Willangi’s History
Willangi Entreprises
Willangi consists of four properties owned by Neil and Antoinette in the Peterborough District.
Willangi was bought in 1958by Antoinette’s parents Bill and Christine Retallack.
We continued working the land and then we purchased it from Mum and Dad in 1997.
We are also the 4th generation on The Pines which was owned by Antoinette’s Mum’s side of the family. This was originally owned by Phillip Dunn 1903 which we then purchased in 1982.
We purchased Paradise in 2007 which also has Dunn Heritage.
The property on the edge of Peterborough is the location of the Willangi Bush Escapes Office. This was originally owned by Milton Koch and family, and is the current residence of Neil and Antoinette. Their house is the third oldest in Peterborough, built in the 1870’s.
Cell Grazing and Pasture Cropping
We currently run a cell grazing operation, which involves putting several mobs of sheep into one mob. To make this work we needed to make more than double the number of paddocks. Sheep are moved to a new paddock every 3-6 days.
Saltbush plantings are occurring on the most derogated land when first established (usually paddocks are back into full production 24months after planting). The amount of grazing time on the area is between 4-7 times greater than on grassland.
Also, carbon credits from saltbush are now being investigated.
Along with the cell grazing we are doing trials with Pasture cropping. Pasture cropping involves the planting of a cereal crop directly into native grass pasture with the use of a knock down herbicide and very minimal soil disturbance.
The theory of this method is not to lose any grazing time from the paddock with ability to graze right up to the day of seeding and after the crop is harvested there will be a growth of native grass under the stubble.