Calamia Enterprises

The Glaucous star thistle (Carthamus glaucus) is the pasture ninja. It has very thin, grey-green stems that are very hard to see against the greens of grasses. It is flowering now, so the mauve flowers increase the plant’s visibility somewhat. But its ability to hide is uncanny. If we see one, we stop and slash it with a brush hook or a hoe. The nest step in our protocol is to stand at the site of the chopped weed and slowly scan the area for other star thistles, then complete a second rotation, just in case. Sometimes we only notice them by standing on them as we walk back to the truck. George compares them to plovers, who sit motionless on the ground hoping that they won’t be noticed.

They are on our zero-tolerance list because they seem to grow, flower and set seed very quickly. Once they get a toe hold, they quickly multiply and dominate an area. The main areas of concern are the grassy margins of forested areas, where we can’t mulch with the tractor.

According to the NSW DPI,

In NSW it is a “class 5″ noxious weed, which places it at the low end of the seriousness spectrum. The NSW DPI helpfully states that for class 5 weeds, “[t]he requirements in the Noxious Weeds Act 1993 for a notifiable weed must be complied with.” A more useful definition [on anthore part of the NSWDPI site] is:

Plants that are likely, by their sale or the sale of their seeds or movement within the State or an area of the State, to spread in the State or outside the State.

There are no requirements to control existing plants of Class 5 weeds. However, the weeds are “notifiable” and a range of restrictions on their sale and movement exists.

The main enterprise at Calamia is the raising of prime quality pasture-fed yearling steers.

We give them the best pasture conditions, supplemented now and then with a little Copra meal. We use a cell-grazing system in which the cattle graze small paddocks for a week before they are moved to the next paddock. The pasture regrows for about 6 weeks before the cattle return. This allows for strong regrowth and also limits the parasite load.

Pasture feeding has several advantages over lot-feeding. The meat is tasty and tender, since the cattle are young at turnoff and they have never experienced feed stress, and the mixture of pasture plants (including tasty ‘dock’ and plantain) imparts rich tastes to the meat. Not all properties have the right climate and soil conditions for high-quality pasture, but Calamia certainly does.

Pasture fed beef is typically leaner than lot-fed beef, and research has shown that the fats that are present have a different, more healthy composition.

Because our steers are allowed to roam freely and are not crowded together, we don’t have to worry about using antibiotics for disease suppression, which is the case in most intensive livestock operations. Thus meat from our cattle is clean, both in terms of lack of chemical residues and in terms of antiobiotic resistant microbial loads.

Lastly, with recent rises in grain prices, lot feeding is becoming less viable and more expensive.

We’ll have more to say about pasture-fed beef shortly.

The Bureau of Meteorology has a new service called Water and the Land.

It seems to bring together some existing services and new ones.

An example of what is offers is a map of forecast rainfall, based on computer models.

George says he saw a bush hen and its ‘chickens’ down at the river. He surprised them (and himself) when he stepped through a fence at “Simpkins”, a densely vegetated part of the river. He thought they were moorehens or rails, but when he observed them through binoculars, it became obvious that they were a new species (to him). After conferring with Simpson & Day he concluded that he had seen the bush hen, Amaurornis olivacea.

(Picture by Dan Blunt from Gondwana Guides)

It is classed as ‘vulnerable‘ in NSW but overall it is classed as ‘Least Concern’ by the IUCN.

A distinct species

According to the Ecological Consultants Association of NSW, the Bush-hen (Amaurornis olivacea) has been renamed as the Pale-vented Bush-hen (Amaurornis moluccana) in recognition that the Australian species is genetically distinct from the species in the Philippines. (Reference: Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. (2008). Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds (CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood)).

Note: The Bush Hen should not be confused with the Bush Chook™ LOL)

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