A Livestock and Landscape Farm Tour to the Otways next month will take Wimmera farmers to a grazing property where 30 years of improvements have transformed productivity and the landscape.

We are inviting farmers and Landcare groups to jump on the bus on Monday October 20 to visit the Stewart’s Yan Yan Gurt West Farm.

The bus will leave from Horsham and stop at Stawell, Ararat, Skipton and Beeac (pick up and drop off times are listed at the bottom of the page). Corangamite and Glenelg Hopkins CMAs are co-hosting the tour.

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• Register for the Livestock and Landscape Farm Tour HERE
• Cost: FREE, includes meals
• Places are limited, please register before 15 October 2025
• If you would prefer to make your own way to Yan Yan Gurt West, please contact Bronwyn Bant for times and directions at Bronwyn.bant@wcma.vic.gov.au or phone 0427 529 232.

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Wimmera Sustainable Agriculture Facilitator Bronwyn Bant said the tour was a great opportunity to visit a successful working farm that’s gained productivity benefits through revegetation and strategic farm planning.

“We’re pleased to be able to take Wimmera farmers outside of the region to see how the Stewarts have changed their landscape and farming system over the past three decades,” Ms Bant said.

“While the Wimmera doesn’t have the same soil types, climatic conditions or annual rainfall experienced in the Otways, Yan Yan Gurt West Farm provides a working example of the productivity benefits that can be gained through the integration of biodiversity.

“With a land area of around 230 hectares it is also a great case study of successful farm diversification.” 

Fourth-generation farmer Andrew Stewart along with his wife Jill and daughters Kristy, Hannah and Michelle and their families, manage their family-owned grazing and agroforestry property.

Since completing a whole farm plan in 1991 they have planted more than 55,000 trees and shrubs across 42 hectares, to cover 18 percent of the farm area. They also plant deep-rooted, multi-species pastures to improve soil health, and continually trial to discover the benefits of other multi-species including chicory and plantain.

Andrew said increasing vegetation cover on the farm had not reduced their agricultural production.

They run 1300 breeding ewes, producing 1600-1800 lambs annually. They are reducing the emissions intensity of their livestock through sheep genetics, optimising feed and live-weight monitoring.

They have been able to generate new income streams and have a commercially successful banksia and wildflower foliage business that supplies florists, restaurants and function centres.

“The goal is to make our farm sustainable for the long-term and to improve the wellbeing of livestock, native animals and people living in this landscape,” Andrew said.

He said they have a strong focus on production efficiency through using pregnancy scanning and maximising lamb survival which ranges from 85 to 95% for twins and singles, respectively.

“Sheep genetics, drench efficacy testing, rotational grazing, autumn saving and set stocking at lambing are also important.”

The carbon account – all emissions and sequestration within the operational boundary – showed the farm enterprise was carbon neutral in 2022-2023.

“Our target is 20 percent tree cover and through this and other tools in our farming system’s toolbox, we aim to achieve a zero carbon footprint into the future,” Andrew says.

Andrew won the 2021 Bob Hawke National Landcare Award and is a founding member of the Otway Agroforestry Network and member of the East Otway Landcare Group. He has been on the Australian Landcare Council, is a recipient of a Norman Wettenhall Foundation Landscape Restoration Fellowship and a former chair of the Victorian Farmers Federation Farm Tree & Landcare Association.

“Over the past 30 years we’ve been part of a community that have collaborated strongly. By joining forces to share ideas and be part of a community of ‘doers’ we have all built up our knowledge about good landscape functionality. At the same time we’ve had a good social time and the general sense of wellbeing that’s resulted continues to inspire us,” he said.

• The tour is in partnership with Agriculture Victoria and Landcare Victoria, as part of the Carbon Farming Outreach Program funded by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. The program aims to support farmers and land managers in accessing accurate and independent information about reducing farm emissions, accounting and markets.

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Livestock and Landscape Farm Tour

Monday 20 October

Pick up and drop off times:

• Horsham (Horsham Angling Club, Dixon Drive) – departing 7am, returning 7.45pm
• Stawell (Church St Carpark near Woolworths) – departing 7.50am, returning 7.00pm
• Ararat (Town Hall, Vincent St Ararat) – departing 8.20am, returning 6.30pm
• Skipton (Montgomery St, near the public toilets) – departing 9.10am, returning 5.40pm
• Beeac (Main St, near public toilets) – departing 9.50am, returning 4.50pm