportunities and free native seedlings to enhance your property’s natural assets. To protect remnant bushland on your property in perpetuity, consider conservation agreements with the Biodiversity Conservation Trust.
The following resources can help you understand more about the biodiversity values and vegetation communities around your property:
Weeds and pest animals
An important part of managing your property’s natural assets is controlling weeds and pest animals. Visit Council’s Weed Management and Biosecurity page for more information on weeds. Visit Council’s Pest Animals page for more information on pest animals or see page 29 onwards in the handbook.
Fire
Fire is a part of the Australian landscape, and bushfire management in NSW is a cooperative effort by the whole community. Not only does bushfire pose a risk to personal safety and property, but it can also have major impacts on biodiversity and water quality. The Handbook covers bushfire management including how to protect your home. It also explores sustainable firewood collection. See page 27 onwards.
Explore the following resources:
Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable agriculture is about balancing agricultural productivity with natural resource management and biodiversity conservation. It is about managing your property so that it has improved resilience during extreme weather such as flooding and drought. Sustainable agriculture prioritises soil health in the farming landscape and aims to restore ecological function on farm. The Sustainable Farms project is an Australian National University initiative which encourages the protection and enhancement of natural assets on farm to benefit agricultural production and biodiversity. The Sustainable Farms website has a wide range of resources and case studies to help rural landholders improve the resilience of their properties. These resources may be useful even if you don’t operate as a farm.
Some example resources from Sustainable Farms:
Stock management
Overstocking can be a quick route to destroying your pastures and bushland and depleting the health of your own animals. When starting out, seek advice from Local Land Services and consider the whole environment on your block. Always keep at least 80 percent vegetation cover to avoid erosion and degradation. If feed is scarce, then fence your trees so that stock don’t ringbark them. Stocking rates and carrying capacity of land is highly variable depending on pasture type (native/introduced), soil type and fertility, and rainfall.
For local advice about the carrying capacity of your property, contact your Local Land Services office.
Fencing
You can use fences to define the boundaries of your property, manage stock, protect the environment (keeping stock out of native vegetation or away from rivers and streams), control pest animals, increase property value (by improving its look), and to manage erosion and vegetation rehabilitation. There are different fence construction methods depending on the purpose or function. For fences to do their job properly, you need to maintain them, and keep gates shut and locked. For more fencing information, view page 49 of the Handbook.
Wildlife-friendly fencing
Wildlife also need to move freely and safely across our landscape unless being purposely excluded for safety or other reasons. Here are some ways you can make your fences more wildlife and stock friendly:
- Stop and think, do you really need a fence? How will a fence affect the wildlife? If there are no animals to keep in or out, could a line of native trees do the job?
- Avoid barbed wire. When fencing livestock consider using a combination of plain wire and electric fencing. If using barbed wire, the main issues are fence placement, visibility and type of top strand (opt for plain wire), especially in entanglement hotspots. To reduce the risk to wildlife, avoid placing barbed wire fences on ridge lines, near feed trees, across wildlife corridors, or over or near water bodies.
- Increase visibility. Wire fences are often hard to see and a danger to humans and wildlife. Plastic bags offer a short-term fix. A better way to improve visibility is to use white nylon sighter wires or white electric fence tapes that flicker in the breeze.
Check out this video by Local Land Services on wildlife friendly fencing.