Can You Farm Timber & Cattle? Sustainable Agroforestry Profit!

[@bincognito6609]

Brilliant content again Tim. In my opinion, you are leading the field in exploring alternative farming enterprises/systems. You ask better questions, go to better places, let people speak, and seem genuinely enthusiastic and respectful towards these farmers. Please keep doing what you're doing.

[@FarmLearningTim]

Wow. Thanks mate. I’m just genuinely interested I suppose.

[@anthonygrimston4937]

Great Video Tim 👍 Well done to the owners & team of Super Forest Plantations. Integrating multiple industries in an holistic enterprise will hopefully be adopted more widely. Trees, whether used as a commodity or not are a valuable part of the whole system. Awesome!

[@allisonwoods6161]

Absolutely fantastic stories of late, Tim. Please continue to do more as it's so important to us learning how to look after our land no matter how small or large. We need to start trying to save our planet one day at a time. Our governments could learn a lot from watching these videos. The problem is they aren't open minded. Well done Tim. I am really enjoying your content.😊

[@jonathanfriedlander8563]

That's a very clever operation diverse with built in risk management and sustainable.

[@uncledinkum9839]

Excellent video. Some great tips. 👍 I have an ongoing battle with Lantana too, I have found lighting a small "campfire" at the base of the Lantana bushes is a great way to get rid of them. I often find spraying them will make the leaves fall off, but they recover. Extended exposure of the base of the plants to fire can sometimes do the job better. Really helpful for the really big Lantana plants you can't reach with machinery as they are nearly indestructible.

[@jimdoyle8224]

Hats off to you Tim and all those involved in that truly ground breaking enterprise. I wish them all the very best.

[@shaunw9351]

Good on you Tim. I'm not far from your place in the Yarra Valley and was surprised to see you interviewing James , just a few weeks back I purchased 700 odd posts from James and the team at Super Forest Planation to redo all my fences. The truck is loaded and heads down on Tuesday, Im looking forward to getting rid of all this treated pine and replacing with Australian native hardwood. BTW for the record James is a nice bloke and loves a chat!

[@bretdavisdmd]

Another great one Tim. Keep it up. It’s so refreshing to see people look and do things in a way they know is right and not just how the industry says so.

[@jamesmurphy5587]

Brilliant content Tim and fantastic work being conducted by James and his team.

[@rossholmes178]

Tim...great vid and a big "thank you" for bringing this fabulous operation to our attention.

[@fredsmith-kingofthelunatic7810]

Thanks all. Great video. Great to know we got good people in land management. Keep up the great work.

[@jeffrogonzalo5067]

Great vid thanks for sharing What a great way to manage land.

[@martinburns3226]

Hats off Tim! Another fascinating case study, packed with wisdom and learning. Thank you 🙏🏼

[@danielbonden7477]

Great work 👍 Greetings from Sweden 🇸🇪

[@Robbo0090]

what a wonderful video! thanks Tim and James and everyone who makes it happen!

[@spidrespidre]

What the guys at Super Forest have stumbled on is pure genius. I've just recently found your channel, Tim, and love the work that you do in bringing great ag practice to our attention. I've got a couple of questions: I'm aware that the area around Limbin had a massive flood event last year and was wondering: 1) how Super Forest fared, in terms of damage to their land/business, and 2) did the way that Super Forest manage their land slow (or absorb) the flow of water? BTW, I'm from Manchester, UK

[@FarmLearningTim]

Basically, very little observable damage. However the site is not in one of the flood affected areas. Very high rainfall and thin, fragile topsoils though so tree cover is good. Obviously you would not do this if grazing was your primary source of income, but the high value long term crop, combined with annual lower return from beef is making economic sense for this operation. If grazing is the primary objective, it’s widely known that 30% tree cover has no negative impact on productivity.

[@allisonhouse3159]

Awesome video and very educational. We are about to log our patch which is a bit further south than James's place. The use and type of cattle is great, hoping I can do something similar, albeit on a smaller scale.

[@FarmLearningTim]

I'm sure that the team from Superforest would be glad to share advice.

[@1DamienJ]

Brilliant video Tim, it’s invaluable having great informative content like this. I’m in the process of purchasing some acres in Gippsland with a heavy balance of timber and this video got me thinking about land management strategies to keep on top of the dense undergrowth. Your channel has been great for learning so keep up the great work

[@kdegraa]

What a great video. My farm is a bit south and a bit more coastal than this area. We have a small macadamia tree orchard on the farm. In the more sunny areas the main grass is setaria which grows in clumps to around two meters high. It grows very quickly and is pretty annoying. As the trees grow and more areas are shaded by trees broad leaf paspalum outcompetes the setaria. Paspalum grows to around half a meter high and is more manageable.

[@gregkilgour4545]

Brilliant concept, keep up the good work.

[@graeme8755]

Great YT Tim. Really good to see James controlling the all the trees he is growing. And on the other hand why was Reflex in Morwell closed down due to the lack of trees unless there is more to the question.

[@FarmLearningTim]

There is a bit more…. But yeah, James and the team are doing an awesome job!

[@floydminch8357]

Awesome work this is the future 👍

[@AniBell]

Great interviews! Thank you. Q: at 28:09, while discussing lantana, he mentions running a mulcher through first, before he can "get access to get the hoses in.." Can you please explain more about the process of clearing lantana thickets, and what part in the process the hoses were for please? And can you please also share any tips about clearing African Boxthorn in Australia?

[@FarmLearningTim]

This is by far the best resource for lantana control I know of. Goes through every method and chemical including dosages and timing. weeds.dpi.nsw.gov.au/Weeds/Details/78

[@AniBell]

Thanks Tim @@FarmLearningTim Greatly appreciated.

[@Sambardown]

Ol/young James 😅 Get rid of the sap n keep the heart wood😂 Painful day in the field this day boss! Sent you in to better homes and gardens + a few other mate👌🏻👍🏻

[@Bernie5172]

Welcome to my country Tim. Im at Tabulam, used to be at Bonalbo

[@FarmLearningTim]

Stunning country and great people

[@hoyks1]

Did you sell him on Davo's Fencing Clips to save boring holes in those posts? A beautiful symbiotic operation.

[@miguelangelsimonfernandez5498]

In NW Spain we have a big rainfall and a huge eucalytpus problem. I don't know much about eucalyptus cultivars, the ones we have in Galicia look all the same to me. The landscape is mostly hills and granite and this makes it difficult to do agriculture or grazing, and there comes the problem when Eucalyptus spreads like a pest in abandoned land with terrible summer fires. We do have special cattle race called "cachena" that is more like a goat than a cow. It eats everything, is docile, produces milk, is small and with huge horns. It is no rival for your brahmas but it does have its virtues. The tree was introduced from southern Spain for paper production and it thrives here, spreading like weed.

[@kdegraa]

Eucalyptus trees spread like weeds in Australia too. Though they are native Australian trees they do have many of the characteristics of weeds and they can also grow 30 meters tall. I’m not sure what can be done with the problems these trees cause in Spain. Maybe set up a forestry industry to harvest them. Timber from certain species of eucalyptus trees is very fine quality hardwood. If the trees are more weedy then get in there with forestry munchers and clear it out then keep the saplings down. In Australia if there is sufficient rain an abandoned paddock will become a forest in around 20 years. Constant mowing is needed to keep forests at bay.

[@richardrichards5982]

Eucalypts are a weed to Spain and other places around the world but not a weed to Australia, where they evolved. You should get rid of the eucalypts like we try to get rid of the weeds from Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. Australia is about the same size as the continental US, or all of Europe, so there are some eucalypt species that are planted some parts of Australia that are weeds. Take home message: grow the species that are native to your soil.

[@meggadub]

So good !!!

[@oscarherrera9049]

Great video Thanks

[@daviddrake5906]

My steers don't find broad leaf paspalum palatable. Grows well in shade but not much point if it is ignored and other grasses are grazed out

[@FarmLearningTim]

Yep. They reckon that's why the switch to Brahman.

[@martinburns3226]

Interesting. Conventional wisdom is paspalum is unpalatable to cattle and horses. Was wondering how/why it was being grazed.

[@tonydoggett7627]

My understanding is paspalum is high in protein. In the 2019 drought my patches got eaten until nothing.

[@yehmate1528]

Fantastic

[@ppmonea]

Great work 👏

[@pashabulker12]

Brilliant video!

[@michiganhay7844]

I cut my own post, found this very educational

[@PeterSpeight]

Great project! How do the post go with the termites?

[@FarmLearningTim]

Iv'e asked James to reply

[@jameswright1187]

the White Mahogany, E.Acmenoides (not a mahogany badly named by early Europeans) in K.R.Bootle, Wood in Australia, the timber Bible says termite resistant, And the Gympie Messmate, E.Cloeziana ( not a mesmate another poorly named tree by early Europeans) also in K.R.Bootle, Wood in Australia, says termite resistant, Termites are more active in sap and post have Peeled the sap off, both timber is of Durabilty 1 and that's the best rating for timber,

[@perz0]

Heard it's more like 300M years to create coal, and apparently the conditions that created it haven't really happened since... hence the carboniferous era; a period with lots of plants and none of the bacteria to break it down.

[@littlemogocreek]

Isn't that interesting Tim. Fascinating to see how these lads are doing what they do. I have a fire prone property with very little ground cover under trees but a high fuel load in the form of leaves etc. I was interested when Broad-leaved paspalum was mentioned so googled it and one of the first results is from Sunshine Coast Council and states; "Broad-leafed paspalum (Paspalum mandiocanum) is a robust grass that is unpalatable to cattle and horses. Graziers should be aware that it can invade pastures and replace palatable species. It will also grow in dense shade, with the possibility of dominating the ground layer of closed forests." Funny they say it is unpalatable to cattle and yet here these fellas are grazing their cows on it 🙂

[@FarmLearningTim]

Yep. The cattle are Brahman. Makes a big difference. It’s about not just thinking of one stream of income but several complementary streams.

[@miguelangelsimonfernandez5498]

interesting

[@mini696]

I think he needs to slap the log again.