Weddin Landcare’s field day series through their ‘Over the Fence’ project has come to an end with their sixth and final field day on Livestock Technology held last Thursday.

Supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program under the Natural Heritage Trust, the six field days have been run over 2025 and 2026.

In 2025, a Strip and Disc Cropping day was held at the Cooper’s property at Caragabal and a Microbe Friendly Farming Field Day was conducted at ‘Tumbleton’ near Wombat.

This year, Weddin Landcare have held a Farm Business Strategies workshop with Agrista in Grenfell; a Landscape Rehydration workshop with Mulloon Institute at the MacAlpine’s property near Grenfell; Talking Dirty Soil Health workshop with Dr. Aurelie Quade at Bulla Creek in May and, most recently, the Livestock Tech day at the Taylor’s property near Grenfell.

Local farmers learn about Landscape Rehydration with the Mulloon Institute. PHOTO: Melanie Cooper

“Our Over the Fence field days have been very popular,” said Melanie Cooper, Local Landcare Coordinator for Weddin Landcare.

“Previously, we would expect about 15 farmers to turn up to our field days, but this project has given us the ability to attract higher-profile guest speakers to present new knowledge on some every relevant topics and this, coupled with the promise of farmer interactions, has meant we’ve had crowds of 40-50 farmers at most of these field days, which is fantastic,” Melanie said.

Designed to provide farmers with insight and knowledge on topics that will improve the sustainability and profitability of agricultural practices, the field days have included a variety of topics and speakers, with practical talks from local farmers a key component.

Local farmer from Gooloogong, Andrew Dowd speaking about virtual fencing at the Livestock Tech field day. PHOTO: Melanie Cooper

“At each field day we have had one or two local farmers give talks about what they are doing on their farm and have allowed plenty of time in the breaks for farmers to talk to one another over a cuppa.

“This is what this project is all about – encouraging more of the conversations that happen ‘over the fence’, which often spark ideas and practice change,” Melanie added.

Feedback surveys collected from the field days have proven that the farmer insights provided at each field day are what participants have found most valuable.

“Farmers have been interested in, and perhaps come for the guest speakers but it has been great to be able to back this up with talks from local farmers who are adopting the different methods or technologies as they can speak to the practicalities of the application, the benefits they’ve seen and the challenges they’ve faced or overcome.

It’s often not until a farmer sees another farmer successfully implementing a new practice that they have the confidence to try it themselves,” Melanie said.

While the field day series has come to an end, there are still several other activities yet to come as part of the Over the Fence project.

Practical demonstrations on farm have been part of the field days. PHOTO: Melanie Cooper

In July, Weddin Landcare will host a Low Stress Stockhandling course with Grahame Rees, for which local members can access a training subsidy through the Over the Fence project and local Coordinators are currently finalising the details for a second bus trip, which will head to the northern parts of Central West NSW in August.

A series of six short films are also being release between now and November, which feature six local farming families.

“The visual stories help to cater for those who get their content online and provide further insight into local farming operations, businesses and ways of life to provide fresh ideas, knowledge, validation and peer support to other farmers.

“They [the visual stories] are being beautifully captured by former local Grenfell boy, Stuart Walmsley, and you can clearly see his passion for sustainable agriculture and stories from rural and remote areas in each film,” Melanie added.

Farmers got to mingle and chat in between sessions. PHOTO: Melanie Cooper

The first of the visual stories, which features Graham and Lynne Watt of Greenethorpe, was released in May and the second film is set to be released later this week.

The films can be viewed via Weddin Landcare’s YouTube channel @weddinlandcare.

More information on the Over the Fence project can be found at weddinlandcare.com.au/over-the-fence