Information and Articles

With keeping chickens comes the responsibility of providing them adequate housing. This article covers important considerations for buying or building the  perfect chicken house for your poultry.

Because many plans for building poultry housing are already freely available on the internet, this article will concern itself more with what's required to keep poultry safe, happy and productive in terms of space and amenity requirements. Armed with this knowledge, you should be able to build, modify or purchase a chicken coop that’s suitable to your poultry’s needs and will keep them safe and contented.

What makes poultry happy/unhappy?
Research now provides a very good idea of what makes poultry happy and productive. Interestingly, the findings closely reflect the behaviours of the wild red jungle fowl of Southern Asia, from which all domesticated poultry are descended. In the wild, red jungle fowl form small, complex social groups. Much of their waking time is spent foraging over large distances, taking dust baths and preening themselves. Prior to laying they seek secluded spots for nest building and at night, they fly up into trees to avoid predators and roost. 

 ‘Getting away from it all’ is an Australian dream. In our area, getting away from it all often involves buying a rural block. Rural blocks can be productive  farmland, a bush block or a combination of both.

 This compost pile was the star attraction for more than 100 farmers and agricultural industry members, who flocked to Craig Mathews’ Bass Coast dairy  farm to find out more about on-farm composting.

When it comes to grass – whether it’s in the paddock or around the house –  there always seems to be too little or too much. With so many jobs to do  around the farm, lawn mowing is often left until last.

 A ride-on mower is one piece of farm machinery that can make the job of lawn mowing a faster, easier and safer task. 

 Managing an orchard can be incredibly rewarding, but for small landholders just embarking on such a development, it can be a very complex operation.

 John Deere’s 1023E and 1026R Subcompact Utility Tractors give the acreage and hobby farm owner the power and performance needed to easily  attach and remove implements, work with greater comfort and safety, and mow large volumes of grass with a high quality of cut.

Permaculture is a design science for sustainable agricultural environments. Through the observation of natural function, it seeks to integrate and arrange  various elements within a farm enterprise (e.g. plants, animals, buildings and infrastructures) in such a way that they support and benefit each other while  performing multiple functions (e.g. harvesting water, providing shelter, feeding farm stock).

Grazing herbs are plant species that are often mistaken by many farmers as weeds in their pasture. An ideal pasture contains a large proportion of vigorous  grasses and to a lesser extent companion species such as clover and herbs.

Grazing herbs include both Chicory (Cichorium intybus) and Plantain (Plantago lanceolata). These are perennial plants that in some harsh environments  behave as free seeding annuals, that is, they grow for one year or less, set seed and die.

Hand rearing calves is a popular business for small farmers. The initial investment required for calf rearing is relatively low while labour can generally be  easily worked around off-farm commitments.

Here are some tips on raising calves on a small or hobby farm – focusing on how and what to feed them.

Who contributes more to the local economy: hobby or conventional farmers? A groundbreaking study delivered the first findings this week.