Coleraine lotfeeder Tim Baulch beefs up his farm business

TIM Baulch runs an efficient cattle feedlot and breeding operation near Col­eraine, in Victoria’s Western District.

Tim Baulch, Baulch's feedlot, Coleraine. The family has an Angus cow and calf breeding enterprise which helps supply the feedlot.

TIM Baulch runs an efficient and low-stress cattle feedlot and breeding operation on his family’s 730ha farm near Col­eraine, in Victoria’s Western District.

The young farmer, who admits he was not the most academic of school students, is carving out a successful beef industry business in the midst of an area dominated by sheep production or cattle breeding enterprises.

“I think if you enjoy what you do — we are cattle people and I like being outside and working on the farm — you can make it a success,” Tim said.

“A lot of famous entrepreneurs weren’t stars at school.”

Tim is playing to his strengths, and that of the farm, which hosts a well-run and growing feedlot.

He runs the business with parents Ross and Anne.

Their feedlot now consists of five main pens, holding about 30 cattle each. About 80 are turned out of the feedlot per month.

Most of the finished stock is sold to Herds abattoirs at Geelong. Stock is usually turned off at about 450kg, aged about 14 months.

But the most important thing was that they were well-finished, with the required coverage and quality, Tim said. Usually, the cattle go into the feedlot for eight weeks.

While there they are fed a mix of straw, silage and a pea, bean and lentil seconds from a Horsham processor. The blend is 23 per cent protein.

Tim said access to this feed source, all year round, had been a major boon for his business.

“We tried a lot of different things beforehand,” he said.

“The trick with a feedlot is getting access to a consistent product all year round.”

Another aspect of Tim’s set up — which helps him keep costs down and production consistent — is one of the major inputs, silage, is all sourced from his farm. This year he made 1400 bales of it. Much of the farm’s pastures are balansa clover. Oats are also sown for fodder production.

Tim said hay and silage contracting was also useful at bringing in extra cash flow.

The Baulch family have 730ha and in addition to the feedlot they run 250 Angus breeding cows.

Calving starts in February. Offspring are either sold at store sales or put through the feedlot. About a third of the cattle put through the feedlot come from the Baulch herd. The rest, Tim buys from local store markets at Casterton, Hamilton or Warrnambool.

While he has no strong preference for steers or heifers, Tim favours Euro-types, such as Limousin, Charolais and some with a Shorthorn-influence.

“What I look for is the right shape, as long as they are feed-able,” he said. However, finding suitable Euro-bred cattle was difficult due to many people going out of breeding them when the vealer market hit the doldrums.

But for their own breeding business, producing Angus calves allowed the most flexibility, Tim said.

He sources bulls from Doug Robertson of Nangana, a well-known Western District cattle breeder whose herd is based on Banquet and Vermont stud bloodlines. Tim also has some new feedlot pens under construction, and hopes to gradually grow capacity.

The feedlot was started by Ross 12 years ago, but Tim has been running it for the past five years. The Baulches have designed mix feeders that allow cattle to eat, ad-lib, for about four hours only. The stock also have unlimited access to fodder. Tim said this regime helped limit bloat.

“It has taken a bit of trial and error to get right,” he said.

About a quarter of the pens are undercover, while the cattle have plenty of room to move freely in the large open pens.

Unlike many feedlots, where cattle were penned in much tighter, Tim said allowing the cattle more room to walk, stand in the sun or shade and find their own space made the cattle more comfortable, and therefore they end up being more productive. Such an approach also reduced the risk of disease and improved animal health, he said.

Paddocks are linked to the feedlot and yard by laneways and the stock are not pushed.

Although the feedlot is an intensification of the cattle production business, the approach taken by Tim focuses on low stress, for him and the cattle.

Tim said there was probably a $300 a head premium for selling finished cattle as opposed to stores.

“So there is a margin in it for us, but it all comes back to buying the right cattle and then managing them properly.”