Unworkable Goldfields Land Now Cropable
May 07, 2025 | Source: Rocksgone
FARMING couple Stephen Rodger and Tracy Hunt have adopted a regenerative farming approach on family land in Victoria’s Goldfields region, and the use of a machine to transform some of the landscape is helping to achieve it.
The couple are managing about 1400 hectares near Burkes Flat, east of St Arnaud, and their main focus is running about 2500 Merino ewes, including for crossbred lamb production. They are planning to improve land that previously couldn’t be utilised through activities such as multispecies cropping.
Their farming land predominantly comprises grey box and ironbark country, as well as some tough ironstone ridges, while the land being improved is typical of the Goldfields region, featuring a mix of quartz and shale country.
The area comprises about 330ha and Stephen said they purchased a Rocks Gone H4 Reefinator rock crushing machine to help transform it. The 3-metre wide machine features a levelling blade, four front row and five rear row hydraulic tines, and a following ribbed drum, all weighing 28-tonne when filled with water and digging up to 600 millimetres deep.