Kangaroo Island farmers share game-changing approach to isolation barriers
The 15km stretch of water separating Kangaroo Island from mainland Australia has created both extraordinary challenges and remarkable opportunities for its farmers.
Kangaroo Island’s isolation cuts both ways for farmers.
The 15km stretch of water separating the island from mainland South Australia creates both opportunity and challenge.
For fifth-generation mixed farming brothers Lachie and Travis Bell, island logistics and freight costs shape almost every decision.
Inputs must be ordered two to three months ahead.
Getting commodities off the island demands careful coordination.
But that same isolation has created something valuable – a clean, green brand with full traceability.
The brothers, working with fellow Kangaroo Island Pure Grain shareholders, have successfully marketed canola to Japan and other premium markets.
They’re now hoping to expand that branding to lamb and wool.
Their operation, Bellevista, runs 19,500 sheep and crops 1850 hectares, producing fine wool, prime lambs and grain.
It’s one of the island’s most significant mixed farming enterprises, in a unique environment often dubbed Australia’s Galapagos due to its pristine biodiversity.
SCALING UP
Lachie and Travis completed succession with their parents in 2017-18, taking the reins of a family operation that had been steadily growing for decades.
Based at Kingscote on the north coast, the operation spans 14 properties – 40 per cent owned and 60 per cent leased – with nine staff working country that stretches 18 kilometres in either direction.
While livestock takes up more area, cropping typically delivers stronger financial returns, with the Bells aiming for a 50:50 split.
The country is diverse and challenging – gently undulating terrain where soil types can shift from beach sand to heavy clay within a single paddock.
That variability demands close attention, particularly with average rainfall of 450mm.
The last two years tested careful planning, with rainfall dropping to barely half that average.
Despite challenges, sheep outperformed cropping – a testament to strong stock prices and sound decision-making.
PRODUCTION DENSITY
The livestock enterprise centres on volume and efficiency.
The Bells run 7500 Merino ewes and 4500 first-cross ewes, structured to maximise both wool and lamb production.
Joining runs mid-January for five to six weeks, with lambing mid-June to the end of July.
Sixty per cent of the Merino flock is joined to Merino rams for self-replacement, with the remainder to White Suffolk rams.
“My focus is on producing as many lambs per hectare as possible,” Lachie said.
That focus delivers 4500 store lambs annually at 100 days old, weighing 35kg liveweight.
Usually marketed through AuctionsPlus, this year all lambs sold privately to finishers in Jamestown and Mildura, averaging $200 a head.
All Merino rams are bred on-property through an artificial insemination program using semen from studs including Nerstane, Billandri, Yalgoo, Greendale and Turkey Lane.
The AI program provides rapid genetic gain.
After 20 years of growth in sheep numbers, the focus is shifting to quality over quantity.
“We’ve been growing continuously for 20 years and haven’t had much focus on individual production whereas now we are the size that we are and comfortable, we will focus more on fertility and production per head,” Lachie said.
FIGHTING FLYSTRIKE
Wool has always been central to the Bell operation, producing 450 to 500 bales annually – about 90,000 kilograms of fine 17 to 18 micron wool.
Shearing occurs over three weeks in early September.
A small percentage now moves through the Kangaroo Island Wool Company mill, a facility the Bell family helped establish.
It’s both a tourist drawcard and proof that value-adding on the island is possible.
The operation is also at the forefront of animal welfare innovation, with Lachie hosting sterile insect technique trials aimed at controlling flystrike through releasing sterile flies rather than chemical treatments.
“To be part of that pilot program was a game changer for us,” Lachie said.
The high-rainfall environment makes flystrike prolific on Kangaroo Island.
While the Bells have made progress through genetics – zero tolerance on wool rot and wool colour, and selection for low worm counts – flies remain a challenge.
The sterile insect technique, being rolled out more broadly this year, offers a genuine solution.
“To move down the non-mulesing path will be a no-brainer for us,” Lachie said.
“It’s a lifetime better outcome for the sheep.”
DOUBLING YIELDS
On the cropping front, yields have effectively doubled over the past seven to eight years.
Travis recalls averaging 1.7 tonnes/ha for canola and 3.5 tonnes/ha for cereals and thinking they were doing well.
Now, harvest figures sit at 2.7 to 2.8 tonnes/ha for canola, 6.5 tonnes/ha for wheat, 7-7.5 tonnes/ha for barley and 4 tonnes/ha for faba beans.
The operation follows a canola, wheat, canola, faba beans, barley rotation, with seeding starting April 1 to finish by early May.
They use minimum till, liquid fertiliser and targeted in furrow insecticide applications on emerging crops.
Seeding rates are tailored to each crop – 2kg/ha per hectare for canola, 120-150kg/ha for faba beans, 80kg/ha for wheat and 70kg/ha for barley.
The attention to detail extends to marketing, where the Kangaroo Island brand has opened doors.
Recent years have seen canola sold to a Japanese crusher, faba beans to South-East Asia, and biscuit wheat to Western Milling for Arnott’s.
It’s where the KI brand has delivered the most tangible success.
EXPENSIVE LESSONS
But marketing success couldn’t insulate the operation from two consecutive drought years that tested everything the Bells knew about managing their country.
“The biggest challenge for us – we tend to be too wet – having to learn how to manage when you have a lack of water rather than too much has been a steep learning curve for us,” Travis said.
The driest conditions hit May to July, coinciding with late pregnancy and early lambing when ewes were most vulnerable.
With heavily pregnant ewes and young lambs unable to be sold off the island, there was no choice but to keep feeding.
“We were committed and in for the ride at that point,” Travis said.
Thirteen truckloads of hay arrived at $450 to $500 a tonne, with $150 of that freight.
Another 250 tonnes of grain was purchased.
Hay classified as dangerous goods required tarping on the ferry, while winter ferry servicing complicated timing.
Crop yields reflected the brutal conditions.
Canola dropped to 2.4 tonnes/ha for spring varieties and 0.8 tonnes/ha for winter.
Wheat averaged 4.4 tonnes/ha, barley 4.2 tonnes/ha, and faba beans just 1.2 tonnes/ha.
With normal input costs but reduced yields, financial pressure mounted.
Yet the investment paid off.
Stock prices remained strong and the wool market jumped.
Despite enormous supplementary feeding costs, sheep outperformed cropping.
Hard-won lessons emerged.
“Never let feed reserves drop below a month’s supply - by the time feed is sourced and shipped, only a week remains.”
Feed quality became equally critical.
The Bells now feed test everything to ensure adequate protein and energy levels.
Pregnancy scanning allows differential management of twins, singles and dry ewes.
And holding extra grain reserves provides insurance – it can be sold later if not needed.
“We are feeling on top of it now but it has been a difficult learning curve,” Travis said.
ISLAND ADVANTAGE
Those lessons sit alongside the everyday reality of island farming – managing logistics mainland operations never consider.
Input logistics require two to three months forward planning, with urea availability and ferry cancellations able to delay shipments.
The Bells face a 25 per cent freight increase with new ferries.
Yet Travis sees opportunity in disadvantage.
“Farming on Kangaroo Island, we do have that freight cost, but it has pluses and minuses,” he said.
“It forces us to be innovative because we’ve got to be better than our equivalent businesses on the mainland.”
Benchmarking consistently shows Kangaroo Island farmers performing ahead of comparable mainland operations.
The island’s clearly defined boundary provides genuine traceability that mainland regions cannot replicate.
That underpins the marketing opportunities the Bells are pursuing, expanding the KI brand beyond grain into lamb and wool.
The wool mill demonstrates what’s possible when island producers control the entire value chain.
LOOKING AHEAD
After two drought years, the immediate plan is consolidation – reducing debt and optimising existing operations.
The 10-year vision centres on wringing every bit of potential from existing operations rather than expansion.
They see significant upward yield potential in cropping, and production gains in sheep through improved genetics and better pastures.
“We want to get things set up so should the sixth generation want farming as their career we can cater for that,” Travis said.
Rising input costs without corresponding commodity price increases create nervousness about margins.
But the Bells remain committed to pushing innovation on two fronts – production efficiency and market development through value adding.
For Travis and Lachie, isolation isn’t a limitation – it’s the driver that keeps pushing them forward.
