Soil Restoration Expo Dandaragan
Soil restoration seminar at the Dandaragan hall on march 23rd was preceded by a sundowner function at the Redgum Village function centre in Dandaragan.
30 guests enjoyed a meal put on by Gaylene of the Redgum Village using local organic Dandaragan Beef supplied by the Cook family of Dandaragan Organic Beef.
The expo and organisation of the event was orchestrated by Christine Smith and a few helpers to ensure a successful evening and day was had by all.
Looks like everybody enjoyed the company, food and atmosphere before the big day at the Dandaragan Hall tomorrow.
A happy organiser
Dandaragan Organic Beef, Suppliers of the evenings main dish.
You could not get a better compliment than the supplier of the organic beef telling Gaylene she cooked the meat to perfection.
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Midlands Groundwater
Midlands groundwater and land assessment
This project aims to identify one or more 2,000 to 3,000 hectare area/s suitable for intensive irrigated horticulture within a broad 500,000 hectare envelope north of the Gingin irrigation district, encompassing the Moora Badgingarra-Dongara area.
This could certainly be the next big thing in the Dandaragan Region as per there website and information brochure. Link below.
This has world potential proving once again the Dinner Hill Area is going to be a very lucrative piece of real estate.
The Irwin area near Dongara, and the Dinner Hill area to the east of Badgingarra and north of Dandaragan, have been identified for further investigation as irrigated agriculture hotspots.
These two areas have been carefully selected with input from a community reference group.
Dandaragan The Sleepy Town Or Is It?
Dandaragan is a quiet small town 33 km west of Moora & 17 km inland of Cataby on the Brand Hwy. When driving through Dandaragan you can be forgiven for thinking how does such a small town exist.
On the surface you would be correct because on a normal mid-week day you may see three or four cars driving through town at lunch time.
On Saturday afternoon and Sundays, you could use the main road for a cricket pitch or basketball court.
Looking closer you can feel genuine concern at the slowdown of the local existing mineral sands mine currently operated by Tronox.
But under the surface it’s a different story with these major projects in the Dandaragan Moora Region in planning stage and some already in construction:
- The Cataby Cattle Abattoir – in progress stage now and expected to employ 300 workers in 2017
- Dandaragan Camel Farm – Has first herd of camels on the farm now and milking expected mid-2016. This will expand to approx. 500 head of camels in 2017
- Iluka Mine Cataby – plans for opening a mineral sands mine is still on the radar
- The Waddi and Dandaragan Wind Farm projects regaining momentum now that the federal government is supporting wind power again.
- Solar farm south of Cataby also gaining momentum and nearing a construction date.
- Expansion and maturity of the existing Olive and Fruit orchards, employing in access of 200 staff regularly.
- Drilling of the Warro Gas Field at Badgingarra with continual promising results.
- The expressions of interest of arguably one of the best farms in WA, Yathroo is certainly an open topic of conversation. Will a local consortium re-gather the farm or will a large corporate body take advantage of the current cattle boom?
- Dandaragan Organic Beef getting world-wide recognition
These are all major projects and will require construction crews with ongoing staff and casual employees.
There is strong Foreign Business Ownership growing in the Moora Dandaragan region with Farming & Horticulture.
There is also a high demand for local and overseas employees at the large citrus orchard between Dandaragan and Moora.
This could become a problem as explained in the Feb issue of the NV News about the proposed Government backpacker tax.
Other unique interests in Dandaragan are:
- A star gazers paradise of clear night skies filled with billions of bright shining stars.
- Gateway into the heart of the West Australian wildflower trail.
Did you know the Dandaragan time zone is the same as or within an hour of:
- Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Hanoi, Bangkok, Jakarta, Osaka, Tokyo and Soul.
True story 🙂
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Redgum Village in 2016
The future of Redgum in 2016
Where do we think the future of the Dandaragan Redgum Village is in 2016? This is a great question.
On the surface the future or our goals for 2016 look rather bleak.
For a start there is the cutting back of staff at the local mineral sands mine. With many personal being laid off, locals and staff staying at the mine camp.
We have heard or more than thirty staff from one contractor alone have been laid off and closure of the northern dry mine has either happened or is imminent.
Locals from Dandaragan have been assessed and some are either staying on our taking up lucrative redundancies. From the sound of a few locals the redundancy is a great option.
This tells me the mine future is looking bleak and a case of don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, take your opportunities.
Whether the mineral sand mine winds down over the next few years or a takeover by a prominent opposition mine, the immediate future is uncertain. A possible take over from an existing miner would make sense. If they hold off and make on offer to buy out the existing setup whilst cashed up from an Irish deal being withdrawn, well once again possibilities are out there.
So what does all this mine uncertainty mean for Redgum in 2016? Sit tight see what happens and make ourselves available no matter what the outcomes. We are here to help out any way we can.
There is strong speculation the Carpenter Beef Lawson Angus newly formed company will be completing the building of the abattoir on Joanna Plains at cataby in early 2016.
If that is correct we would be inclined to think that Dandaragan could get a flood of workers over the next few years and construction crews could look at using Redgum for accommodation.
Looking slightly further ahead we would certainly look at helping out the abattoir management for accommodation for a number of staff required to run the abattoir.
Hopefully they don’t want to place hundreds of staff in a paddock of dongers at the abattoir, that would certainly be questionable.
One would think a camp set up in a local town would certainly be more appealing to staff requirements and a more hassle free environment on the farm. Once again time will tell.
Other future possibilities through 2016 are keeping in touch with what companies are requiring.
What I mean by that is offering companies options to suit readjusted budgets.
A few years ago we would offer our premium package of accommodation and meals with all the trimmings at a set price.
Lately however some companies doing major roadworks are seeking budget accommodation. This is much to the annoyance of their staff and goes against union policies about better conditions for the working person.
But what’s happening in a lot of cases is the employee being given a work away from home allowance. They then go find their own accommodation and meals. So a lot of the guys are sleeping in backpacker rooms, tents or even in their trucks eating noodles and pocketing the allowance given to them for living expenses.
It is our job to find this out beforehand so we can offer companies, individuals and sub-contractors both options. This is a challenge is finding the companies offering this option as it is not widely advertised.
All of this comes back to a slowing economy and cut throat pricing in order to secure jobs to keep staff employed. Not a good environment to be in but one we have to deal with to stay in business ourselves.
Other options for 2016 are to promote our function and conference centre.
We need to look out for companies that want a place to hold meetings and business gatherings.
It is up to us to offer opportunities and get companies and groups of people together to help make this happen.
Marketing Redgum is always difficult as a business or company needs to be working in the area to stay here. There are still plenty of projects and work happening in the Dandaragan Moora region but we need to diversify even more now than before so we can secure these contractors and individuals.
The last few years we concentrated on the top end contractor, we now need to still attract them but offer other affordable accommodation options.
That is what we are targeting for 2016 and beyond.
Controlling Ants In A Commercial Environment
You are an accommodation provider / school gardener / business owner and your guests / kids / customers are jumping around brushing ants off their feet & legs.
This time of year seems to be just wonderful if you are an ant. For some reason there seems to be plenty for ants to do as the first days of summer approach.
The simple give away signs of ant mounds on the footpath and loose sand in the garden leads us to look a bit further and just see where these ants are traveling to or from.
The small sand castles on the path usually mean the ants are right there and have plenty of small ant holes all close by. These are not really a problem as they are very small ants and easy to contain with ant dust or a borax mixture. (Recipe for that here)
The more major problem is when you see the bigger ants in a line moving in both directions, some marching away from the nest and others heading back.
These ants are the ones that get into everything and are big enough to bite kids and annoy your guests. They trail from rubbish bins, kitchens and bedrooms in fact where ever they can find some crumbs they will make a trail back to their nest.
How do we get rid of these hard working little fellas without poisoning kids, guests and customers? Plus we dont want to see ant powder trails all around an accommodation complex or school yard.
Remember too that most ants actually do a good job but they annoy us and our guests. They look bad and ant trails can go for over a hundred meters.
First thing I do is stand still and just look at a line of ants to determine which way they are marching. Simply walk slowly in that direction allowing the eyes to focus on the line they are making.
A lot of the time the line of ants will seem to disappear but as long as you are patient and concentrate on looking for ant movement you will see the line again. Even if they are in a bit of bush or rocks you will see the line of ants so just keep walking in the direction they are travelling. You may have to look a few meters ahead and side-ways from there, don’t panic you will find them again.
Eventually the activity of ants will get more noticeable and very soon you will see a mound with a hole that ants are diving in and out of. Look all around this area as there will more than likely be a few ant hills here and all close by. Most ant holes will be smaller than a five cent piece and likely have four or five holes close by. The mound around the hole is quite distinctive and if you jump up and down a bit the ant activity multiples very quickly.
The best time of day to find these ant mounds and nests is in the morning before it gets too hot. They are on the move early and easy to track.
What do you do when you find these nests? Some will be ten metres from where you first saw them on the pathways, and others will be up to fifty meters away. Either way no problem, a strong chemical mixture of ant poison works well. Just pour directly down the hole. Definitely better than any powders available and usually meaning the nest will be vacated quite quickly. By using a liquid directly down the ant hole there is no need to poison the track or pathways where you first saw them, they will head back to the nest and won’t return in a hurry. No guests getting poisoned or powder trails all around the place.
We do not recommend pouring petrol down the ant nest holes as this can be quite destructive when lighten up, especially this time of year, we don’t want a fire to break out.
Now keep in mind you will kill a lot of the ants but the rest will re-nest elsewhere, which is fine as we just want them to go marching off somewhere else, we don’t want to eradicate them altogether.
The smaller type ants actually help keep termite ants at bay so we need to keep a happy medium. We don’t want the ants get into our guest’s rooms and belongings but we do want the ants to keep those nasty little termites at bay. Plus they do clean up a lot of tiny food scraps, dead flies and bugs.
Just keep an eye out for ant trails and repeat until they head off to the neighbours property, and they will.
You can get some good brownie points with the neighbours by offering this simple advice, they will love you for days, until they realise you probably encouraged the ants to march there way, oh well.
Tracking ants is an art form and more so if you have bush, wood chips and rocks. This can make the art more challenging and more demanding but you will always find them.
Embrace the challenge and have a bit of fun with it, enjoy the reward when you find that big nest.
Just remember you are not there to kill them all off just redirecting them to greener pastures……
Hope this was useful and feel free to comment or ask questions on basic tracking and containment of ants.
We have plenty here in Dandaragan and keep them in containment not eliminated, that’s impossible.
Transerv Energy Equity Research
Transerv Energy
Warro 5 & 6 Drilling imminent
Transerv energy limited is an Australian energy investment company with interests in West Australia.
Drilling has commenced at the Warro gas field near Dandaragan Badgingarra in West Australia about 180km north of Perth.
Information on Transerv and this project in west australia is here
The imminent drilling will determine the viability of the Warro field.
We expect the share price to run on the back of positive news flow in the lead up to drilling.
TSV’s Perth Basin permits cover 2,400km2 including the Warro gas field which straddles Retention Leases R-6/R-7, located 200km north of Perth and 31km east of both the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP) and the Parmelia Gas Pipeline (PGP).
Warro is a tight gas field with an estimated 3-4 Tcf of recoverable gas. In 2008, Alcoa agreed to a staged farm-in which includes a multi well drilling program to earn up to a 65% interest, (spending $100m minimum). To date Alcoa has earned a 43% interest and spent $53m on two wells and the acquisition of seismic surveys.
The Warro-3 and Warro-4 wells drilled by Alcoa were subjected to substantial fracture simulation and extended testing programs. While gas flows in excess of 5 mmscf/d were observed, persistent water flows interfered with the gas from the wells.
Post-acquisition of 3D seismic, an extensive review of the field by a team of USA experts led by K Shanley concluded that the wells were poorly located and water flows were most likely the result of intersecting large, deep-seated faults connected to a pressured deep water source. The review also concluded that substantial gas flows were possible if wells were positioned away from faulting.
As shown in Figure 1, the location of faulting (the blue linear features near Warro-3 & 4) is believed to be the source of the water that was previously encountered.
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Gamble Responsibly When Sowing Your Crop
The Sound Of Raindrops Pelting On The Roof When Harvesting in November.
Sing along …
Rain drops are falling on my head
That doesn’t mean it’s not a good thing for the farm,
Raining’s lots of fun…
But I am complaining cause the rain is a falling …
On my crop
And its now at harvest time,
Oh no
This is worrying me.
Classic song isn’t it, might be hard to recognise it, my song writing skills are not always recognised.
Rain drops in July August Sept even October and that would be about right, but it’s the 2nd of November here in Dandaragan Moora West Australia.
The sound of raindrops this time of year is not so good. I know many farmers in this region and rain is not part of the equation at harvest time.
When I drive from Moora to Regans Ford I see rows of canola swathed out in lines to dry before being gathered up to harvest, raindrops in November is not good.
Heard on the news that this October has been one of the driest ones in years, might have looked better had these raindrops arrived a few days earlier. But still that wouldn’t have helped a farmer harvesting their crop today.
Wouldn’t you just love to be a farmer, sow a crop spray a few weeds, harvest it maybe store it for a bit then sell for wads of cash. Sounds like a decent plan. The world needs cereals, there is a proven system in place to grow it, markets out there to buy it so what could possibly go wrong?
Bloody rain, if your karma is not great it can rain too late to sow and too early to harvest for the ultimate outcome, quality and quantity of these little seeds.
Yes these little seeds that we sell as a commodity in a worldwide market, governed in price through supply and demand. And maybe brokers but that’s another story.
Oh yes and let’s not forget, the weather in countries on the other side of the world, did Canada and the US have raindrops at the right time of year? Are their crops bountiful or dry and shrivelled? Are they spoilt by rain at harvest?
This grain producing idea really does sound familiar, like option trading, eft’s, money markets or just straight out gambling. But get it right and hello Christmas shopping time and new car saleyards.
We better set up an advertising campaign to “only grow crops responsibly”. After all you are gambling on the rain for a living, for your families’ well-being, for other businesses to sell products and services to you so they can make a living. You get the point.
When we hear raindrops in April May through September October spare a thought for that cereal box on your table and be grateful for the gamblers that produce it. Remember a happy farmer means a happy town, means a happy region means happy business people and so forth.
The good ole saying that Australia lives off the farmers back may have taken a dent through the mining boom but over time it is still a very valid claim.
Rain drops are magical sounds that we take it for granted, as a farmer they just like them to land within a certain time frame, sounds fair enough.
As I write this those raindrops are getting heavier and its 7am on the 2nd November. I’m not a farmer, we have an accommodation place so the rain drops won’t hurt us today, in fact it means I can turn off the sprinklers as our lawns will get some nice rain water to deepen the greenness and make the village look better. Might even reduce an early bush fire.
This time of year though I can only hear the silence of a harvester in waiting, ready to roar into life and harvest that crop so we can enjoy our breakfast and morning tea scones. (at a fair price J)
Please gamble responsibly.
Uglii Is Coming To Australia
This Video on Uglii Explains it Best, click the logo
Joanna Plains Cataby
Property: WA’s noted Joanna Plains changes hands
By Beef Central, 20 October 2015
Highly regarded WA grazing property and feedlot Joanna Plains has changed hands after private negotiations, for an undisclosed sum. Carpenter International sold the 9500ha property, located 140km north of Perth, to a newly-formed joint venture involving two stakeholders.
http://www.beefcentral.com/property/property-was-noted-joanna-plains-changes-hands/
Mineral Sands Mine On Hold?
REVOKE OF ORDER TO TEMPORARY CLOSE A PORTION OF CARO ROAD FOR MINING PURPOSES FROM APRIL 2015
Location: Caro Road, Cataby
Applicant: Iluka Resources
Date: 9 June 2015
PROPOSAL It has come to the attention of staff the closure of a portion of Caro road is not ready to be completed due to Tronox mining camp still requiring access to the road. Council is asked to revoke its decision of 26 March 2015 to close the road from April 2015 and resolve to repeat the public notice period on notification from Iluka Resources once the Tronox camp has commenced relocation.
It has since been discovered the road cannot be closed due to Tronox mining camp still requiring access to Caro Road and the road cannot be closed until the camp is relocated.
OFFICER RECOMMENDATION 2 That Council’s decision for item 9.4.2 from the Council meeting held 26 March 2015 being:
“That Council order the temporary closure of portion of Caro Road, Cataby for the purposes of mining commencing from April 2015 for a period of 10 years or the cessation of mining activities whichever occurs sooner subject to:
1. in pursuance of Section 3.50 of the Local Government Act 1995 the CEO forward a copy of the local public notice to the Commissioner of Main Roads;
2. the applicant arrange alternative access with Fire and Emergency Services;
3. the applicant complies with the requirements of Telstra;
4. the applicant complies with the requirements of Western Power;
5. the applicant liaises with APA group in regards to working in the vicinity of an underground gas pipeline and access arrangements; and
6. on cessation of mining activity within the road reserve, the road is to be restored to the satisfaction of the CEO and at the cost of the applicant”.
Be revoked.
Full Shire report here REVOKE OF ORDER TO TEMPORARY CLOSE A PORTION OF CARO ROAD FOR MINING PURPOSES FROM APRIL 2015
Attention Contractors
Wind Farms In The Dandaragan Region
Emu Downs – Waddi – Yandin- Warradarge – Parron – Marri – Yathroo and others
Personalised Accommodation and Meals Packages
Customised to suit your requirements
L.A.F.A style accommodation very limited availability
Make a Booking
Bookings / Inquiries – NEW NUMBER
- Phone… (61) 460 853 993
If goes to message bank please leave us your name and or company with a brief description of your needs so we can give you a accurate quick response. - e-mail Click Here
From vast experience:
Companies requirements vary, your booking or inquiry needs our personal human attention.
e-mail direct to office@redgumvillage.com.au
