Holbrook Landcare Network

01/06/2026

⚠️ LAST CHANCE – FEW SPOTS LEFT! ⚠️
Our upcoming Low Stress Stock Handling School 25th 26th July.
If you've been on the fence, now is the time to lock in your spot!

🌟 SPECIAL GUEST ANNOUNCEMENT!
Our course instructor, Grahame Rees (LSS | Low Stress Stock Handling), has a fantastic treat for everyone attending. Cole Bush, popularly known as 'The Shepherdess' across her social media and grazing business in the USA, is visiting Australia! She will be attending our clinic to share some of the amazing work she is doing over there. Check out her inspiring work ahead of time at www.brittanycolebush.com.

THE DETAILS:
📅 When: Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th July
💰 Cost: $880 for the full weekend.
(Please note: As this course is entirely HLN member-led, there is no subsidised funding available for this round).

👇 HOW TO BOOK:
Contact the HLN office directly or email Nat at [email protected]

31/05/2026

29/05/2026

**Free Shrubs, Paddock Trees and Guards! ** As part of the Refreshing Rivers program, we’re looking to improve the health and biodiversity of the Upper Billabong Catchment area by providing native shrubs and plants to landholders who are looking to fill the gaps around their waterways.

Native vegetation near or within waterways provides enormous value for farming operations and on-farm biodiversity. They provide shade for stock, buffers against soil erosion and act as natural filters for the water. To ensure these riparian zones function well, a layered community of plants is needed.

As part of the Refreshing Rivers program, we are looking for farmers who have waterways that need some additional plants – we have some mid-storey shrubs available for planting on the bank or toe of the bank of waterways (no guards) and paddock trees (with guards) where there are gaps in the current line along a waterway.

Our target area is Upper Billabong catchment, as outlined by the coloured sections on the map below and the planting site must be along the bank of a waterway. We supply the understorey shrubs and paddock trees – you provide the planting muscle!

To express interest in participating in this project, please contact Jenn Pryor on 02 6036 3181 or at [email protected] to arrange a site visit. We need to close EOIs by Friday 12 June, so get in quick!

Refreshing the Upper Billabong is part of the Refreshing Rivers program, a collaboration between government, industry, research, and community organisations, led by Murray Local Land Services. This project has been assisted by the New South Wales Government through its Environmental Trust.

28/05/2026

What have been the main feedback from the Sheep Producers Dinner so far?
- What a diverse group of producers – a lot of women and younger people involved in the sheep industry in our region surprised some of our visitors,
- We need more sheep events and activities to keep the momentum going
- Dual purpose merinos! Can HLN support knowledge sharing and extension
- It’s fine to focus on the branded products and higher end producers but what about the rest of us ‘price takers’? Can HLN support more activities on the productivity and profitability drivers in sheep enterprises
If you haven’t given your feedback yet please follow this link – an opportunity to set some direction for our extension program and what we need to focus on getting funding for.
In the meantime, the Green Sheep Project continues to give us the opportunity to work with the value chain in trying to understand what they are going to be wanting from producers and getting your baselines ready.

So what is on offer for Green Sheep for farmers?

• Free carbon and natural capital benchmarking – we want to test some methods and tools including Climate Friendly and Integrity Ag assessments. Natural capital benchmarking is done remotely initially, little or no input required. Carbon benchmarking will require you to provide some data.

• Free support to identify opportunities – are there productivity projects, carbon projects, biodiversity projects that you want to do, or we can identify merit in? How would it look in terms of improving your sustainability profile? What are the costs and benefits?

• Opportunity to become a demonstration farm and apply for seed funding to do those projects. They might be production based (eg. fencing smaller paddocks for better grazing management, fencing shelterbelts, pasture improvement, implementing tech to better track flock performance) or environmental (eg. revegetation, biodiversity protection)

Interested? Find out more Email or call Kylie 0418198522 [email protected]

27/05/2026

Annual interviews for the PastureAg-Tech Project have recently been completed. Some of the key insights are below.
The purpose of the interviews was to touch base with the demonstration site producers and understand how the last 12-months have been for them in the project.
Overall, the project has noted some positives resulting from adoption of the technologies. Additionally, some challenges and opportunities have also been identified. These will guide the next 12 months of the project as we follow each farmer's journey in adopting at utilising the technologies.

26/05/2026

The Low Carbon Landscapes grants support diverse approaches to investing in carbon abatement across agriculture and the land sector. Funded by the NSW Government under the Primary Industries Productivity and Abatement program, these projects will demonstrate financially viable models for delivering carbon abatement and a range of co-benefits including biodiversity, climate resilience and productivity gains.
This funding is helping to build a pipeline of investible carbon projects in the primary industries and land sector, supporting NSW’s transition to net zero while strengthening regional economies.
Holbrook Landcare can assist you with the development of a natural capital and carbon baseline, and help design and cost projects that might be eligible for carbon and other environmental market opportunities.
For stage 1 you need to be south of Holbrook (Mountain Creek, Ten Mile, Mullengandra) and the first five landholders to participate will get access to one-on-one advice from Renovo Ag consultancy about the viability and potential of their projects. We have four spots left!

Interested? Contact [email protected] or call the office 0260363181
Supported by the NSW Government through a Low Carbon Landscapes grant.

24/05/2026

We now have a confirmed date for our upcoming Low Stress Stock Handling School and it’s a great time to get your staff ready for the season ahead.

• When: July 25th & 26th
• Where: Cookardinia Hall (Tuition) & HLN member farm 8km from the hall

Whether you have new staff who need to learn the fundamentals or you’re looking to improve your own skills, this school offers practical, hands-on experience with both sheep and cattle.

Don’t let the winter date put you off because we’ll be utilising the Cookardinia Hall for our theory and tuition sessions, so you can stay out of the elements while you learn.

To secure your spot or register your staff, please get in touch soon to avoid missing out!

20/05/2026

We now have a confirmed date for our upcoming Low Stress Stock Handling School and it’s a great time to get your staff ready for the season ahead.
• When: July 25th & 26th
• Where: Cookardinia Hall (Tuition) & HLN member farm 8km from the hall

Whether you have new staff who need to learn the fundamentals or you’re looking to improve your own skills, this school offers practical, hands-on experience with both sheep and cattle.

Don’t let the winter date put you off because we’ll be utilising the Cookardinia Hall for our theory and tuition sessions, so you can stay out of the elements while you learn.

To secure your spot or register your staff, please get in touch soon to avoid missing out!

18/05/2026

What a fantastic day on the travelling stock route! 🥾

Yesterday 30 bushwalkers joined Kylie and Paula for our Woodland to Plate Bushwalk along the 10 Chain TSR. The weather played nice just long enough for a gorgeous 7.2km walk, where everyone from toddlers in prams to Albury-Wodonga locals learned about our beautiful White Box Woodlands and local wildlife (like Pink-tailed Worm-lizards and Gang-gang Cockatoos!).

We wrapped up the day at the Holbrook Angling and Boating Club with an incredible gourmet lunch featuring local favourites from the Holbrook Butchery, Holbrook Bakery, and The Ten Mile. 🍔🧁

"Meeting new people, going for a walk, and learning more about grassy box woodlands." Was some of the positive feedback we received.

Missed out this time? Get in touch to join our mailing list so you don't miss the next one! A big thanks to the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust for helping support this event.

📬 Have a suggestion for our next walk location? Drop it in the comments below—we’d love to hear from you! 👇