Soil plays a crucial role in the creation process of our products, and an important process in creating healthy soil is composting.

Composting was a major project for us which took around 4 years to implement. It was well worth it though, with an outcome of lowered outside inputs and much higher soil nutrients than before the project. It's also an important part of what we do because we chose not to use synthetic and engineered fertilisers, instead, keeping it all natural.

Composting is a way in which we can use waste resources from both on and off the farm to replenish nutrients and increase microflora in the pastures. As the cows eat the grass and “remove” the nutrients in them we must then look at replacing them.

The vast majority of our compost consists of manure and straw bedding, but we do add some other components as needed or if we are able to access it. Our soils have a low pH (acidic) level, and so we may add lime from local quarries to help balance this. We also have access to some chicken and pig manure that we compost to spread out on the pastures, utilising more waste for our benefit.

As we come into spring, thanks to the high quality and health of our soil in the pastures on the farm, the heavy rainfall we had during winter has been retained and utilised, instead of simply running off.

We're always looking at ways to continue improving on the way we work on the farm, and composting is definitely an area that we will continue to trial new methods in. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to pass them on - send us an email at info@schulzorganicdairy.com.au.