‘Yalcowinna’ a sheep grazing property on Shannons Flat Road, near Cooma, is not looking its best right now - a common sight across the Snowy Monaro farming landscape.

A decent drop of some much-needed rain throughout the region would be the greatest Christmas present local farmers could receive after an extended dry spell this year.

Peter and Narelle Davis use a sustainable holistic management system on their property ‘Yalcowinna’. Mr Davis said holistic farming practices are primarily based on a decision-making system.

Most of the paddocks that make up the property’s grazing land are currently bare of feed aside from a few remaining rested paddocks.

These paddocks are for the young wethers.

A third of the Davis’s sheep were sold and not replaced after shearing last October, then half of their remaining sheep were sold two weeks ago.

“Holistic management is about looking after the land, as much as the animals,” Mr Davis said.

“Our criteria for that is to maintain at least 90, preferably 100 per cent of ground cover, known as litter which breaks down to form humus,” Mr Davis said.

“We also aim to keep our stock in good health, so part of the strategy is to test for worms in the sheep to make sure they are healthy; we are moving them every few days so we keep a good eye on them and know what they look like.”

With a protective plant litter on the paddock surface it theoretically means it won’t take much rain for the grazing paddocks to recover, and new growth shoots to appear, but for now, the situation is concerning.”

This same situation applies to most farmers across the region and is one which they often face.

“Earlier this year, we were hand feeding for three months and that was costing us about $420 a day,” Mr Davis said.

“We had a feed lot system then; alternating between two 25-acre paddocks where we would put three days’ feed on the ground, let the sheep in, then three days later do the same back into the other paddock. This was all about looking after the rest of the farm, ready for the spring break, which unfortunately didn’t eventuate.

“Normally you would expect that sheep need roughage, but what was interesting this time was the sheep weren’t getting any roughage, but they coped quite well with nothing but rocks and wheat for three months. They still grew a decent fleece, which we just sold. These sheep were in good condition, and they sold well,” Mr Davis said.

"We are now down to a third of our normal carrying capacity and have about six to eight weeks of grass left in front of us.

“After that if we don’t get serious rain, we will have to do some re-planning, as decent pasture recovery for resting paddocks doesn’t start until after the rain.”

The practice of holistic management is different to mainstream farming.

Mr Davis said the basic method of holistic management is to run all stock in one big mob and keep moving the mob from paddock to paddock allowing the country to recover, whether it be up to six months or for some of the lighter country, 12 months.

The sheep are currently grazing on a 25-acre paddock, that was rested for six months, from which they will be moved on in a week to the next available paddock.

Theoretically, when the sheep return a rested paddock there is an abundance of deep fresh grass ready for the stock, but this is entirely dependent on soil moisture and temperature.

“What we do is budget the feed, so we know how much we’ve got in front of us,” Mr Davis said.

“But the big catch here is that we have missed three growing seasons in a row; the growing seasons on the Monaro are autumn and spring - and any farmer’s got to be able to cope with one missed season.

“Once you miss two seasons, say an autumn and a spring or spring then an autumn, that’s when things start to get tight. Now we have missed three seasons in a row and so that’s pretty serious.”

Pointing to one paddock, Mr Davis said he spent thousands of dollars sowing it with nine different pasture species; a paddock not grazed since it was sown last year. Now ‘it’s like walking on cornflakes, the way it crackles under foot’.

“There will be very little of it recover; it was a huge outlay gone to waste there.”

On a tour of the farm, which is about seven kilometres in length along Shannons Flat Road, Mr Davis also pointed out the creek flats where paddocks of lucerne and other pasture plants are usually visible, growing 18 inches deep. Similarly, paddocks across the road, with nine different grass species planted, have nothing left.

“It’s all just drying off as you watch,” Mr Davis said.

There are 32 kilometres of underground pipes for stock water installed around the farm. This has been an expensive investment and labour intensive but a worthwhile addition to the infrastructure as it ensures water can be shipped from one end of the farm to the other.

There is also 32kms of electric fencing which allows the big mob to be concentrated in a small area.

“Anybody can grow grass in a good season, but when things get hard, like right now, that’s when you really need to be switched on.

“This paddock was grazed about six weeks ago, and with the good soil structure and humus, it’s recovering well, with virtually no rain - so our system works.”

Mr Davis said one of the key things they implement to manage drought is to set trigger points for action, regardless of what else is happening at the time.

“You don’t hang on hoping it might rain next week, or the week after, that is just creating a disaster.

“So we sell stock when the market is still solid, which it is now, and while the stock are still in good condition.”