It’s all hands to the fences

THREE generations of the Davis family at Little Bowerbank, Deloraine, worked in the near-dark on Friday evening trying to finish a stretch of fencing facing the Meander Valley Road.

Bradey Davis and his dad Keith were joined by Bradey’s daughters, Addi, 5 and Spencer 6, who were all too keen to hold a level or support an end post after arriving home from school.

The posts were easily rammed into the rich red soil, relatively rock-free compared to the top of the ridge on the 220ha property.

It’s a familiar sight on farms all over the state, the depth of winter and fine weather proving the ideal time to catch up on fencing, machinery maintenance and other chores on the farm.

The boundary fencing along a busy road is all-important to Brodey, his younger brother Callum and cousin Corey Bowerman who grow beef cattle, sheep, poppies and vegetable crops at Little Bowerbank, once part of the iconic Bowerbank Mill site.

Lucky to have plenty of feed the farm is selling hay and silage and maintaining good stocking rates of Angus, Hereford and Murray Grey cattle.

“We’re about to start marketing our own beef raised on regenerative, multi-species pasture,” Brodey said.

“Callum, who has his own farm at Westbury, lived on the Sunshine Coast and has connections who are willing to sell 10kg boxes of meat under our new label, Tassie Pastures.

“We’ll also be setting up to sell locally. “We’ve moved to a more natural approach to farming for the health of the soil and the animals.”

Little Bowerbank cattle get to graze on three or four chicory varieties, plantain, tillage radish, tic beans, various grasses and oats, just to name a few.

The amount of land moving away from monoculture is growing each year and the Davis family are working together to improve what they have for future generations.

As well as making sure their precious livestock can’t get out onto the road.