Award-winning beef producer turns the Table Top on his farm
CLEVER land management has turned a once-barren farm into a prize-winning beef enterprise, writes FIONA MYERS.
RIVERINA livestock producer Bryan Ward has done big things with a small area at Table Top.
Bryan has spent the past two decades converting a couple of paddocks into a finely tuned livestock operation that is not only producing high-quality cattle, but at the same time, improving the land.
In that time, he has boosted the carrying capacity from 1.5 dry sheep equivalent a hectare to 12-14 and along the way has won a swag of awards for the cattle he produces.
He has also dramatically changed the landscape with extensive reworking of land and tree planting, gaining several Landcare awards for that too.
After almost three decades as a manager near Holbrook, Bryan and his late wife, Dinah, bought 160ha at Table Top, 40km north of Albury.
Bryan described the property as “Paterson’s Curse and rabbits” when he inspected it, but believed it could be turned around.
“We thought we could make something of it,” Bryan said.
“After being a manager for 30 years, it was certainly different to shout out the orders in the morning and alone, proceed to obey them!”
It turned out to be a labour of love, as Bryan painstakingly reorganised the layout of the farm to better suit its topography and then began rebuilding its productivity from the ground up. Some of the things he needed to tackle included the weed and pest problems, but also gully erosion and a lack of good pastures.
RAIN IT IN
WHILE the rainfall in the area is 650mm, much of it was not soaking in, thanks to the prior land management.
When rain fell, the water rushed off, taking top soil with it.
To alleviate this, Bryan contour-ripped the country and used a government grant program, which paid for half of the cost. He also erected electric fencing to suit the contours of the property.
“You don’t have fences in straight lines as you don’t want stock walking in a straight line as it can cause erosion,” Bryan said.
Pastures were sown, but even this was a challenge, given the hilly country.
He used a New Zealand seeder to cover some of the ground as well as a machine known as a Rock Hopper, planting phalaris and clover, which now cover about 80 per cent of the grazing area.
The remaining area is a mix of native pastures, including kangaroo grass, wallaby grass and red grass.
Trees were also planted, especially along ridge country, which was bare before Bryan’s work.
He fenced off remanent trees to prevent damage to stock, but also used direct seeding with a mix of species along the tops of ridges.
“We used about 300-400 grams of seed per kilometre when direct seeding the trees,” Bryan said.
“We preferred to use the direct seeding as it resulted in a more natural plantation than if you planted trees as seedlings.
“I do nothing with the plantations once they are established and allow nature to take care of itself.”
DOLLARS AND SENSE
AT the same time as remodelling the physical nature of the farm, Bryan was also trying to find the most productive enterprise to run on it. Initially, superfine Merino sheep were run, testing 15 to 17 micron, with up to 1300 grazing on the 160ha.
Tight seasons and low returns for wool meant a reassessment was necessary, and finishing cattle was selected as the best option.
Thanks to the redesign of the property and its improved productivity, it was now possible to
run cattle, but Bryan was determined to protect the country.
To this end, he decided to finish steers rather than run a breeding herd, which allowed him to ease grazing pressure at pinch points when feed levels were low, and increase stocking rates when there was more bulk.
The property was divided into seven paddocks and cattle were rotationally grazed, with the goal of leaving 500mm of grass height or about 1400kg of dry matter a hectare.
Cattle are kept in each paddock for between five and seven days, at a stocking rate of up to 36DSE/ha.
The rotation means the paddocks have time to recover before they are grazed again, and Bryan said the quality of the pasture that did grow was better.
Bryan buys in Angus weaners at about 370kg liveweight in spring or mid-summer, and aims to have them off the property by the following winter at about 630kg liveweight.
The expectation is that the cattle will have high weight gains, and regular monthly weigh-in figures have shown steers are gaining anywhere from 1.8kg to 2.2kg a day in winter, with some gaining up to 2.6kg a day.
PASTURE PERFECT
THE cattle are marketed through the JBS pasture-fed Farm Assurance program, a scheme that rewards the pasture-based nature of the production system.
The attention to detail in their selection as weaners and management through their finishing phase is reflected in the awards Bryan has received for his cattle.
For several years, he has been recognised as one of the top 100 NSW producers for Meat Standards Australia grading, and he has also been a state finalist in the excellence in eating quality awards.
Bryan puts that success down to a number of management aspects of his farm, including the revegetation of country and the establishment of plantations, which offer shelter to stock. His next goal is to improve stock water supplies, and move away from the use of dams to supply water to a bore system and troughs.
“This will allow me to further divide paddocks and lift the stocking rate as water is the major impediment to doing this as the moment,” Bryan said.
All the while, he will maintain his goal of keeping at least 90 per cent ground cover at all times and his program of finishing steers rather than run a breeding herd allows him to do this.
“I can choose to buy in less stock if the season is looking tough, or we can destock totally from December,” Bryan said. “It is a system that can be flexible to suit the way the season is and to protect our country.”
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