WEBVTT - Building it beefier: Prioritising on-farm capital improvements while maintaining production 0:00:06.390 --> 0:00:09.510 This is Seeds for Success, a show where we have 0:00:09.510 --> 0:00:12.480 a good yarn about Ag life with producers who are 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:15.210 having a go. On the show, you'll hear from farmers 0:00:15.210 --> 0:00:18.420 in New South Wales who are out there battling the elements, 0:00:18.570 --> 0:00:22.380 making tough calls, and getting the job done. You'll get 0:00:22.380 --> 0:00:24.690 a laugh out of some of their stories and also 0:00:24.690 --> 0:00:27.450 pick up some know- how along the way. I'm your 0:00:27.450 --> 0:00:35.850 host Neroli Brennan. Today, we're catching up with Wal White. 0:00:36.210 --> 0:00:40.500 Wal manages The Mount, a mixed farming enterprise 20 km west 0:00:40.500 --> 0:00:45.780 of Forbes. Wal crops around 840 hectares with another 800 0:00:45.780 --> 0:00:49.740 hectares of grazing country. Its primary focus is the 4, 0:00:49.740 --> 0:00:53.550 000 head cattle feedlot situated on the west slope of 0:00:53.550 --> 0:00:57.779 the Corridgery Range. In today's episode, Wal shares with us 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:01.920 his experience working in feedlots and the cattle industry for 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:06.539 nearly 15 years, including some insight from his time at 0:01:06.540 --> 0:01:11.280 big cattle feedlots near Toowoomba. Wal explains their backgrounding process 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:14.040 for cattle entering the feedlot and the day- to- day 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:17.970 running of 4, 000 cattle, as well as the challenges that 0:01:17.970 --> 0:01:22.200 natural disasters present in that situation. You'll also hear Wal 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:25.080 talk about the improvements that have been made in his 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:29.819 time at The Mount and how he prioritizes infrastructure improvements. 0:01:30.090 --> 0:01:34.140 Local Land Services mixed farming advisor, Rohan Leach, sat down 0:01:34.140 --> 0:01:37.319 with Wal for this chat after a farm visit ahead 0:01:37.410 --> 0:01:40.560 of an upcoming Lachlan PROGRAZE group workshop. 0:01:44.100 --> 0:01:47.010 Good day, listeners. Today I'm with Wal White from The 0:01:47.010 --> 0:01:50.520 Mount Feedlot Wal. Welcome to the Seeds for Success podcast. 0:01:50.580 --> 0:01:51.960 Thanks, Rohan. Good to be here. 0:01:52.140 --> 0:01:53.700 Mate, can you just start off by giving me a 0:01:53.700 --> 0:01:55.740 rundown of your operation here at The Mount? 0:01:55.950 --> 0:02:00.270 Yeah, so The Mount Feedlot, we're about 22Ks west of 0:02:00.270 --> 0:02:03.060 Forbes out towards Bedgerabong. It's called The Mount because as 0:02:03.060 --> 0:02:05.370 you go out that road there is one big gigantic 0:02:05.370 --> 0:02:06.450 hill that we sit on. 0:02:06.630 --> 0:02:09.090 What is the name of this hill? Because for the listeners, 0:02:09.090 --> 0:02:12.450 I'm a bit of a local. I'm Wal's neighbor, actually. 0:02:12.450 --> 0:02:14.850 So is it the Corridgery Range? 0:02:14.910 --> 0:02:18.240 We're on the Corridgery Range. South of us over the river, 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:20.340 there's the Jemlong Range. Which a lot of people in 0:02:20.340 --> 0:02:22.560 the area would be familiar with Jemlong Station, which is 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:27.030 essentially just west of that. So you've got the Jemlong Range to the south, Corridgery Range, 0:02:27.030 --> 0:02:31.200 and I believe above the Yarrabandai Road, it's the Yarrabandai Road at the gap there. 0:02:31.860 --> 0:02:33.330 It's called another range to the north. 0:02:33.330 --> 0:02:33.331 The Gunning, maybe. 0:02:33.331 --> 0:02:37.050 I think it is the Gunning Range. But we're on the Corridgery Range. Yes. 0:02:37.050 --> 0:02:43.260 Geography aside. So you're on the Corridgery Range here, so that indicates some pretty 0:02:43.260 --> 0:02:44.880 sandy soils. Am I right? 0:02:44.940 --> 0:02:47.280 Yes, you are. We did a bit of a drive 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:51.419 around earlier in the day and yes, it's very sandy 0:02:51.419 --> 0:02:55.980 off the hill, moving down into more clay loamy soils 0:02:55.980 --> 0:02:58.739 on the flat. We border the Lachlan River to the south, 0:02:59.070 --> 0:03:01.110 so the front of our place during the flood was 0:03:01.110 --> 0:03:05.340 about 800 mil underwater. But it's all river flat country essentially, 0:03:05.430 --> 0:03:07.620 except off the hill. Yeah, you have to keep ground 0:03:07.620 --> 0:03:09.630 cover up there pretty well, otherwise it all washes away. 0:03:09.630 --> 0:03:10.800 But it's a good part of the world out here. 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:14.070 So some pretty different soil types there and obviously, a bit 0:03:14.070 --> 0:03:17.340 tricky to manage. It's probably good having that with obviously 0:03:17.340 --> 0:03:20.760 the floodplain down below and being able to push stock 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:22.200 up into the hill when it does flood. 0:03:22.590 --> 0:03:26.250 When I started here, I started in November 22 and that 0:03:26.250 --> 0:03:28.980 was pretty much peak flood. My first month was during 0:03:28.980 --> 0:03:33.780 those couple of big floods down this way, so trial 0:03:33.780 --> 0:03:38.250 by fire I suppose. And all the flat country, we 0:03:38.250 --> 0:03:40.830 had basically no cattle in the paddocks when I started because 0:03:40.830 --> 0:03:43.440 they had been in flood. And they were just clearing 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:45.720 everything out as much as they could. They were trying 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:47.640 to drop some numbers down in the feedlot as well, 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:50.460 to do some capital works and things. But there was 0:03:50.460 --> 0:03:52.380 a couple of weeks there where we couldn't get anything 0:03:52.380 --> 0:03:54.390 in or out. So it took a bit to figure 0:03:54.390 --> 0:03:56.820 out and manage. I was lucky then, I had a 0:03:56.820 --> 0:03:59.790 really good two IC in the stock team who had 0:03:59.790 --> 0:04:03.180 a lot of experience in everything here, plus my direct 0:04:03.180 --> 0:04:07.050 report who working from afar but still helped us out 0:04:07.050 --> 0:04:10.860 a fair bit with trying to move things around and all 0:04:10.860 --> 0:04:11.700 the things we had to do. 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:15.840 So looking at enterprise mix here, obviously you're a feedlot. 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:17.490 Can you talk me through the feedlot a bit? And 0:04:17.490 --> 0:04:19.710 then we'll talk about the other enterprises on farm. 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:23.910 The history of the property is that it was owned 0:04:23.970 --> 0:04:26.760 it and Jemlong Station were one of the original properties 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:31.650 from Twynam Pastoral. So Twynam built a feedlot here in 1970 something. 0:04:31.650 --> 0:04:34.740 I think it's about '75. So it's a pretty old yard. 0:04:34.740 --> 0:04:38.760 It's licensed to a 5, 000 head capacity, built to about four. 0:04:39.210 --> 0:04:42.930 And we've got 20- something pens. I think they hold 0:04:42.930 --> 0:04:44.760 about 200 head each, but quite an old sort of 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:47.160 feedlot built up on the hill. So in terms of 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:49.950 water inundation, it doesn't really happen. But we tend to 0:04:49.950 --> 0:04:53.099 get more cut off from town to get food stuffs 0:04:53.100 --> 0:04:56.100 and things out here. So that's the challenge with that. 0:04:56.100 --> 0:04:59.850 But yeah, built to a 4, 000 head capacity, mainly custom 0:04:59.850 --> 0:05:02.849 feeding Angus cattle here. So we did have some Wagyu 0:05:02.850 --> 0:05:04.710 cattle when I started that we were feeding for about 0:05:04.710 --> 0:05:07.950 400 days. We've since changed tact on that and we're 0:05:07.950 --> 0:05:12.120 in feeding 150 day Angus cattle now, so they're all 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:15.570 destined for different export markets. But one run of cattle 0:05:15.570 --> 0:05:17.460 is a lot easier to manage I can tell you. So the 0:05:17.460 --> 0:05:22.200 feedlot itself, depending on pen space and depending on the weeks, 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:26.400 we take in 200 head, a full pen being either 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:28.950 once a week or once every two weeks. And then 0:05:28.950 --> 0:05:31.020 the other end, they'll get trucked out after 150 days. 0:05:31.350 --> 0:05:34.020 So we will definitely look more into that later in 0:05:34.020 --> 0:05:38.039 the podcast. But just the other enterprises and pasture types 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:38.850 maybe on farm. 0:05:38.970 --> 0:05:43.020 Yeah, so in terms of cattle, the paddocks and the 0:05:43.020 --> 0:05:46.920 feedlot are all dedicated to either lot feeding the cattle 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:49.440 in the pens or backgrounding the cattle to be ready 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:51.510 for the feedlot. So all the cattle that you and 0:05:51.510 --> 0:05:54.150 I saw, they're destined to come into the feedlot and 0:05:54.150 --> 0:05:58.290 they grow up on, we've got one paddock of native pastures. 0:05:58.290 --> 0:06:01.529 But essentially, they're growing up on a loosened chicory, medic 0:06:01.589 --> 0:06:04.860 legume base, which we found really good for the sandy 0:06:04.860 --> 0:06:07.050 country on the hill because that's held that together really well. 0:06:07.380 --> 0:06:09.720 And we've got a few paddocks down on the flat that are down 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:12.000 to that as well. And it works really well. It's 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.669 just something that explodes away once you get a bit 0:06:14.670 --> 0:06:16.800 of rain. Really helps us because we tend to run 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:22.560 country pretty hard, so it's pretty good. And then cropping wise, 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:26.250 essentially most things have grown for use in the feedlot. 0:06:26.430 --> 0:06:27.659 So what area are you cropping? 0:06:27.659 --> 0:06:31.529 About 800 hectares. So the whole property is about 1600. I think 0:06:31.529 --> 0:06:34.890 the hill's about 300. That's all scrubs, so you can't 0:06:34.890 --> 0:06:37.740 do much with that. But essentially, we've got about 1300 0:06:37.740 --> 0:06:41.400 hectares of usable ground. 800 of that goes down to crop 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:45.630 every year. So since I've been here, it's basically barley 0:06:45.630 --> 0:06:49.680 and canola mix whereby we've got some paddocks down near 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:51.839 the houses and below the feedlot that get put down 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:54.060 for barley to be cut for silage. And we get 0:06:54.060 --> 0:06:56.460 some local contractors from out the Karuah side of town 0:06:56.460 --> 0:06:58.200 that come in and we'll do a chop on that. 0:06:58.620 --> 0:07:00.660 And then the rest of the country will be put 0:07:00.660 --> 0:07:04.620 down to barley or canola for grain, essentially. Last year, 0:07:05.070 --> 0:07:07.440 along with the grain, we bailed a heap of straw 0:07:07.620 --> 0:07:09.630 out the back of the header. I think we ended 0:07:09.630 --> 0:07:12.630 up with about 1400 bales off that, so off about 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:14.850 not even half of the country that we had. So 0:07:14.850 --> 0:07:16.230 we had a pretty good run there. So I don't 0:07:16.230 --> 0:07:17.820 know if we're going to bail anything this year, but 0:07:18.060 --> 0:07:21.360 we'll see. But that essentially, just gets all used back 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:23.880 through the feedlot. As part of our ration, we feed, 0:07:23.940 --> 0:07:28.800 it's about 60% dry rolled barley that goes into the ration. 0:07:28.860 --> 0:07:30.870 So yeah, the more grain we can grow for ourselves 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:31.650 the better. 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:34.230 And you don't use any fodder crops at all? 0:07:34.410 --> 0:07:36.001 Only for hay. No fodder crops ourselves. 0:07:36.001 --> 0:07:38.250 And no cattle are grazing on the crops? 0:07:38.490 --> 0:07:40.260 No, not yet. We have toyed with the idea of 0:07:40.260 --> 0:07:42.540 putting some oats in to clean up some paddocks, but 0:07:42.540 --> 0:07:45.660 we haven't put that down yet. And we did have 0:07:45.660 --> 0:07:47.520 the agronomist out the other day to toy with a 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.340 few ideas on that. But no, right now it's all 0:07:50.340 --> 0:07:52.860 just a loose and based pasture on the ground. 0:07:53.340 --> 0:07:56.460 So you mentioned before that you do custom feeding within 0:07:56.460 --> 0:07:57.000 the feedlot. 0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:57.330 Yes. 0:07:57.330 --> 0:07:57.600 So who do you feed for? 0:07:58.410 --> 0:08:01.080 We're feeding for a company over at Boorowa called KC Natural. 0:08:01.170 --> 0:08:05.910 They're buying the cattle in themselves, mostly coming from a 0:08:05.910 --> 0:08:09.780 few 100Ks away from the feedlot. We'll pull some cattle 0:08:09.780 --> 0:08:12.720 out of Victoria and usually during winter sale time, pull 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:15.330 some out of South Australia, but essentially most of them 0:08:15.330 --> 0:08:21.240 coming from Wagga, Yass, Carcoar, Forbes, Dubbo sorts of areas. 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:25.950 So they're buying all the cattle in and yeah, we're 0:08:25.980 --> 0:08:31.170 looking after their health, looking after all the inductions and the exits, and all 0:08:31.170 --> 0:08:32.940 the toing and froing with that. And making sure they're 0:08:32.940 --> 0:08:33.480 fed every day. 0:08:33.809 --> 0:08:36.870 Were you here when the Wagyu feeder job was on? 0:08:36.990 --> 0:08:38.550 Can you talk me through that a little bit and 0:08:38.550 --> 0:08:39.660 how things might've changed? 0:08:39.690 --> 0:08:42.390 So they had a contract going with a mob down 0:08:42.450 --> 0:08:47.940 in Victoria who were custom feeding F1 Wagyu crosses, and they're 0:08:48.570 --> 0:08:50.790 about half split. They background them and grow them out 0:08:50.790 --> 0:08:53.040 down there and they'd bring them up here to be put 0:08:53.100 --> 0:08:55.650 straight onto feed. And they'd feed here for 400 days 0:08:55.710 --> 0:08:59.970 and then they'd head off to either Casino or Melbourne 0:09:00.390 --> 0:09:02.640 depending on what kills they had for that week. But 0:09:03.030 --> 0:09:06.600 they go down there, they do that. The Wagyu are really good. 0:09:06.660 --> 0:09:08.640 I fed Wagyu at a couple other yards that I've worked 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:12.900 at in the past. And Wagyu are really easy- care animals. Essentially, 0:09:12.900 --> 0:09:15.570 most feedlot cattle are. Once you get them over about 0:09:15.570 --> 0:09:19.679 40 to 60 days on feed, the BRD is less of an issue. 0:09:19.830 --> 0:09:21.689 So BRD for those that- 0:09:21.690 --> 0:09:24.630 Bovine Respiratory Disease. If you're in the feedlot game, you'll 0:09:24.630 --> 0:09:28.320 know what I mean because it's the number one cost 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.830 to lot feeders in the country. But essentially, it's like pneumonia. 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:34.620 It's pretty much they get a cold. The animals live 0:09:34.620 --> 0:09:38.340 with the bacteria in their airways through their lives, but 0:09:38.610 --> 0:09:42.420 through different stresses of sale yards or trucking or inductions 0:09:42.420 --> 0:09:45.030 to feedlots and that sort of thing, their immune system 0:09:45.030 --> 0:09:48.240 gets a bit depleted and they can get a bit crook. But it 0:09:48.510 --> 0:09:51.690 shows up like they've got a cold. Early BRDs are essentially, 0:09:51.780 --> 0:09:53.069 they get a bit dopey, and they just get a 0:09:53.070 --> 0:09:56.429 bit down and mopey. And you find the cattle themselves, 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:58.410 they just hang their head a bit and get a 0:09:58.410 --> 0:10:00.000 bit dopey. And the worse they get, they get more 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.670 snotty and they get more coughing, and it can get pretty rough. 0:10:02.670 --> 0:10:05.340 But that's where the backgrounding comes in, especially when you're 0:10:05.340 --> 0:10:08.429 putting mobs of cattle together. You want to put them 0:10:08.429 --> 0:10:11.250 out there for probably at least minimum two weeks, but 0:10:11.250 --> 0:10:13.650 a good month's probably the best case you can do. 0:10:13.770 --> 0:10:15.870 And just to let them socialize and just chill out 0:10:15.870 --> 0:10:17.699 with each other and get used to each other, so that 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:20.760 when they do come into the feedlot there's less chance 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:22.200 of BRD hitting its strides. 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:25.260 And so you were saying that Wagyu's are less likely to 0:10:25.650 --> 0:10:29.819 cop that. So how long ago did the transition happen 0:10:30.690 --> 0:10:31.650 into the straight Angus? 0:10:31.950 --> 0:10:34.319 I think February was the last mob of Waygs that 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:34.980 went out. 0:10:35.100 --> 0:10:35.101 February. 0:10:35.101 --> 0:10:36.780 February this year, 2025. 0:10:36.780 --> 0:10:38.880 All right, so it's just been an ongoing process. 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:43.949 Yeah, it's not long. When you have 400-day cattle, 365 0:10:43.950 --> 0:10:47.130 days is a year. So they're essentially here for a year and a bit. They 0:10:47.130 --> 0:10:50.819 would come in a pen at a time, so when 0:10:50.820 --> 0:10:52.830 you whittle it down, you've got them sitting there for 0:10:52.830 --> 0:10:54.809 quite a while. But yeah, we had quite a few 0:10:54.809 --> 0:10:58.020 pens come October, November, but yeah, just essentially I think 0:10:58.020 --> 0:10:59.880 every month it was like a pen that went. So 0:11:00.870 --> 0:11:03.210 it took a little bit of time to whittle them down, 0:11:03.210 --> 0:11:05.250 but the last of them left in Feb. And we've 0:11:05.250 --> 0:11:07.740 been whole and solely Angus ever since. 0:11:08.429 --> 0:11:11.458 What was the business decision behind getting out of the Waygs for? 0:11:12.059 --> 0:11:16.860 It was all due to cashflow. So the Wagyu themselves, they're quite profitable, 0:11:16.860 --> 0:11:20.490 but they were quite expensive to be in for that long- term period. 0:11:20.490 --> 0:11:22.770 A big chunk of money tied up in one animal 0:11:22.770 --> 0:11:23.101 for 400 days. 0:11:23.101 --> 0:11:24.660 Yeah, 100%. 0:11:24.750 --> 0:11:28.050 When you could probably do three trades on- 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:30.900 At least two 150-day cattle, two and a half. So yeah, 0:11:30.900 --> 0:11:34.590 you're right. And it freed up a bit of that 0:11:34.590 --> 0:11:36.840 cash to do some capital improvements, which we had in 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:40.230 the process and have been working on ever since. So it just 0:11:40.230 --> 0:11:40.981 helped with that more than anything. 0:11:40.981 --> 0:11:45.089 ... Going into more depth into the feedlotting. So what age 0:11:45.090 --> 0:11:48.450 are the stock and what type of stock as in male, female. 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:50.610 When are they coming on farm and how long are 0:11:50.610 --> 0:11:53.400 they staying in a backgrounding paddock? 0:11:53.820 --> 0:11:56.729 So then generally coming in milk and two teeth, we 0:11:56.730 --> 0:11:59.910 usually bring them in. We do a draft when they 0:11:59.910 --> 0:12:03.030 arrive here, either side of 400 kilos. So anything that's 0:12:03.030 --> 0:12:06.090 over 400 is deemed ready to go straight onto feed. 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.120 We've usually tried to keep a couple of lots out 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:12.120 in the paddock in front of ourselves to come on feed. 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:16.440 So generally, there's nothing coming here that goes straight onto 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:20.670 feed unless we're really tight. So we'll draft, so any 0:12:20.670 --> 0:12:23.130 of the heavies, we'll leave out in the paddock for 0:12:23.130 --> 0:12:26.880 probably a minimum of two weeks in terms of our 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.490 induction schedule. So we'll try and have those couple of 0:12:29.490 --> 0:12:33.390 lots in front of ourselves anyway. And then the lighter 0:12:33.390 --> 0:12:36.179 end will go into a separate paddock. Usually, I'm trying 0:12:36.179 --> 0:12:37.590 to put them on our better feed because they're the 0:12:37.590 --> 0:12:41.370 ones that have to make the gains. So they're fed 0:12:41.550 --> 0:12:43.020 on the better pastures. 0:12:43.140 --> 0:12:45.839 Are you still supplementary feeding those ones as well with 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:46.890 bit of hay or grain? 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:49.199 Yeah, they do because of the loosened base. We will put 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:52.170 straw out with them just to help them, especially when 0:12:52.170 --> 0:12:54.750 it does take off with a bit of rain. December 0:12:54.750 --> 0:12:56.850 was pretty rough on us as well. We had just 0:12:56.850 --> 0:12:59.550 with that pasture growth and the moisture that was around, we 0:12:59.550 --> 0:13:02.819 had a lot going on. So we have also, I 0:13:02.820 --> 0:13:05.250 have put bloat oil into the troughs when I need 0:13:05.250 --> 0:13:08.309 to and use bloat blocks where I need to. But 0:13:08.580 --> 0:13:12.600 supplementary feeding, we do when we have to. But if 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:14.730 we've got pasture enough then we try and keep them 0:13:14.730 --> 0:13:18.300 just on the pasture. And definitely, we've got all the 0:13:18.300 --> 0:13:21.480 ingredients up there to make a ration if we want to. But we try and use 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:23.070 the pasture up as best we can first. 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:26.850 And then you mentioned before that the ration is about 60% 0:13:26.910 --> 0:13:29.190 rolled barley. What else is going into that? 0:13:29.490 --> 0:13:32.730 So quite a few things. We're working with nutritionists up 0:13:32.730 --> 0:13:35.010 in Toowoomba who do quite a number of large feedlots 0:13:35.340 --> 0:13:38.640 both in Australia and the US. And so they have 0:13:38.850 --> 0:13:41.490 a lot of different ingredients that they like using. So 0:13:42.450 --> 0:13:45.270 along with the barley, we put in a molasses supplement that 0:13:45.390 --> 0:13:49.200 has various different vitamins and bits and pieces for the cattle. 0:13:49.290 --> 0:13:51.840 So we've got the molasses supplement. We also put a 0:13:51.900 --> 0:13:56.370 veggie oil in as well along with both hay and straw, 0:13:56.610 --> 0:14:00.840 which we buy from, usually locally. It's within a few 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:04.380 100Ks of the feedlot. The straw obviously is mostly our own, but 0:14:04.380 --> 0:14:07.080 we have bought straw from locally as well if we 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.590 need to. We also use corn hominy, which is a 0:14:10.590 --> 0:14:14.429 byproduct of some corn processing that's done. That'll either come 0:14:14.429 --> 0:14:16.980 out of Darlington Point or Sydney, but essentially it's like 0:14:16.980 --> 0:14:20.310 corn powder. It's a real powdery stuff. We used to 0:14:20.310 --> 0:14:24.690 use reconstituted bread. So essentially, when bread's been on the 0:14:24.690 --> 0:14:26.400 shelf too long it woolies, it goes back to Tip 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:29.250 Top or whoever does it. They grind it back up. 0:14:29.310 --> 0:14:30.900 Or this company that was supplying it to us, grind 0:14:30.900 --> 0:14:33.990 it back up and it just makes a thick mealy stuff. 0:14:34.350 --> 0:14:36.210 It was quite good, but we switched over to corn 0:14:36.210 --> 0:14:40.500 hominy about 12 or 18 months ago. And because it's a dry product, 0:14:40.710 --> 0:14:43.710 I've actually found that the cattle tend to like eating 0:14:43.710 --> 0:14:47.850 it more. I've found, just by noticing. But on rain 0:14:47.850 --> 0:14:50.760 days the bunks tend to be a bit drier too. They're 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:53.820 easy to clean out. The bread because it was quite moist, 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:56.760 tended to go off a bit quicker, which needed your 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:58.980 bunk management to be really on point. But no, the 0:14:58.980 --> 0:15:01.920 hominy is really good. We also then use canola meal, 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.010 which is essentially comes from a mob that they extract 0:15:05.010 --> 0:15:06.810 the oil out of canola basically. And it's just the 0:15:06.810 --> 0:15:09.690 husk and the stuff that's left. So it's quite powdery as well. 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:14.760 It's a protein source. And then we grow silage on site, 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:16.560 so we put a bit of silage in as well, 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:21.060 which has been different crops. It's currently barley, but we 0:15:21.060 --> 0:15:23.700 have used sorghum in the past. And way back when, 0:15:23.790 --> 0:15:26.040 I understand Twynam used to grow corn here and irrigate 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:27.000 corn for silage too. 0:15:27.420 --> 0:15:30.150 So hopefully, you're not giving any trade secrets away here, 0:15:30.150 --> 0:15:34.530 but what would your metabolizable energy and your proteins that 0:15:34.530 --> 0:15:36.900 you're looking at for your ideal ration there? 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:39.960 Protein, I would have to check up on through the ration. 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:44.130 But I know the ME is about 12.5 or so, 12. 0:15:44.130 --> 0:15:45.870 6 or something I think for the ration, which is 0:15:45.870 --> 0:15:47.820 pretty much what you're looking for those- 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:48.121 Pretty hot. 0:15:48.121 --> 0:15:50.880 .... short to mid- fed rations. 0:15:51.090 --> 0:15:53.040 And what sort of weight gain do you expect to 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:54.240 see from the animals? 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:57.030 Out of these 150- day cattle you usually see of 0:15:57.030 --> 0:16:02.250 about 1.5 to 1. 7 within that, depending on the weight 0:16:02.250 --> 0:16:04.290 they're coming in and the type of cattle and that sort 0:16:04.290 --> 0:16:07.530 of thing. At the moment we've got mostly heifers, I'm 0:16:07.530 --> 0:16:10.380 going to say it's about 3/ 4s heifers to a 1/ 4 steers. 0:16:10.860 --> 0:16:13.350 But so your weight gains are generally a little bit 0:16:13.350 --> 0:16:15.570 lower in your heifers, but they're going to put more 0:16:15.570 --> 0:16:17.880 fat down. So it is a fairly hot ration, but a lot of 0:16:18.270 --> 0:16:20.070 those short to mid- fed rations. And when I say 0:16:20.070 --> 0:16:25.020 that I mean the 70 to a 100- day woolies and teas or 0:16:25.290 --> 0:16:29.670 those export feeding programs, they're generally running a similar ration 0:16:29.670 --> 0:16:32.460 to what we are. And then you'll dial it back for longer- 0:16:32.460 --> 0:16:36.870 fed rations. The Wagyu ration had a similar amount of grain 0:16:36.870 --> 0:16:40.470 but different amounts of other things. And it was designed 0:16:40.470 --> 0:16:42.810 for them to put on a kilo a day. But 0:16:42.810 --> 0:16:44.940 because they've got so many more days on, you're looking 0:16:44.940 --> 0:16:47.700 for a slow burn there with the Wagyu in terms of 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:50.130 you want them to grow to a certain period within 0:16:50.130 --> 0:16:53.130 the feeding regime. But then put out of body fat 0:16:53.130 --> 0:16:55.470 on and then intramuscular fat towards the end. 0:16:55.860 --> 0:17:00.300 Yeah, that's interesting. So essentially, all 4, 000 head are 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:04.830 basically on the same ration just at varying amounts depending 0:17:04.830 --> 0:17:08.400 on their induction rate or time in the size. 0:17:09.780 --> 0:17:13.379 And we've got a nutritionist who is actually an American and he goes off an 0:17:13.380 --> 0:17:16.050 American system. So we use a two- ration system. We've 0:17:16.050 --> 0:17:18.480 got a starter and a finisher. A lot of feedlots work on 0:17:18.990 --> 0:17:22.200 a three or four- ration system where they're stepping up 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:24.869 from one to the next. But our rations are pretty 0:17:24.869 --> 0:17:27.390 much starter and finisher and you shared it in for the first 15 to 0:17:27.570 --> 0:17:30.750 20 days. And then they're on finisher ration for pretty 0:17:30.750 --> 0:17:33.180 much the rest of the time. Our main job is 0:17:33.180 --> 0:17:35.340 to just try and keep everything as consistent as we 0:17:35.340 --> 0:17:39.600 can in terms of grain milling, grain quality coming in, 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:45.510 commodity quality coming in, and mixing percentages and where your 0:17:45.510 --> 0:17:48.810 variances are and stuff. Everything in feedlotting is trying to 0:17:48.810 --> 0:17:52.020 get to that magic zero of perfect. It's a never- 0:17:52.020 --> 0:17:54.090 ending thing that you're trying to chase, but that's the 0:17:54.090 --> 0:17:56.609 only way to get the production out of what you need. 0:17:57.060 --> 0:18:00.419 And so you've been in the role since obviously, November 0:18:00.540 --> 0:18:04.170 22 I think you said. So are you getting better 0:18:04.170 --> 0:18:07.200 at it, mate? Is it improving? Are things tracking the right way? 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:10.050 Oh look, I'd like to think so. I've done other feedlot roles 0:18:10.050 --> 0:18:11.730 in other places. I actually had a bit of a 0:18:11.730 --> 0:18:15.510 break before this. I was a sales rep for a 0:18:15.570 --> 0:18:18.270 cattle tag company for about five years, but still connected 0:18:18.270 --> 0:18:20.130 to feedlots doing that. So you still get to see 0:18:20.130 --> 0:18:22.260 a bit of what they did. But look, I'd like 0:18:22.260 --> 0:18:26.190 to think so. It's my first full management role for feedlotting. 0:18:26.700 --> 0:18:28.709 There's a bit more to it than I guess you 0:18:28.710 --> 0:18:31.140 originally think there will be. Look, I think the experience 0:18:31.140 --> 0:18:33.750 I've had in other yards has definitely helped. I had 0:18:33.750 --> 0:18:38.459 a management traineeship with a corporate up in Queensland for 0:18:38.460 --> 0:18:40.830 a couple of years, which really set me up. That 0:18:40.830 --> 0:18:43.200 was really good experience for me. My father's a stock 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:47.190 agent and has been very connected in that side of things forever. 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:49.680 He worked for elders for a number of years and 0:18:49.740 --> 0:18:54.030 when elders bought Killara Feedlot back in the late '90s, he 0:18:54.030 --> 0:18:55.770 was buying the cattle there for a few years. So 0:18:56.250 --> 0:18:58.350 he's had a fair bit of affinity with feedlots. And he and 0:18:58.650 --> 0:19:02.340 another partner owned a feedlot at Dubbo for about 10 years that they 0:19:02.340 --> 0:19:05.040 sold recently. So there's been a bit of a connection 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:07.320 to it. But I'll tell you what, every day's a 0:19:07.410 --> 0:19:11.070 school day. You're always learning something. And I'm just lucky here. 0:19:11.070 --> 0:19:12.899 I've got a great team in terms of stuff that, 0:19:12.900 --> 0:19:16.140 I don't know, just maintenance things and different ways of 0:19:16.140 --> 0:19:19.260 building things or changing things, or bits and pieces like that. 0:19:19.260 --> 0:19:21.869 So you learn to lean on who knows what I'll 0:19:21.869 --> 0:19:22.170 tell you. 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:24.930 That's it. You can't be an expert in everything. And 0:19:25.290 --> 0:19:29.190 I have found, particularly the people that know what they're doing 0:19:29.190 --> 0:19:32.550 with a cattle's gut, might not know what the guts of 0:19:32.550 --> 0:19:36.990 a tractor look like. So those are two very different aspects. 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:41.280 Yeah, 100%. But it's always good to teach the guys too. 0:19:41.550 --> 0:19:44.669 I've got maintenance guys that knew one end of a 0:19:44.670 --> 0:19:47.730 cow from another when they got here. But certainly learning a lot 0:19:47.730 --> 0:19:50.189 more in terms of nutrition and animal health and that 0:19:50.190 --> 0:19:54.090 sort of stuff. I think we've got about seven or 0:19:54.090 --> 0:19:56.880 eight employees or something up here. But for a small team, 0:19:56.880 --> 0:19:59.820 what we've got here, I do find having everyone have 0:19:59.820 --> 0:20:02.130 as much of an idea about everything as they can 0:20:02.460 --> 0:20:05.070