Williams Cattle Company co-director Tony Williams says Anna Creek purchase will boost new marketing strategy

PLANNING improvements and a shift in beef marketing strategy are on the cards for the world’s largest cattle station after settlement on its sale took place in Adelaide late last week.

Tony Williams, Anna Creek owner, working on the station.

PLANNING improvements and a shift in beef marketing strategy are on the cards for the world’s largest cattle station after settlement on its sale took place in Adelaide late last week.

The new owners of Anna Creek in the far north of South Australia said the station and its associated outstation, The Peake, will double the size of Williams Cattle Company’s holdings to around 45000 sq kilometres, giving a capacity for 35,000 cattle.

“The purchase will be a game changer for our company, we’ve dreamt about this for years. It’s an iconic station and the final settlement ends a process that began as soon as Kidmans flagged that the property was for sale,” co-director Tony Williams said.

“It’s also important to us that Anna Creek and The Peake are now 100 per cent Australian owned. It means that overall, the former S Kidman & Co cattle empire now has a larger proportion of Australian ownership than it did before.”

Williams Cattle Company is owned by five branches of the Williams family and has grown from just one property bought 50 years ago.

“Area is everything in pastoral holdings and we now have seven stations in the far north — Anna Creek, The Peake, Nilpinna, Hamilton, Mount Sarah, Arckaringa and Mount Barry — as well as a large holding and feedlot near Carrieton with capacity for 3000 head of cattle. Carrieton also has 6000 acres of crop and runs 6000 ewes to lamb,” Mr Williams said.

The added capacity will allow cattle to be moved around more widely and help mitigate the effects of drought and maximising opportunities for grazing and fattening Mr Williams said.

Williams will primarily restock with Poll Herefords as well as some Hereford/Angus Cross breeds he said.

“Kidmans focused more on the live export market to the north while our emphasis will be on the southern and domestic markets,” he said. “This year has been a copybook season and our cattle are in very good condition. We’ve achieved our marketing goals of zero and two-tooth cattle (cattle aged up to 30 months) with a carcass weight around 260-320kg, many making the top grading of Meat Standards Australia.”

Around 8000 excess stock will be moved from current Williams stations to Anna Creek and The Peake next year helping the new marketing goals to be met more consistently he said.

Matt and Chantelle Williams will move from the adjoining Nilpinna station to manage Anna Creek.

Building new yards and bores, cleaning out dams and fencing and road maintenance will be on the agenda from February