One thing is for certain - Sam and Alina Hart at Blackall will not leave this world with the music in them.
Adapting, trialling, exploring - they are all words in their vocabulary that they use with real purpose.
To them, the principles of regenerative agriculture are not just theories; they are fences, contours, camels, watering points, and above all, experiences to learn from, to do better next time.
The couple were part of the Lachlan Hughes Foundation 2023 intake, coming into it battered and bruised after a few years of leasing country around Blackall when drought and cattle prices were at their worst, then making the big decision to step into the world of property ownership and a chance to put ideas into practice.
"I think it's one of the few things, in an industry focused on production, that's got compounding benefits," Mr Hart said, explaining why they were drawn to regen ag.
"It's not an extractive model; it actually builds on your grazing to build your grass production.
"That really struck a chord for me, that compounding benefit to the land and the business."
It's an ironic choice for Ms Hart, whose family are fourth generation on the land, in sugarcane back in the '80s and '90s - "the opposite to regen", she says.
Mr Hart's family runs a fat lamb and cropping operation at Forbes in NSW and he said they loved the fact that the couple were giving a livestock venture a go.
With their assistance, the younger generation bought the 3075ha timbered block once called Trent, renamed Muttama by them, in 2020, switching from agisting and trading cattle to owning and breeding.
They are gradually replacing whatever cattle they could afford, whatever would survive and produce a calf, with a Santa-cross female that can also be relied on to have a calf in tough times.
"That was a breed that stood out for us and worked well," Ms Hart said.
They're employing the basic principles of rotational grazing at Muttama, not cell grazing on a regular basis at this stage but trialling strip grazing.
Their LHF project centred around managing their grass rather than just trying to hoard it, "really pushing" 16ha of their open country in an intensive grazing rotation of 140 dry cows.
The breakdown was 8ha for eight days, then 4ha for four days then another 4ha for four days, plus 4ha that was left ungrazed as a control site.
"Instead of that big tall buffel plant that's all grey and dead underneath with a little bit of green flag, we could actually see much greater new growth," Mr Hart said.
"If we could do it again we may have tried to move them once a day but because it was summer time, we could only move them every three days.
"But we pushed it pretty hard and we found that the response, once the cattle were off it, was much better than any of the ungrazed land."
Trial and error
Ms Hart explained that, because each of them had work outside the property, herself as a regional councillor and baker and Mr Hart as a livestock markets officer for the National Livestock Reporting Service, they were rotating within their capacity.
"We've adapted it in a way that makes it manageable for us, on our place," she said.
"People say, that won't work out there, and they're probably right - what they're talking about won't work out here.
"But you adapt it and find a way that will and that's a big thing for both of us, to encourage people to give different things a go."
Mr Hart said a stumbling point for them was wanting to start with a 285ha project but finding it too much with their existing infrastructure and finances.
The smaller project gave them better results anyway, being such a concentrated trial, and they now see it as a tool to focus on areas in need of attention.
"We could probably have run a lot more cattle last season but we tried to focus on taking advantage of better markets so we were selling anyway," Mr Hart said. "It's an annual thing, do a little bit and then when you can afford a bit more, get out and do the next paddock."
They were also told camels would never work on the property - "they'll bust all your fences and terrify your horses" was the refrain - but Mr Hart said the curious creatures lived with their horses and there'd been no impact on their fences to date.
While they started as something else to explore, they've become a fixture on the property.
The Harts don't expect the 14 head to stay on top of regrowth but they hope to benefit a little from that, and from their gut enzymes.
Mr Hart sums up their philosophy towards regenerative ag as being about survival.
"We want to be here for the long game," he said. "If that means we can improve our land through some different techniques, and that helps our business, well, that's what it comes down to."
They've just received their organic certification so that's a focus for them now as well.
They reject the label of regen pioneers in the western region, saying that once people became aware that they were trying new things, a number had quietly approached them to share their own experiences.
"More people than I expected have come forward and said, have you tried this," Mr Hart said.
Ms Hart said that if no-one was talking about their experiences, no-one knew anyone was doing it.
"As soon as you hear someone talking about something you're interested in, it's hey, me too," she said.
Mr Hart gave the Lachlan Hughes Foundation credit for giving them the confidence to keep at their dreams, thanks to the insights the programs founders, Philip and Adele Hughes could provide to grazing in a western environment.
"We thought we were going to have nothing to show at the end of our project, because we put all this water and wire in and then it got a bit fiery and a bit dry," Ms Hart said.
"Philip reminded us, your job at the moment is to survive and then come back to that.
"Just because you're not going forward in leaps and bounds doesn't mean you're not progressing.
"It's been good for us to have people who have that sort of context - it doesn't all have to look amazing and have a big ribbon on it, sometimes it's just about getting it done."
The Harts are also willing to share the things they got wrong, particularly estimating the length of time it would take a two-person team to set up the water and wire to new specifications.
They said that was partly due to not having operated their own place before.
They're part of the cluster fencing group in their area and would consider running sheep but say they don't have the infrastructure for them at this point.