ONE OF THE BALLENTINE family’s favourite jobs on their beef and cropping property Namgoori, just south of Banana in Central Queensland, is to shift a mob of cattle into a fresh section of a multi-species cover crop. With up to 12 different plants in the mix and each chosen for their ability to build diversity, soil health and nutrition, it’s apparent the cattle love the buffet-style offering just as much. “We began multi-species cropping back in 2012,” says Julie, 43. “The first crop was a fantastic success with sunflowers, turnip and radish, and you would see the cattle chasing each other to try and get the radish, which was quite amusing.”
Myles, a second-generation farmer and grazier at Namgoori, had started researching different ways to farm the land 20 years ago when faced with
