‘Astonishing’: How a Victorian family is winning with regen ag
A 5000ha Western District farm has achieved extraordinary results using worm juice, delivering an extra tonne per hectare in wheat yields during drought.
The debate about whether regenerative agriculture works at a commercial scale is settled at Mingawalla Agriculture.
Lachie Barclay, 35, manages the fourth generation family operation at Beeac in southwest Victoria across 5000 hectares running 1200 Angus breeding females, 2500 ewes and cropping 2350 hectares of canola, wheat, barley and faba beans.
The Barclays turn off 1000 Angus and F1 Wagyu calves a year plus 600 to 1200 head of trade cattle.
Regenerative farming practices have been integrated throughout the operation for more than two decades.
Cell grazing is used on all cattle country for strategic soil and pasture management.
It has been so effective that no synthetic chemicals or fertilisers have been required on pastures for 25 years.
The regenerative approach also delivered measurable results through recent drought when the Barclays received just 55 per cent of their 555mm average rainfall.
Worm juice application in the 2024 season yielded an extra tonne per hectare in wheat.
“The data we got last year was quite astonishing,” Lachie said.
BUILT TO LAST
Behind those results is a family operation built on diversity and long-term thinking.
Lachie manages the business with wife Belinda and his parents Richard and Fiona.
The operation has doubled in size over the past decade and is split between 40 per cent cattle, 40 per cent cropping and 20 per cent sheep.
The workforce is built around long-term partnerships.
Cattle manager Will Dexter has been with the operation for more than 25 years and now owns 280 hectares adjoining the main property in partnership with the family.
“Dad could tell Will was a good asset for the business and helped him purchase a couple of farms which gives him and his wife, Belinda, skin in the game,” Lachie said.
Three other full-time staff work across the operation and live on site.
“They don’t work for us, they work with us,” Lachie said.
“We bring them for the ride and keep the family values - they are part of the family.”
The Barclays own 3930 hectares and share-farm or lease another 1010 hectares.
The diversity across enterprises provides stability through variable seasons and markets.
MULTI-BREED STRATEGY
Their cattle program demonstrates that philosophy with a two-pronged breeding approach.
Sixty per cent of the herd is joined to Wagyu bulls and 40 per cent to Angus.
All heifers are joined to Wagyu for ease of calving.
Lachie started the Wagyu program seven years ago as a trial to spread market risk.
Three years ago F1 calves returned $10.40 per liveweight kilogram on-farm but the market has corrected since then.
“The Wagyu market seems cyclic and gets flooded when prices are big then takes a bit to rebound,” Lachie said.
Currently Angus prices are higher but he is sticking with Wagyu.
Wagyu genetics come from Bowen Wagyus, Trent Bridge, Kuro Kin and Kildrummie, chasing a minimum 2+ marble score on bulls with good growth figures.
The operation moved back to natural joining after using artificial insemination.
“For the effort and hours involved and the conception rates we were able to achieve, we’ve gone back to buying really good quality bulls and doing natural joinings,” Lachie said.
They buy six to 12 bulls a year.
Younger heifers are joined at a rate of three bulls to 100 head. Older cows are joined at two and a half per cent in mobs of 300 to 400.
For Angus genetics the operation uses Murdeduke bloodlines.
Selection criteria focuses on moderate birthweight and growth, calving ease and fertility. Bulls must have good feet and bone structure.
The operation targets feedlot markets, turning off calves at 12 months of age weighing 350 to 400kg.
Trade cattle complement the breeding program and are able to fill gaps when cow numbers are down or in times of excess feed.
DROUGHT DECISIONS
Maintaining cattle numbers through the recent drought required some tough decisions.
In March 2024 Lachie realised grass would not carry the herd through.
He sent 1600 head of cattle across three states on agistment or droving runs for eight months from Moama to Coonamble and Tamworth in NSW, and as far as Charleville in Queensland.
“Some things worked, some didn’t but as a whole we could maintain cattle numbers and capitalise on the better prices that we have seen in recent times,” Lachie said.
Ninety per cent of cattle are now home.
“I slept easy the night they were all back here,” Lachie said.
The core breeding herd stayed home in containment areas to protect pastures.
Paddocks have responded well to recent rain but Lachie’s confidence remains guarded with minimal subsoil moisture or dam run-off for two years.
The operation is relying solely on bore water at present.
Wind has been relentless during spring this year but feed is finally growing.
“Things are looking OK but we are definitely not out of the woods yet,” he said.
“A week or two of warm weather and the country would turn rapidly.
“Crops have got the potential to be some of the best we’ve ever grown this year but there is still a long way to go until the grain is in the silo.”
In a good season they aim for 3t/ha canola, 7t/ha wheat and 6 to 7t/ha barley, with barley proving a close second to canola on gross margins over the past two seasons.
UNCONVENTIONAL INPUTS
Worm juice has played a key role in keeping crops viable through the dry.
The Barclays produces 12,000 to 15,000 litres of worm juice each year from 10 IBC shuttle worm farms.
Feed for the worms is hay from around cattle feeders containing manure and urine - essentially a by-product.
Kelp and humate are added to the worm juice before application to crops and pastures.
Yield monitor data from last year showed an extra tonne per hectare in wheat where worm juice was applied compared to areas without it.
Early application during moisture stress saved crops from needing to be resown.
“The plants that get it look a lot healthier,” Lachie said.
“We bought 6000 litres extra than what we could produce to do a block of wheat really struggling due to moisture stress and we couldn’t believe how quickly it turned around.”
One challenge was not knowing compatibility between worm juice and other chemicals.
“We are doing an extra pass with the worm juice because I don’t have faith that chemicals won’t counteract each other,” Lachie said.
More trials are running this year to build the data set.
“A lot of people tell me to put my tin hat on when I start talking about it,” Lachie said.
“I’m of the belief that you never know until you have a go and while the results are there we’ll keep at it.”
If trials continue to show positive results the operation will expand worm production.
The worm juice fits into a broader strategy of adapting to future market requirements.
“One way or another, whether red tape makes us go down that path or markets demand to know our carbon footprint, everyone will have to look at different approaches to farm and I want to be at the forefront or be in front of the game,” he said.
EARLY ADOPTERS
Being at the forefront started long before it was fashionable.
Will Dexter has driven regenerative practices in their cattle enterprise for a quarter of a century.
After Will and Richard completed a Grazing for Profit course they implemented a cell grazing system to rotate and better manage pastures.
Will also uses low stress stock handling methods.
Four years ago they also invested in a Soil Key renovator to break up old phalaris pastures that were root bound and mono-cultured.
“Even if the other species don’t persist, the rainfall we get on these phalaris pastures is able to penetrate down into the soil, break through that root mass and we are getting extra growth,” Lachie said.
New pasture mixes contain 16 different species including phalaris, clover, lucerne, chicory, plantain and vetch.
Dung beetles have been introduced across the property and chook manure is used in the cropping program.
For 20 years, it was a lonely space.
FUTURE FOCUS
The priority for the next few years is consolidation - emerging from drought and lifting performance on new properties.
“We want to knuckle down and ramp up production on our new acquisitions,” Lachie said.
The operation will continue regenerative practices and explore marketing opportunities as consumer interest in provenance grows.
The Barclays have planted more than 300,000 trees over the last 15 to 20 years and are looking at solar options on their building infrastructure.
They invest in infrastructure improvements each year with an aim to always leave the farm in better shape for the next generation.
Financial profit must balance with land health.
“What we are taking out of the land we are putting back and more - that is part of regenerative principles too,” Lachie said.
He sees a bright future for agriculture despite inevitable challenges.
“So as farmers are in the box seat to feed the world, to me that is exciting.”
