Home Farm
'Illowra' is situated at Inman Valley on the Fleurieu Peninsula, located 70km south of Adelaide, South Australia. The first part of the property was bought in 1981 and now 'Illowra' includes 5 farms totaling 622ha. I took over management of the property in 2009 and have since expanded and changed the direction in terms of cattle and beef production.
Rotational Grazing
330ha is under Rotational Grazing where stock are rotated through a series of paddocks which allows 20-30 days of paddock rest per cycle.
This allows a higher stocking rate rather than the less efficient traditional set stocking with the added bonus of grazing the pasture intensively whilst at its most nutritious stage and then allowing adequate growth periods between cycles.
Cell Grazing / Techno Grazing
Two 35ha areas are under this intensive Cell Grazing system. Each area is divided into 2ha cells using a single electric hot wire and allowing 40-45 days of rest per cell once grazed.
The stock are moved every 3 days after grazing the pasture from 3000kg/ha (14cm high) down to 1200kg/ha (4cm high). This system is implemented between the months of May and December depending on the season and excludes supplementary feeding.
The Cell Grazing System average is 58-65 DSE/ha (4.8-5.5 cows per ha) compared to 18.5 DSE/ha (1.8 cows per ha) on the Rotational Grazing System. On average, we are producing 110kg of beef per day on each system.
STOCK
We self replace around 40% of our 300 cows annually and calve from August through to the end of September. A further 400 to 500 cattle are bought in annually either for trading or selling as Preg Tested In Calf, (PTIC) heifers and cows or meat if steers, the balance depending on future market forecast and predicted growing season.
Trading stock are sold with a target weight of 400-475kg live weight per head at 12-14 months, this is critical to maximize the financial returns.
We are driving our genetic performance by using 'Hazeldean Bulls' situated at Willalooka, South Australia. The most important Estimated Breeding Values (EBV's) we focus on are ease of calving, birth weight and 400 day weight gain indicator.
However all EBV results are taken on board along with intensive visual inspections. The use of DNA Testing is a very useful and accurate tool.