Binowee Family Grazing: A farm of one’s own

A lack of generational land has not stopped this 27-year-old from founding his own grazing operation in Queensland.

What do you do if you’re a first-generation farmer, with no succession plan or land to inherit, and a desire to renovate pasture while building a herd of quality beef cattle?

If you’re Cam Griffin, you channel your interest in sustainable grazing practices and land management by acquiring leases of disused farmland, building biodiversity in the soil, and run your fledgling herd of cattle which are then sold as bespoke boxed beef products, using your social media presence and contacts.

That’s the business model behind his first-generation grazing operation, Binowee Family Grazing.

By building rapport and relationships with landowners, and rejuvenating soil and pastures, Cam has been able to leverage existing plots of land for his own operation, without having to invest in ownership himself. 

It’s a unique system which allows for dynamic decision making and flexibility in the face of changing seasonal conditions and variable market prices, according to Cam. 

His enterprise is now spread across more than 81ha of leased country, running 60 cattle, mostly British-breed, across four properties at Moffatdale in the South Burnett region of Queensland. 

“We had six, but it was getting a little hard to manage while still working in town,” Cam said. 

“So we’ve dropped back to four and it’s been really good.” 

Cam Griffin, founder of Binowee Family Grazing, has a passion for small-framed cattle and grass-fed beef. Picture: Supplied

Growing up in Far North Queensland, Cam always dreamt of owning his own farm.

“But because I was never going to inherit one … I had to look at different ways as to how I could acquire land,” Cam said. 

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

A central pillar of the Binowee philosophy is the idea of using whatever land you can get access to, to start your grazing enterprise. 

A quote from agricultural author Allan Nation, “it should not be your goal to own the land, but to control it”, struck a chord with Cam as he worked to overcome the barrier of land ownership. 

Studying a Bachelor of Agribusiness at university, Cam went on to work at a number of farms for about five years. 

“From grazing to cropping, just to get an idea of how different businesses operate, and how they overcome different challenges,” Cam said. 

“But the whole time I was working for other people, I always wanted my own place to graze.”

“Getting access to farmland is only getting harder with the price of land consistently rising and the fact that its value no longer reflects its productivity.” 

What eventuated was a process of identifying undervalued blocks of land in his region, and approaching landowners. 

“Maybe they were just blocks of land sitting idle … (I’d drive) around the area as much as I could trying to identify them, then I’d go door knocking and tell (owners) about what I am doing,” Cam said. 

“I got one initial lease block and from there I was able to leverage that, and say to these potential landowners this is what I’m doing, the farming techniques I’m using, and whether they might be interested in leasing out their land.”

Cam Griffin founded Binowee Family Grazing as a way to start his own farm and renovate pastures. Picture: Supplied

The carrot he uses to entice landowners, he explained, was the concept of soil and land improvement on someone else’s time. 

“When I go and find a lease block, I emphasise that I might not be able to pay them in cash as much as someone down the road. But the value I’m providing is the increase in value to your landscape, to your soil quality, and your pasture composition,” Cam said. 

Once he secures a lease block, Cam gets straight to work with improving the property, from improving fencing and water infrastructure, to slashing paddocks. 

“The initial stages are getting the block suitable to contain livestock, remove any over-mature swards of pasture and get the block looking nice and presentable” Cam said.


“I’ll usually buy a cheap poly tank off Gumtree or marketplace and put it at the highest point on the property, and I’ll pump from a water source (dam/creek) up to it. From there I run a polypipe above ground, so if I need to wind it up later, I can take it with me. That’ll then be fed from the header tank to different parts of the property which allows us to start designing our cells for high density rotational grazing.” 

FRAME FAVOURITES

Cam runs about 60 breeders across four properties, with a stocking rate of “about one beast to three acres”.

He favours moderate-framed British breeds, such as heritage Angus and Red Polls. 

“Those smaller animals, like your heritage Angus, they have a higher relative feed intake, allowing them to maintain good body condition on solely perennial grasses. On our low quality warm season grasses it can be difficult trying to grass-finish late maturing, framey, feedlot style cattle,” Cam said. 

But just because he has a passion for moderate framed animals, doesn’t mean he’s not discerning when it comes to breeding traits he wants to build into his herd. 

“I want an animal that is as deep as she is long, which gives us an indication of how well she’ll perform on grass, does she have a big-enough rumen capacity to literally consume enough forage and be productive,” Cam said. 

“I learned this in a cattle evaluation course taught by Gerald Wyatt … basically we measure the heart girth, which is the circumference around the chest of the beast,” Cam said. 

“I’ll then compare that with how long she is, her top-line, which ideally is equal to or greater than the heart girth. This ratio is almost more important than the breed.”

CUSTOM-MADE

Running his herd across multiple lease properties gives Cam the opportunity to build up his numbers in accordance with conditions. 

But a key revenue stream for Cam is custom grazing for other producers. 

“I will always keep a handful of breeders, because I love that aspect and the breeding, but from a profitability standpoint, I think that custom grazing is a really good way to have cash flow on a farm,” Cam said. 

While working towards building his own herd’s numbers, the core enterprise will transition back to predominantly a custom grazing operation, taking in cattle on agistment and grazing them to meet the requirements of the owner. 

“I get the same amount for agistment every month, regardless of whether it’s a drought or the market has crashed. So that’s what really draws me to the business model. Whereas if you own your own cattle, you’ve got the climatic factors, and cattle prices. It’s just volatile.” 

This year he leased a “moderate framed” Speckle Park bull for 21 days just because of how he measured up and to bring the frame size down on some purchased cattle. 

“The reason for the 21 day joining was simply to identify my most fertile breeders, allowing me to cull a good portion of the herd who are empty, creating room for more custom cattle,” Cam said.

“I run one mob year round and only lease a bull when I need, which makes managing the herd a lot easier. I’ve only got to check one mob, one water trough and roll up one hot-wire for their daily moves.”

The Binowee operation culminating, ultimately, in beef products aimed at his discerning customers.

By leveraging his social media following, Cam has been able to sell a number of boxed beef products direct to consumers, including a ‘Binowee Box’, with at least 5kg of grass-fed beef, and cuts including rib fillet, eye fillet, porterhouse and rump, with scope to include mince, sausages, stir-fry strips and topside roasts.

“The majority of my following on social media are from the cities, they’re not really from around where we are,” Cam said.

“A lot of the meat I was selling was going into Brisbane. And from there, people are able to see through social media the techniques and practices that I’m using, and how we care for livestock and the land.

“That’s important.”

Keeping his eyes on the future, goals for the operation include working to host a bull sale via Instagram, and to continue to grow his own herd of breeding stock, while building on his reputation for pasture renovation.

“There’s something about the mass of a large herd that’s really appealing.”