Case Study - Agroforestry
16. Winton Estate: Mitigating strong winds impacts to provide shelter for crops, livestock
John Taylor is the latest custodian of Winton Estate, a mixed cropping and merino family farming enterprise in the central Midlands. It is one of seven successful recipients of Round 1 Integrated Farm Forestry Demonstration Site funding — supporting the establishment of landscape-scale, best practice tree plantings on commercial farms.
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At a glance
| Owner | John Taylor |
| Property name | Winton Estate |
| Location | Campbell Town, Northern Midlands |
| Property size | 3,300ha |
| Enterprise | Beef cattle, sheep and cropping |
| Rainfall | 475mm nominally |
| Soil type | Range from light sandy loams, red clay loams to black cracking clays |
| Forested area | 500ha of dry open native forest midlands woodlands, 50ha of P.radiata plantations (2-3 years old), 10ha P.radiata (20 years old) plus some additional biodiversity plantings |
Key points
- With consistent, well-managed establishment, tree planting is a strong long-term investment.
- The primary goal is to increase shelter across the farm — supporting both livestock and cropping in an open landscape with limited existing tree cover.
- Integrating trees adds value through diversified income, increased property value, and enhanced visual appeal.
- Trees aren’t just for marginal land — they’re essential to whole-of-farm improvement and must be planted in the right locations to realise their full benefits.
- There is strong interest in exploring future opportunities in carbon markets.
- Planting trees is a strategic priority for this enterprise — and is highly recommended to fellow landowners.
About
Situated on the eastern side of the Macquarie River and extending all the way to Conara, Winton Estate has significant remnant native forest in the far east as well as extensive areas of open grazing and cropping land closer to the Macquarie River.
Managing a family property for future generations, John Taylor said long-term management is a key consideration.
Increasing productivity as well as providing a future income stream has led John to plant over 50 hectares of trees on the property.
As Winton Farm has a high-water table, strategically planting trees would help to reduce the water levels while improving water efficiency for irrigation purposes.
"Growing the radiata pines strategically along the fence lines of the property will provide shelter for our livestock by reducing the impacts of the strong winds. The trees will also provide protection to our new seedlings, crops and growing hemp production, so this is something that will really improve our crop survival rate," John Taylor said.
Previous land use
- Agriculture use (pasture) and marginal land.
Site preparation
- Clearing of dead vegetation (wattles).
- Pre-cultivation weed control on bracken ferns.
- Pasture areas were heavily grazed to control weeds.
- Ripping and mounding,
Planting date
- Originally planted August 2021.
- Refilling Autumn 2022.
Species and area
- P.radiata - 41.59ha
- The plantings have focused on large shelterbelts and some small block planting to increase the number of trees in a largely open landscape.
Stocking
- 1,000 stems per hectare
- Survival rate, prior to infill planting (as at January 2022) = 13.8%
"Being involved in the demonstration site project is financially a long-term investment that will appreciate when we can harvest the trees and sell the timber in say 30 years’ time”
Management to date
- 20g of Multicote at planting and ongoing weed management.
- Plantation fencing.
- A focus on browsing control operations and infill planting has been used in the second season to improve the stocking rate in heavily browsed areas.
Challenges
- Dry weather conditions in Autumn 2021 and 2022 were not ideal for establishment.
Planting has occurred over two seasons due to the high browsing pressure primarily Bennett’s wallabies and possums and to a lesser extent deer, despite regular shooting to attempt to control numbers.
Planned management
- Options for future management will focus on maintaining the benefits of providing shelter across the farm landscape and producing income from harvest operations. It is expected the trees will be managed with a mid-rotation thinning and final harvest.
- John would like to do more tree planting across his property, ideally up to 20 hectares per year, where finances and seasonal opportunities allow.
- Looking forward the opportunity for future plantations to earn carbon credits will be considered.
"Another reason we are excited to get involved in this initiative is to help benefit the environment. Planting these trees will help to reduce our carbon footprint and improve the carbon balance, which we are really happy about."
Watch Winton Estate's video here
John Taylor farms a 3,300 hectare sheep, cattle and cropping enterprise in the Northern Midlands of Tasmania where he has planted commercial tree species around centre pivot irrigators for crop and livestock shelter as well as biodiversity benefits and water evaporation.