The Schulz family have been farming biodynamically and organically in Timboon for a long time now. Our Founder Simon Schulz’s Opa, Hermann Schulz, launched the vision back in 1972 when he blueprinted his original 240 acre farm to be as sustainable as possible. So, we thought we’d share some of our sustainable and organic practices from our farm. We believe our organic practices along with only using natural ingredients offers a truer product, as nature intended.
Schulz’s organic farming practices
Today on the farm we only use organic farming practices to enhance the vitality of the soil, grass and animals, which means our pastures are chemical, hormone and pesticide free. Creating an organic product is not just a chemical-free tick on the product’s packaging. It is a holistic system of caretaking, growing and handling the things we consume. The whole system is linked. From the soil through to plants, animals, food, people and the environment, everything works together. Our products are grown and processed without the use of synthetic chemicals, fertilisers or GMOs.
Read on to learn about what farming strategies we use to make the farm work for us and our herd.
How the farm’s layout works for the earth and our girls
Simon’s father Michael implemented the strategic planting of trees between paddocks to provide windbreaks for grass protection, support soil management, and provide wildlife habitat. The trees also offer a refuge for the cows in extreme weather conditions and help manage carbon emissions.
Our herd has access to the best food going round: fresh grass. Each morning and evening the cows are given a fresh paddock. This technique is called ‘cell grazing’, which means our herd rotates around many smaller paddocks on our farm. This allows each paddock to regenerate its precious grasses. At certain times of the year the grass doesn’t grow efficiently, or at all. We manage this by cutting silage (fermented grass) and hay (grass just before going to seed) during the seasons where we have plenty of grass. We then feed this out during other seasons depending on our girls’ needs. During summer and autumn we feed our pastures silage, and in late autumn and winter we spread hay to replenish our farm.
Why does Schulz use compost on its pastures?
Soil plays a crucial role in the creation process of our products – and an important process in creating healthy soil is composting. Composting is a method of reusing waste resources from on and off the farm to replenish nutrients and increase microflora in the pastures. As the cows eat the grass (and remove the nutrients) we must then replace them to balance the soil.
Our compost piles consist mostly of manures and straw/hay bedding. Spreading compost instead of using chemical fertilisers is just one of the many reasons our pastures are so lush and nutrient dense. Composting also helps us reuse waste (which we are all about!)
We're always looking at ways to continue improving the way we work on the farm. We believe that good farming is synonymous with organic and sustainable farming. If you have seen any innovations or ideas that we should know about, please share them with us in the comments below! We’d love to hear.