e.g. 3 with 2 photos sent, one showing close-up detail of soil and a challenge and  the  second  showing the use –

Gilgaied soils of sheep paddock.

Description  – gilgai – grey brown deep heavy clay, (vertisol)
Location – lower lying Black Box Ground, Werrigar near Warracknabeal, Wimmera region, Victoria, Australia

 

 

 

 

 

• Our values/uses for this soil-
  • main soil of this paddock providing us with ground to farm – graze sheep for sale.
  • sustains our winter feed crop- green feed especially at lambing
  • sustains native trees (Black Box,  Eucalyptus largiflorens)  providing shelter for sheep – wind break  in winter , shade in summer

• Our challenges/managements using this soil to produce sheep-
  • clay soils swell and shrink = crack open in summer,
  • if covering grass is lost, the clay particles can be eroded by winds, so we aim to keep sheep off when the cover has been eaten down like this, and use a stock containment paddock.
  • Summer weeds like Heliotrope after grow after rain, so we need to kill or remove them to conserve soil moisture for the next crop.

J. Clark gives permission for this photo and information to be used under a (cc) license . Warracknabeal, Australia, 2015  See more about our sheep 

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page set up 20 March 2015