What was your motivation for buying land?
When I met my husband, David Hawkins 30 years ago, he said that he wanted to live on a farm in 3 years and have children in 5 years. I was ahead of schedule on both of those targets! Having never lived on a farm and always loved horses I was super keen to start a life in the country and I will never look back.
What led you to join Landcare?
Soon after we bought our property in 1996 we realised it’s environmental significance and became a Land for Wildlife member. We then became members of the Merricks Coolart Catchment Landcare Group and here we are involved in the Equine Landcare Group. It’s a great way to meet like-minded people who are often a great resource.
Tell us about your property?
We have 47 acres in Balnarring of which about 50% is pasture and the other half is a combination of wetland and bush. We have riding trails all through the bush and combined with the bridleway at our front gate there’s plenty of trail riding. We have huge numbers of birds, frogs, fish and mammals that we share our property with. When we bought it, the property was covered in blackberries and pittosporum and I still have to do lots of weed control to keep the little ones from growing. There was only a perimeter fence in1996 and we couldn’t even drive in because there was no driveway so we have developed it from scratch.
Tell us how you use your property?
We run a horse agistment business which caters for about 12 horses in private paddocks. It’s fascinating to see the difference between horses and their impact on the land. Some are voracious eaters, others are runners, others are heavy. As our 2 kids grew up it felt a bit like Noah’s Ark and have had 2 of everything at some stage.
How have you encouraged biodiversity?
Because we had a significant amount of bush to start with our greatest success has come from allowing plants to grow naturally. We have planted over 3000 plants from tube stock however, the success rate of self seeding has far exceeded that.
Nowadays, I dig up trees that have self seeded and relocate them where I want them.
How has your property evolved?
As a starting point we just had a perimeter fence. For a long time we just had 3 large paddocks with natural shelter and the horses all went in together. Now we have private paddocks that are seasonally rotated with automated water, sight wires, electric fences and shelters (although we still offer natural shelter in most paddocks as well). As time has gone on we’ve invested quite a bit in hard stand areas in the winter paddocks to keep the mud at bay. We had to have a couple of attempts at it but I hope we’ve got the right method now.
Top tip / hack to share
I have perfected a system of feeding round bales without any wastage. It’s very cheap and easy to set up as long as you have a shelter with access to electric fencing. Simply put a pallet on the ground in the shelter and place the bale on it on its side. Use temporary electric tape to fence it off in a way that the horse only has access from the front so that it eats it out like a toilet roll. Leave the wrap on and tie back any loose strands regularly until the whole thing collapses towards the end and the last bits can be eaten directly off the pallet from under the electric tape.
Favourite piece of equipment
For many years it has been my quad bike which is an essential part of every day.
I now have a lovely modern Kubota 50hp tractor which has been a life changer. We used to man handle round bales in and out of a 6x4 trailer being towed by the quad bike and now I just put them on the tractor forks. I probably should have bought a posi-track (bobcat on tracks) to do a lot of the work that I ended up hiring contractors for along the way.
Regrets?
None. Making mistakes is a great way to learn. The curve was steep at first but then it flattens and things get easier. I’m usually pretty good at researching and talking to others with experience to work out the best approach to a problem. I think the most important thing is not to rush. Live the land and let it tell you want it needs.
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