The paddock has gone to scrub, where do you actually start

We get called out to a lot of properties where a paddock has been left alone for five or ten years and is now scrub, blackberry and saplings. The owner usually wants to know whether it is even worth doing. It nearly always is, but the order you do it in decides what it costs.

Step one, work out what you are allowed to clear

Before anything else, find out what is on the title and what overlays apply. Native vegetation, remnant trees, waterway setbacks and overlay controls can all mean a permit, and that changes the plan. If in doubt, check with your council planning department first.

Step two, decide what the land is for

Grazing, cropping, a house pad, a shed, fire protection, or just something you can walk across. The end use decides the finish standard, and a paddock you want to run stock on needs a different result to a defendable area around a house.

Step three, get access in

You cannot work what you cannot reach. Opening a track in, clearing gateways and getting a turning area sorted is usually the first physical job, and it makes everything after it faster.

Step four, the reset pass

This is the mulching pass that takes the scrub, blackberry and saplings back to ground and leaves it as chip. It is the expensive part, and the point of it is that you only do it once if the follow up is handled properly.

Step five, the follow up

Blackberry and woody weeds will come back from crown and seed. A follow up plan, whether that is spot spraying, grazing pressure or another light pass in the next season, is what stops you paying for a full reset again in three years.

Step six, keep it on a cycle

Once it is back, yearly slashing keeps it that way for a fraction of the reset cost. Most of the properties we look after now sit on a simple annual cycle, and the owners have not had to think about it since.

Rules, overlays and mapping change. We check the links in this article regularly, but always confirm the current requirements with your council or the relevant Victorian department before you clear anything.

Got a job in mind? Send your address and we'll come out, have a look, and put a written quote together. No obligation.