Great success from holistic grazing methods
ABOUT 14 hectares of drought-declared land was key in making the Stretton family’s dreams of entering the grazing industry come true.
ABOUT 14 hectares of drought-declared land was key in making the Stretton family’s dreams of entering the grazing industry come true.
When Kylie and Shane bought hobby farm, Clancella Downs, about 20 minutes outside of Charters Towers they knew the block had to punch above its weight.
“We were on this tiny place but had big dreams,” Kylie said.
“This little place was part of a much bigger picture. It was a depot, more or less, as we were building our herd.
“Our weaners would come back to Clancella to get educated before they would go back on agistment and any cattle we bought out of the Charters Towers sale yards would be brought back here until we had enough to truck off.
“We really needed to make this little place work to the best of its ability.”
Through clever land management, and a holistic approach to grazing, the couple were able beef up the property’s scope.
By the time they left, Clancella’s land cover, grass species and carrying capacity were all improved.
It didn’t rain once when they owned it.
Six months ago the Strettons backed the skills they learnt on a small scale, and made the giant leap investing in their own cattle station, Red Hill.
Kylie said their whole lives they were told you couldn’t enter the grazing industry unless you had family support - so their response was “well, just watch us”.
“This has always been our dream,” she said.
“Both of us are very driven, if we get told you can’t do something, we kind of use that as a spur.”
Having moved the family, which also includes daughter Ella-Beth and son Clancy to Red Hill just before Christmas, Kylie caught up with the Rural Weekly to talk about the family’s new focus as station owners, and what it’s really like “living the dream”.
DIGGING DEEP
WHEN the family first moved to Clancella Downs in 2012 they became determined not to live in a “dust bowl”.
“Just because we were in drought, didn’t mean we had to live in a dust bowl,” Kylie said.
“And this all works in together, having a healthy ecosystem brought in more birds, which brought in more species of grass.”
Kylie said she has always been fascinated by the natural environment, she likes discovering the property’s insects and birds and nutting out what effects they can have on the land.
“When we bought Clancella it only had Indian couch across it, the ground cover was very low… there was no diversity in species,” she said.
“By the time we left there were over 20 different species of grass including a lot of natives.
“We had satellite imaging on it when we bought it, and when we left we had risen our ground cover by over 20% since, which was well above regional average.
“And, it was carrying a lot more cattle than what our neighbours were carrying.”
Giving the land enough rest was crucial, she said.
LIFE ON RED HILL
It took years for the Strettons to find a place that suited their needs.
“We had looked as far west as Hughenden, when we looked at Red Hill we knew we had to have a crack,” she said.
So far, their season hasn’t been kind.
“It’s been incredibly dry,” she said.
Kylie described the rainfall as quite disappointing, as earlier predictions had them lined up to receive 6-12 inches of rain from Ex-Tropical Cyclone Owen, but unfortunately that didn’t eventuate.
At the time of printing, luck had turned for Red Hill and the property received 20mm from a storm, “not enough to break the drought, but a good start”.
The property is just under 5000 hectares (12,000 acres), so considered small in the scheme of other blocks in the district.
Because of this, they will keep their business, Northern Livestock Services, up and running.
One of the biggest hurdles the family has faced is the tyranny of distance to town.
The used to cover 20kms of bitumen to reach Charters Towers, now they drive 130kms, 80 of which is dirt.
“We can’t just duck to town now,” she said.
“Shane works incredibly hard, we have bought a plane, and weather permitting it only takes him 15 minutes to fly town.”
Kylie described Red Hill’s country as diverse - her enthusiasm for learning about the best practices for each soil and land type was infectious.
“It is so varied,” she said.
“One of the big features is a big tableland running through it, kind of like a big bluff, and the top of it is very much like the central-west desert uplands,” she said.
“So there is a lot of yellow jack and lancewood trees up there, and it’s red sand.
“It’s like a patch of desert country in the middle of our northern gold fields country, which is what most this area is.”
LONG ROAD AHEAD
Settling into the property, the family were quick to enact their high-density rotational grazing methods.
They bought their breeders to the property, and boxed them with the herd already on Red Hill.
“There are a few paddocks they were running across, and now we have them in one mob,” she said.
“We will move them when we think the land has been grazed efficiently.”
They are hoping Red Hill will eventually run around 800 head.
Kylie said one of the biggest learning curves they had struggled with was understanding they needed to pace themselves.
“My husband wants to get everything done right now, and that’s usually my nature too,” she said.
“I am really trying to get him to consider just waiting a few months to see how we need things to work. There is no point putting a fence in now if the cattle don’t actually run that way.”
Installing more watering points, however, will be completed promptly.
“More watering points make sure we can rest the country sufficiently, and increases the land we can graze,” she said.
“Rather than the cattle picking where they want to go.”
Kylie has put her hand up to be part of the northern GPS fences trial and is waiting to hear back.
“That would be amazing, it would mean every inch of our property could be grazed and would save on infrastructure costs.”
SOCIAL WARRIOR
Kylie also has a presence on Facebook, where she highlights her family’s journey.
Her page, Life on Red Hill, works as an interactive diary for their business, but also helps her reach out to customers.
“I think people want to know about how we live and how we raise our cattle,” she said.
“There are so many misconceptions. People think cattle are bad for the environment, but as we have shown, you can regenerate your land using cattle, or other livestock, as long as you do it in a responsible manner.” Speaking out on behalf of grazers is nothing new to Kylie, as she is one of the founding members of Better Internet for Rural, Regional and Remote Australia (BIRRR).
She has been fighting for better communication services for years, and is now feeling the pinch of the pour network first hand.
“We don’t have a lot of mobile service,” she said.
“We went from the space of having fairly decent internet, to now being on NBN Sky Muster and having a radio phone. The line is working today, but it has cut in out several times.” Kylie is proud of her family’s accomplishments, but admitted they have a long road ahead.
It’s ironic one of their goals on Clancella was reducing dust around their home, because Kylie describes where they live now as the “ultimate dust bowl”. “All the watering points are at the house. But, just give us time.”
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