Been on the property 8 years. Time to make a start

2 posts
Wed, 10/29/2014 - 14:41 #1

Member for

9 years 5 months
Lugerz
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 10/29/2014 - 14:20

Been on the property 8 years. Time to make a start

Hi All,

My family and I have been living on an small (42 acre) farm in beautiful Nungurner, East Gippsland, Victoria for the past 8 years and haven really dont much about it.

We have decided it time to raise some Beef cattle. We are not looking for anything special, just 10-12 beef calves (steers) to raise and sell on every 18 months or so (and keep 1 for the freezer), take a break for 6-8 months (to let the paddocks regenerate) and start again. I am not looking for calves that I have to raise by hand so weiners are prefered.

My questions are: Where would be the best place to get them from, and what can we expect to pay per calf? How to I tag/mark them What else do I need to know?

We have good fencing through out the property and plenty of water (dams).

The propertiy is split into 2 paddocks. The larger on (about 30 acres) is 2/3 bush

My wife loves Highland Cattle, but I believe, where we live is to hot to keep a breed like that. What should I look for and what do I need to do to

I really need all the help I can get on this so any feedback/suggestions would be great.

Thanks in advance

Dave

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Fri, 10/31/2014 - 15:24 #2
rmcpb
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 10/22/2012 - 11:13

OK Dave, I have thought about this for a while and even though your conditions are going to be different to mine I will have a go at answering your questions.

First you will have to get a PIC (property identification code) for your block. Your Dept Primary Industries would be the place for me to start on this one so have a look at http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/agriculture-and-food/farm-management/national-livestock-identification-system

Next is the fencing and carrying capacity of your land. You said the fencing is good and the block is divided into two paddocks. OK, I am a big fan of cell grazing (do a Google search) so would suggest you cut it up further with electric fencing so you can intensively graze an area for a week then move them on to another block so by the time they have got back to the first block it has recovered.

You did not say if any of the pasture is improved. If its all native pasture then anything like 10-15 head will be really overgrazing. Start small and work up to what your land can handle, it looks like another dry summer ahead. As you work up the stock load only stock for the worst season so you don't end up having to hand feed them and overgraze your pasture. I would start with only 3-4 and see where you end up. Its a lot easier to add than to make the decision to sell poor cattle. Also, you really only have 20 acres to run on as you said about 10 acres is bush.

As for actually aquiring your stock, have a talk to the local stock and station agent and give them the run down on what you want to do. They have a really good handle on local conditions and would surely be able to set you up with what you want.

Don't expect to make too much of a profit from weaner to steer but you can expect to grow some nice beef. On that point, under no circumstances do any of these cattle get names! It will be impossible to sell, kill or eat them if they are made into pets.

As for Highland Cows, they are a really spectacular breed and worth keeping but definitely not if you are going to run them through the local saleyards. They are so different they will attract a penalty. I would go for some angus, herefords, etc especially to start with.

How do you get on with your neighbours? If a local farmer that is easy to get on with is a really valuable asset/fountain of information, they really know what they are talking about in your area.

Good luck
Rob.
 

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