IF THE paddocks on the Campbell family's Corack farm could talk, there would be stories to tell.

We'd hear yarns about the Campbells setting up on the shores of Lake Buloke in the 1870s, only to watch the lake dry up, forcing them, and the entire town, to retreat several kilometres to a new water source.

    AT A GLANCE
  • Who: Campbell family
  • What: Crops and sheep
  • Why: If the paddocks could talk
  • Where: Corack near Donald

And, in more recent years, they'd tell an amazing story of how the embryo for what is now Landcare was conceived on the shores of Buloke and its waterways.

The Campbells have endured plenty over their more than 130 years and a few dry seasons are not enough to evaporate either their enthusiasm for farming.

Today, the Campbell property, between Donald and Wycheproof, is run by Adam Campbell and wife Kathy.

They recently took over the farm from Adam's father, Trevor, and mother, Jenny.

The farm covers 2200ha, including about 2000ha of cropping ground and a further 200ha of timbered country and yards.

This land is spread between Corack and Jeffcott to the east, providing a mix of heavier soils at home and lighter soils at Jeffcott.

The cropping mix includes 50 per cent cereals, including barley, wheat and triticale, 25 per cent legumes, such as lupins, vetch and chickpeas and 25 per cent canola and juncea, a low-rainfall canola.

"Juncea grows well and we see it as a good fit on the heavy country with canola good on the lighter country," Adam said.

The Campbells also use a lucerne rotation to open up the soil structure.

They buy and fatten about 1200 lambs a year.

With the arrival of the Wimmera Mallee pipeline, the Campbells, like others, are relishing a more-secure water supply.

They already have a reticulation system in place to help supplement rainfall, which has dropped over the past decade from an annual 350mm. Coupled with that has been a trend for late-season deluges.

But the Campbells continue to look forward.

Adam is involved in many community activities and last year completed a FarmPlan21 farm-planning course through a local Landcare group.

FarmPlan21 is run by Department of Primary Industries, the Wimmera Catchment Management Authority and Longerenong College to encourage farmers to identify, document and plan their farming goals.

The Campbells' old farm plan, on cardboard with transparent overlays, has been updated using the iFarm mapping program.

"We had ideas of what we want but FarmPlan21 gave us the chance to sit down and go through it and (using the computer mapping) document the previous good work that has been done," Adam said.

Trevor spent many years involved in Landcare and was a founding member of the Avon Richardson Catchment Improvement Scheme, which recognised the threat of salinity.

Not surprisingly trees are in Campbell's latest farm plan.

"I have been planting trees ever since I could walk," Adam said.

The Campbells have also been doing yield mapping and used EM38 satellite imaging to assess their farm's performance.

"A lot of variation can be put down to management," Adam said.

The iFarm mapping system is being used to help work out where to put extra reticulation pipes with the arrival of the pipeline.

The plan will also be used to help in farm safety and will be useful to support funding bids for projects such as revegetation and remnant protection.

There are also plans for wildlife ponds to make up for the dams that will be lost and replaced by water troughs.

"I am looking at the aerial overviews to see where the best spots for the ponds will be," Adam said.

"It is bringing our farm planning into the 21st century."