Page 90 - TA Magazine

Case Study 03 Agroforestry
Epping Forest Northern Midlands
At a a Glance Owner
Daniel Fish
Property Size
12 5 hectare paddock
Enterprise
Livestock (sheep) and cropping
Rainfall
550 mm (long term annual rainfall)
Soil types
Brown Chromosol: sandy loam over heavy clay
Shelter improves Lucerne yield
Introduction
Round bales of of of Lucerne hay that had been dropped in in in a a a a a a a a a paddock
in in in the the the the the Northern Midlands
in in in in in the the the the the lee lee and and outside of of of of the the the the the lee lee of of of of a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a N/S belt of of of of Pinus radiata were measured The baling started close to to the the the the the the tree tree line line line and followed a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a zig-zag pattern from from tree tree tree line line line to to to furthest part of of the the the the the the paddock
away from from the the the the the the tree tree line line line Thus the the the the the the bales are likely to to to be close to to to the the the the the the point where their hay was grown especially in in in relation to to the the trees Value of Shelter While there are several assumptions surrounding the the the the assessment of of the the the the the shelter benefit to the the the the the Lucerne hay hay production in in this case if a a a a a a a a a a a a a new hay hay bale bale bale value of of of $80/bale is is is assumed assumed and the the the the bale bale bale density is is is assumed assumed to accurately reflect the the the the effects of of of shelter shelter then the the the the the net benefit of of of shelter shelter shelter is is is around an extra $147/ha for this harvest or or $1 $1 133 across the the the the sheltered 7 7 7 7ha of of the the the the paddock
Bale density in the sheltered sheltered verses unsheltered area
Woorak
3 2 5 2 1 5 1 0 5 0 Sheltered
Unsheltered
Summary
Lucerne hay yields were estimated to to to have increased by up to to to 300% due to to to reduced wind speeds in in in in the lee of of a a a a a pine shelterbelt
This equated to over $1 000 of of of additional benefit across the the sheltered area
of of the the paddock
(about $147/ha) 90 Private Forests Tasmania
Wind The wind at the the the site for for Spring 2017 (the growing season for for Lucerne) was measured in in in in in a a a a a a a a a a a a a nearby paddock
where the the the agroforestry research project has an automatic continuously monitoring monitoring weather station The results from from the the the the the wind wind monitoring monitoring clearly show that the the the the the the the vast majority of of of the the the the the the the wind wind wind wind comes from from the the the the the the the NW NW and and NNW (50% of of of all
wind) another 9% of of of the the the the the the the the wind wind wind originated from from the the the the the the north and and 7% from from the the the the the the WNW All other other directions contributed to to 5% or or less of the the the the total wind over this time period Bale Bale Density (Bales/ha)