How forestry has transformed a 185 year wool legacy at Uralla, NSW

The Taylor family created an integrated agroforestry system in their superfine wool enterprise to them survive drought – and it has generated 25 per cent of their farm income.

The Taylor family has created an integrated agroforestry system in their superfine wool enterprise that has helped them survive drought and is generating 25 per cent of their farm income. Photo: Michael Taylor

Spero meliora – ‘I hope for better things’.

The Latin motto carved into the Taylor family’s farming identity, dating back 185 years, has possibly never been more relevant than it is today on their New England Tablelands property.

At Taylor’s Run, 23km south of Uralla in NSW, sixth-generation wool grower Michael Taylor and his wife Milly are living proof that hoping for better things isn’t enough – you have to plant for them too.

While the Australian wool industry grapples with synthetic competition and supply chain disconnection, the Taylors have spent more than four decades growing their own solutions: 250,000 trees transforming 1250ha across two farms into an integrated agroforestry system that produces 16.5-micron ultrafine wool, sustainable timber, and the kind of farming resilience that turns drought survival into business opportunity.

Michael’s approach to ‘hoping for better things’ involves taking control – from following his wool to Italian mills to processing his own timber.

GENERATIONAL VISION

The foundation of that hope began with drought and determination.

Michael’s grandparents Walter and Pat Taylor started tree planting in the 1960s, responding to ecosystem degradation and loss of livestock shelter.

His parents Jon and Vicki accelerated the program after the 1980s drought, transforming the landscape.

Michael and his sister Kath have returned to the family farms to continue this legacy.

“If you told my parents they’d have to plant a quarter of a million trees to get to 23 per cent tree cover, they would likely have said it’s too hard, but over the years, it adds up,” Michael said.

Early plantings focused on immediate needs – shelter along fence lines – but experience soon taught better approaches and they started planting on hilltops and in plots.

“By the early 1990s, they had started experimenting with planting out a whole paddock and those are the plantings we do now – contour planting or engineered woodlands,” Michael said.

Contour planting at Taylor’s Run, Uralla, NSW. Photo: Michael Taylor

ECONOMIC RETURNS

Today, 80ha of managed forest generate timber income while maintaining livestock carrying capacity of 5-6 dry sheep equivalents/ha despite the tree coverage.

The property sequesters more than 500 tonnes of Co2 equivalent per year.

Michael’s sawmill, purchased in 2004, transforms the investment into profit by creating treated square pine sleepers to sell wholesale and retail locally.

The on-farm processing eliminates the middleman while capturing value that would otherwise disappear into transport and handling margins.

“My trailer load of timber is worth more than the B-double load of logs,” Michael said.

He has harvest figures showing some pulp logs selling for just 50 cents per cubic metre due to cartage costs.

“One 4.2m log at 250mm diameter was selling for 10 cents,” he said.

“If I took that log and cut one landscape grade square board (100x100mm at 4.2m) I could sell it for $25.20.

“That’s a 25,200 per cent increase in value.

“Why wouldn’t I do that?”

FINANCIAL RESILIENCE

The timber enterprise now contributes 25 per cent of farm income alongside cattle, with wool generating 70 per cent and tourist accommodation adding 5 per cent.

Diversification has provided security.

“It’s nice knowing the sheep market can completely collapse and I can still go and cut a couple of grand worth of timber a day if I need income,” Michael said.

But the tree-planting program revealed a puzzling paradox during Michael’s 2024 Nuffield scholarship research into adoption barriers.

“None of this stuff is new, we’ve been banging on about planting trees for 40 years, there are loads of good examples and plenty of published scientific advice,” Michael said.

“My question is, what are the barriers still? Why, after the millions of trees planted, why are some farmers sitting at less than 5 per cent tree cover – yet we could lift our property back to over 23 per cent?

“We have objective data of the benefits – what’s holding people back?”

On-farm processing eliminates the middleman while capturing value that would otherwise disappear into transport and handling margins. Photo: Michael Taylor

GLOBAL INSIGHTS

Through his research, Michael discovered successful businesses worldwide shared one characteristic.

“They took control of their supply chain in one way or another,” he said.

The realisation sparked Michael’s awakening to supply chain control beyond timber and he followed his ultrafine wool out the front gate.

“Last year I sent wool all the way to Italy to see what price we would get,” he said.

The exercise revealed both opportunities and frustrations.

“There are all these barriers in the supply chain,” he said.

“Farmers are kept in the dark or simply don’t have the resources and knowledge to add value up the supply chain.”

Michael discovered brands “desperate to connect with farmers” but unable to bridge the gap created by complex supply chains.

At industry conferences, he found Australian wool struggling against negative perceptions.

“To go overseas as an Australian sheep farmer, it’s embarrassing, brands say to your face, we aren’t interested in dealing with Australia because we still mules,” he said.

These frustrations have led Michael to connect with other growers that are committed to progress including non-mulesed production and nature-friendly farming practices.

Already an unofficial group representing upwards of 100,000 kilograms of wool has formed to better understand the challenges and share knowledge on ultrafine wool production.

“Wool growers and graziers in general are said to be making only about 0.5 per cent of a margin on average over the last five years,” Michael said.

“We need to do more marketing and networking ourselves to bring back that connection.”

PREMIUM PRODUCTION

The Taylor family runs 3500 ultrafine Merinos, including stud ewes and rams, producing 13,000kg of greasy wool each year.

The flock has been non-mulesed since 2009 and selection for fly resistance continues to play a big part in breeding selection.

Sheep have been selectively bred over time to reduce micron, increase yield and produce stylish, soft handling traditional bright wool that has been bought and used by many of the top processors and spinners in the world.

Over the past 20 years, their wool has sold directly to well known Italian processor Giovanni Schneider and most recently to REDA in Italy.

Wool from Taylors Run has gone into some of the finest fabrics in the world including Carlo Barbera and Vitale Barberis.

This premium wool marketing success has been underpinned by the farm’s integrated forestry system, which provides both security and sustainability to their wool operation.

The Taylor family runs 3500 ultrafine Merinos, including stud ewes and rams, producing 13,000kg of greasy wool each year. Photo: Michael Taylor

TESTING RESILIENCE

During the 2013-14 drought, rather than destock, the Taylors used containment areas and hand fed stock but almost ran out of water.

Afterwards, Michael made a commitment not to hand feed again, instead matching numbers to rainfall and carrying capacity, and focused on pasture production.

“In 2019 our numbers dropped to 1100 head in line with an annual rainfall of only 230mm compared with an average of 710mm and the sheep continued to graze,” Michael said.

What happened next vindicated decades of tree-planting work.

While surrounding landscapes turned to dust, Taylors Run maintained its pastures and generated income from harvested timber.

“We still had ground cover – every half millimetre of rain we got wasn’t lost, it went to growing new feed – and we weren’t losing dry food in the wind either because of the trees,” Michael said.

“It became really apparent then.”

Despite increasing tree coverage, the property maintains the same stocking rate as it did in the 1980s, with shelter compensating for lost grazing land.

Now Michael, a Master Tree Grower who has also been heavily involved with the Farming For The Future natural capital accounting research, teaches others to plant their own hope, starting with practical advice.

“Map your property really well and make some plans,” he said.

“It’s easy to do with Google Earth, anybody can do it for free. Your eight-year-old child can jump on and map the farm.

“Start small. That might be 100 trees – that’s fine – in 30 years that makes a big difference.”

LIVING PROOF

Today on Taylor’s Run, spero meliora means more than hoping for better things, it means planting them, processing them, marketing them, and sharing the knowledge to transform an industry one farm at a time.

The Taylors’ 185-year journey from Scottish emigrants with 1000 sheep to integrated agroforestry pioneers proves that hope without action remains just a motto.

“Managing trees on farms for production and conservation for me is the low hanging fruit for improving farm resilience and natural capital accounts of which carbon emissions are just one part,” Michael said.

“Doing is the catalyst for change if you haven’t already reached a tipping point that has left you with no choice.”