Case Study: Wool production & biodiversity working together for Rob & Annabel Dulhunty - 'Nant Lodge'

Abstract

Rob and Annabel Dulhunty's family is at the core of their vision for profitable, aesthetically pleasing, biodiverse farm, that provides a home and lifestyle to which their children can return as they grow up. In a few short years, Rob and Annabel have transformed 'Nant Lodge' into an award-winning farm. Many people talk about trying to balance production with natural resource management (NRM), or about production versus conservation. For Rob and Annabel, however, NRM and productivity are inextricably linked because production depends on the resource base. "You can't have one without the other," says Rob. "Our principal environmental aim is to maintain groundcover and achieve productive outcomes. Biodiversity is one indicator of the health of our resource base, and its intrinsic value is the combined production, resilience and stability that it gives our farm ecosystem," he says. This booklet details the Dulhuntys' management, resource issues and enterprises, and describes the techniques they use to achieve their goals.