Farming alongside her husband, Wilco Droppert, son, Luke and a small team of staff at Wilandra Farms, they see everything on the property as part of an ecosystem designed to boost productivity, reduce their carbon footprint, and strengthen the resilience of their business.  

“We milk up to 390 cows a day year-round from a herd of around 800, and we have to be able to feed those cattle really well,” Sandra says.  

To help meet the nutrition requirements of the herd, the family has cultivated multi-species pastures featuring a mix of lucerne, red and white clover, chicory, and flowering plants, along with annual crops of peas, vetch, cereals, brassicas and sunflowers.  

“The cattle get a multi-species diet with a good variety of nutrition, but the variety also means we’ve got lots of insects here benefiting from those plants,” she says.  

Sustainable initiatives that are good for business 

Sandra and Wilco have established areas of agroforestry and shelterbelts that provide shade and shelter for the cattle while also storing carbon to offset methane emissions. These plants help reduce windspeed and soil evaporation, and they’ve created a habitat for wildlife, including burrowing animals, insects, and birds. 

“We’re enjoying adding more life to the farm, it makes the farm a more enjoyable place to work,” Sandra says.  

The changes are also opening new income opportunities. 

“We could be collecting seed from our shrubs and trees in the future, and that could become a business, or we could run chickens – we believe diversification is great for both wildlife and business,” Sandra says. 

“It makes us more resilient. If a catastrophe, like foot and mouth disease hit, the dairy and beef industries would really suffer, but with some diversification, we might be better equipped to handle it.” 

Bringing in the Bee-team for A-class produce 

Encouraging bees to the property also made good business sense and Sandra didn’t have to look too far for a hive.  

“We had a very old house on the farm that was to be demolished, and before we could do that, we had to get a swarm of bees removed,” she says. “I called a beekeeper, and he moved them, but then we kept finding more and more. The whole house was basically a big beehive.  

“In total, the beekeeper removed eight colonies, and they’re now located in hives at the shelterbelt and working really hard.” 

As well as producing honey, Sandra says the bees have proved invaluable to the farm.  

“Having the bees is really beneficial, because they will help pollinate the lucerne and clovers, and then if we leave those flowers to seed and the seed drops on the ground, we’re going to naturally regenerate our pasture and not need to re-sow as often,” Sandra says. 

While there are thousands of European bees at Wilandra Farm, Sandra has also started noticing native bees on the property.  

“Last summer was the first time I’d seen blue-banded bees on tomatoes and borage flowers,” she says. “That was really nice, and we’ll start to learn more about native bees and get out and look for those.”   

Appreciating the value of bees on her farm, when Sandra saw a notice in the local paper to become a Bee Friendly Farm she was immediately interested.  

“We believe farmers can do really good things for wildlife and biodiversity, and we wanted to be recognised for that and encourage other landowners to join Bee Friendly Farming,” she says.  

Becoming recognised as a Bee Fee Friendly Farm was a relatively smooth process.  

“Over the last 12 months, I’d already been taking a lot of photographs of insects and wildlife around the farm and recording those in an app, so I had a really good record,” she says.  

“And being certified organic, we don’t use any herbicides or pesticides.”

Leading by example for a bee-friendly future 

Since becoming a Bee Friendly Farmer Sandra says other organic producers who supply the same dairy company as Wilandra Farms have also expressed interest in joining the program.  

“If we all become certified as Bee Friendly Farms, maybe this dairy company can use the Bee Friendly Farming logo on some of their products,” she says. “It would be the first time the logo has been used on dairy products in this country.” 

Sandra believes the success of their bee-friendly approach goes beyond Wilandra Farms, contributing to the health of the wider ecosystem.  

“I feel good knowing that we’ve got thousands of bees here, flying around this district and pollinating so many flowers and coming back here to make honey. 

“If we can keep these bees healthy, they’re going to benefit our community here, and if we grow more native plants and maintain clean water supplies, hopefully we’re going to attract more of the native bees.”  

Watch Sandra’s case study here and learn more about the Bee Friendly Farming program here.