Matching enterprise with environment

Ed Archer Landfall Angus / Greenhythe Pastoral

27 July 2018

Who and where?

• Greenhythe Pastoral

• Tamar Valley – 40km north of Launceston on the Tamar River

• 650mm annual rainfall (increasingly variable)

• Fully integrated with Landfall

2003 vs 2018

• 280 registered Angus cows• 1500 Merino ewes• 3000 Merino wethers• 1350 ha – 800 effective• 20 ha irrigated• Retaining all replacements • Targeting finished markets• Estimated growing 6500kg

DM/ha utilising 3500kg

• 800 registered Angus cows• 3200 composite ewes• NIL Merino wethers• 1350 ha – 1000 effective• 40 ha irrigated• Targeting store markets• Estimated growing 7000kg

DM/ha utilising 5500kg

Why change?

• Early decisions made with heart rather than head. • Succession planning – five-year plan.• Planning process – an opportunity to re-assess our

business, enterprises and identified our purpose.• Identified inefficiencies in our grazing management

and enterprises.• Overly reliant on expensive fodder. • Limited water availability. • Simply…we are in the business of growing grass.

How

• Efficiencies with scale – treating both properties as one.

• Identified natural dry matter growth pattern.

MLA MBFP Tasmanian daily dry matter growth rates

How

• Adjusted enterprises. • Upskill personnel – rotational grazing

Cattle

Cattle

• Early August calving – eight weeks. • Wean during February.• Two-thirds of calves trucked off the property. • Replacements trucked in.• Run in large mobs. • Efficiencies gained with the adoption of technology.

Sheep

Sheep

• Composite ewe flock.• Mobbed according to condition score.• No terminals. • Mid-August lambing (30 days).• Wean during early December. • On-property store lamb sale early January. • Focus on stocking rate and number of lambs weaned• Minimal to zero fodder.

Top three take home messages

1. Focus on return per hectare rather than per head.

2. Utilise the dry matter you are already growing.

3. Upskill in the areas that will make a difference.

Tools, resources and training

• Lifetime Ewe Management • Pasture Principles • External advice

Matching enterprise with environment

Ed ArcherLandfall Angus / Greenhythe Pastoral

Contact details - 0417 337 144