Neroli Brennan: This is Seeds for Success, a show where we have
Neroli Brennan: a good yarn about Ag life with producers who are
Neroli Brennan: having a go. On the show, you'll hear from farmers
Neroli Brennan: in New South Wales who are out there battling the elements,
Neroli Brennan: making tough calls, and getting the job done. You'll get
Neroli Brennan: a laugh out of some of their stories and also
Neroli Brennan: pick up some know- how along the way. I'm your
Neroli Brennan: host Neroli Brennan. Today, we are chatting with Annie Scott.
Neroli Brennan: Annie runs her family's 2, 300 hectare property and angus
Neroli Brennan: stud on Karoo between Bathurst and Lithgow. Annie took over
Neroli Brennan: management from her parents in 2008 and formed a partnership
Neroli Brennan: with her father in 2018. In this episode, Annie explains
Neroli Brennan: that their breeding focus is consistent, never- ending improvement with
Neroli Brennan: extensive data collection to produce higher quality animals. Annie also
Neroli Brennan: shares that pasture management is their top priority, where grass
Neroli Brennan: is king, and their grass manager, Gareth, or GM for short,
Neroli Brennan: oversees diverse pasture mixes and uses paddock- specific soil testing
Neroli Brennan: for targeted fertilization rather than broad applications. We also hear
Neroli Brennan: how shifting their calving later in the season to suit
Neroli Brennan: their high- altitude climate between 700 and 1100 meters where grass doesn't
Neroli Brennan: grow for months, and following a structured annual calendar for
Neroli Brennan: winter feed planning, weaning, pregnancy testing, and bull sales has
Neroli Brennan: been one of their keys to success. Local Land Services
Neroli Brennan: Senior Ag Advisor, Lauren Costin, caught up with Annie at
Neroli Brennan: home on Karoo to bring you part one of their two-
Neroli Brennan: part chat.
Lauren Costin: Hey listeners, today I'm with Annie Scott at Karoo at
Lauren Costin: Meadow Flat New South Wales. We're about halfway between Bathurst
Lauren Costin: and Lithgow. And welcome to the Seeds for Success podcast, Annie.
Annie Scott: Thank you.
Lauren Costin: Can you start off by giving us a little bit
Lauren Costin: of an overview of your property here?
Annie Scott: Firstly, thanks for having me. It's a great privilege that
Annie Scott: you want to showcase Karoo today. Just a bit about us,
Annie Scott: I guess. Karoo is a property of about 2, 300 hectares.
Annie Scott: That's just an approximate estimate. Now, enterprise mix, well, most
Annie Scott: people just think we have Angus cattle, but we divide
Annie Scott: that into two enterprises, the stud and the commercial herd.
Annie Scott: And we also have on the side a cropping enterprise,
Annie Scott: which is more the crops that we grow for grazing only.
Annie Scott: With us, succession started later in my dad's life, and
Annie Scott: I've been the business manager of Karoo since 2008 and
Annie Scott: progressively moved on to a formal partnership that started in 2018,
Annie Scott: and that was between John and myself. This, I guess,
Annie Scott: enabled us to make more decisions in regard to the
Annie Scott: management of the farm's long- term projects and the breeding
Annie Scott: decisions in our stud herd then started to be made
Annie Scott: by myself in conjunction always with John, but I guess
Annie Scott: I took a more managerial role. So I guess I
Annie Scott: was doing that, to an extent, beforehand, but I guess
Annie Scott: it's just made it all for more the partnership in 2018.
Lauren Costin: So John's your father?
Annie Scott: John passed away late last year, so things are a
Annie Scott: bit different around Karoo now. So that was how the
Annie Scott: business structure was. So the partnership at the moment is
Annie Scott: still continuing along as normal. That business structure will change
Annie Scott: over time again to then we'll become directors of the
Annie Scott: company and so forth and move on from there. We
Annie Scott: have two permanent employees. We also have my husband, who
Annie Scott: has his own earth moving business, but he's also involved
Annie Scott: in the daily operations of Karoo. Also, my sister is
Annie Scott: becoming an integral part of the business, especially when we
Annie Scott: have events on. She lives in Victoria, but she comes
Annie Scott: up fairly often and helps me when I have big
Annie Scott: events on or we're just busy. She's a great asset
Annie Scott: to have. She's really important to the Karoo business. And
Annie Scott: also one of my brothers is our maintenance manager and
Annie Scott: does our mechanical repairs. We also have our son who
Annie Scott: works off- farm for a rural contractor, which we engage
Annie Scott: to do our fencing and yard work and when we
Annie Scott: have busy times. He does work on farm, but through
Annie Scott: the rural contractor. When we have other contractors that come
Annie Scott: in to fulfill in the gaps that are specialized in
Annie Scott: their field. For example, we have a vet consultant, Hannah,
Annie Scott: from Emerge Ag, who sets out all our animal health
Annie Scott: program for the year. We're situated, like you said, halfway
Annie Scott: between Bathurst and Lithgow. Our altitude is about 1100 meters
Annie Scott: at the front of the farm, but does fall away
Annie Scott: quite significantly down to about 700 meters at the back
Annie Scott: of the farm. Our soil types are basalt to granite soils.
Annie Scott: Basalt up the front in the higher production country and
Annie Scott: granite soils down the back, which makes it really good
Annie Scott: to manage. Because then we have, in the different seasons,
Annie Scott: we can move the cattle around to where the pastures
Annie Scott: are best. And that leads us onto the pastures. We
Annie Scott: have a huge emphasis on our grass. Our established pastures
Annie Scott: include phalaris, clovers, fescue, and cocksfoot, primarily. In our pastures
Annie Scott: that we do now, all those are included, but we
Annie Scott: also include chicory and ryegrass. Livestock, we have 300 stud cows
Annie Scott: and about 700 commercial cows, as well as running 120
Annie Scott: bulls and about 250 yearling heifers and a few other
Annie Scott: bits and pieces that we run here. We don't trade
Annie Scott: cattle. We are solely a self- replacing herd.
Lauren Costin: So if you want to take it back a little bit further,
Lauren Costin: you did cover a bit about the family business and
Lauren Costin: how it's structured now. Do you want to talk about how
Lauren Costin: it started out and I guess how did you get
Lauren Costin: to this point?
Annie Scott: So our family business is really important to us, and
Annie Scott: family is really important to our business. So I guess
Annie Scott: it started out is my dad and mum started this
Annie Scott: business in 1989, started at Karoo. Prior to that, they
Annie Scott: were dairy farmers. And so that's the history of it
Annie Scott: in the sense of how it started out. They were both very successful in their business.
Annie Scott: And most successful people have come from a tougher background,
Annie Scott: and that definitely applies to my father. He was great
Annie Scott: at mentoring me, and I guess, showing the ropes of
Annie Scott: how a business works and operates, but he did come
Annie Scott: from a tougher background, and he definitely taught us how
Annie Scott: to work, so that's a big thing for us. How
Annie Scott: has it evolved to what it is now? And like
Annie Scott: I said, that's purely through hard work. And I also go
Annie Scott: by the mantra, the level of effort that you tolerate from
Annie Scott: yourself will define your life, which puts you in the
Annie Scott: direction of making those one percenters that keeps you successful
Annie Scott: and profitable. So even though I say hard work is important,
Annie Scott: you also got to use a little bit of your
Annie Scott: knowledge and that outside consultancy work to be successful. And
Annie Scott: I think that's how our business has evolved. Because it's a team effort,
Annie Scott: and it's not just our primary workers, it's the people
Annie Scott: around us as well that make us the business that we
Annie Scott: are today. And I think it was through necessity that
Annie Scott: as a successful business, we need to formalize what we
Annie Scott: were doing and to get that structure in place to
Annie Scott: cement the direction in which we wanted to head. And that's, again,
Annie Scott: back to the partnership and the agreement, the formal agreement
Annie Scott: that we have here where Karoo is owned by my
Annie Scott: family company and then the partnership leases Karoo off that company.
Lauren Costin: So even though it's a family business, you're running it
Lauren Costin: as a business-
Annie Scott: Correct.
Lauren Costin: ... structure.
Annie Scott: It's correct.
Lauren Costin: And everyone has their place and knows what's going on
Lauren Costin: kind of thing, formally.
Annie Scott: Correct. Yep, yep. Formally, it's formalized that way. And like I said, previously,
Annie Scott: we have two permanent staff and involve contractors as needed.
Annie Scott: And really another important point that, I guess, I want
Annie Scott: to put out to make our business, the history and
Annie Scott: how it's involved, no one is successful on their own.
Annie Scott: It takes a team and it is also important to
Annie Scott: learn from your low points. The business constantly presents new
Annie Scott: challenges and opportunities, and I guess we'll talk about those
Annie Scott: a bit later on, and new ways to create value.
Annie Scott: And no one succeeds alone. And I love the saying
Annie Scott: that you either win or you learn, and that's really
Annie Scott: important to us. The wins we take and give ourselves
Annie Scott: a pat on the back, but those businesses and structures
Annie Scott: that we put in place that probably didn't quite hit
Annie Scott: the target, we learned from those. So that's important to us.
Lauren Costin: I've been on site here at Karoo a couple of times
Lauren Costin: and we've had some talks and you've definitely pivoted to
Lauren Costin: your consultants and your people that you use in your
Lauren Costin: businesses as critical and you point to them for the
Lauren Costin: technical questions and things like that. I think that's a-
Annie Scott: Correct, correct. They're really important to our business. It is
Annie Scott: really a team effort. While it's a family business, those
Annie Scott: consultants we still consider as family and an integral part
Annie Scott: of our success. They really are.
Lauren Costin: We might pivot a little bit and go into the
Lauren Costin: operational side of things, into the nitty- gritty, and we
Lauren Costin: might talk about livestock. So I'm just going to throw
Lauren Costin: some things out there and see how we go. Around, I guess, your
Lauren Costin: breeding objectives, and is that a core thing in your business
Lauren Costin: that you look at or is it secondary or how
Lauren Costin: does it fit in?
Annie Scott: Ah no, the breeding objectives are probably one of our main objectives,
Annie Scott: and our main mantra that we go by is consistent, never-
Annie Scott: ending improvement. We just like to be consistent but improve
Annie Scott: as we go along. We're not great risk- takers, I
Annie Scott: have to say that. But we do try and improve year- on-
Annie Scott: year on what we're breeding. So basically an animal, what
Annie Scott: we want, is an animal that can target a number
Annie Scott: of markets because our clients are not, some targeting the
Annie Scott: market that we are. There's obviously a number of markets out there
Annie Scott: that our clients target. That's especially with the bulls that
Annie Scott: we offer. And we want an animal that is fertile
Annie Scott: and functional. And also high growth is probably our specialty
Annie Scott: as we need to get our commercial weaners off at
Annie Scott: eight months. And we put them into The Blue Ribbon
Annie Scott: Weaner sale at Carcoar each year. And we were lucky enough this
Annie Scott: year to win Best Presented Pen of Steers, and that
Annie Scott: pen of 94 steers averaged around 370 kilos off their mother,
Annie Scott: so we're very happy with those. And I think that
Annie Scott: was a great award to win. And, I guess, justifies
Annie Scott: what we're doing back here on farm.
Lauren Costin: So you obviously focus on both sides of the business,
Lauren Costin: like the stud side, but then your commercial side's really
Lauren Costin: important to-
Annie Scott: The commercial side is our bread and butter, and that's where,
Annie Scott: I guess, most of the decisions are made to help
Annie Scott: that commercial herd improve each year. And it takes up
Annie Scott: the majority of our hectares, really. It's our bread and butter.
Annie Scott: And the stud operation, in terms of breeding objectives, our
Annie Scott: main objectives is to produce that bull that we can
Annie Scott: sell at two years old. Some we do sell. They're
Annie Scott: about 20 bulls as yearlings, but the majority of our
Annie Scott: sale bulls are rising two- year- olds. And with those, it is a ...
Annie Scott: to get that bull that's got the phenotype. And also if
Annie Scott: you want to get into the breeding objectives of numbers,
Annie Scott: we've got to have good calving ease, fertile growth, carcass
Annie Scott: traits and including an injection, hopefully, of high IMF in
Annie Scott: those bulls to get out into commercial herds.
Lauren Costin: So what are the main strategies for meeting those goals?
Lauren Costin: Do you collect a lot of data in your business?
Annie Scott: We collect heaps of data. So the data we collect, well,
Annie Scott: first start is birth weight. When we tag the calves,
Annie Scott: this is in the stud herd. We collect birth weight, 200, 400, and 600- day weights.
Annie Scott: We scan our cattle for EMA, fat, and IMF. We
Annie Scott: do docility. We also do scrotal measurements, and we also
Annie Scott: do genomics on all our stud cattle now as well.
Annie Scott: So we pump as much raw data into the system
Annie Scott: as we can so we can get the most reliable
Annie Scott: EBVs back from TACE. And I guess the strategy for
Annie Scott: meeting those goals is another saying that I like to say is well
Annie Scott: done is better than well said. So basically don't talk
Annie Scott: about it, just do it. And that's a mantra of ours,
Annie Scott: just get in and do it and get the job done, just make things happen.
Annie Scott: But in saying that, I also like to be a learner, and you
Annie Scott: can never lose if you take a useful lesson away
Annie Scott: from a situation and that leads to a practice change.
Annie Scott: So I guess while we like to do those things,
Annie Scott: if something comes along that is another tool that we
Annie Scott: could use in our toolbox to improve our breeding objectives,
Annie Scott: we're aligned to that too. We're always open to new things.
Lauren Costin: Are you finding that a lot of your clients are
Lauren Costin: asking for that data and they're hungry for that or
Lauren Costin: do they still rely on property and having a look?
Annie Scott: It's still on property, but the data that you can
Annie Scott: provide for them, you see them come with their catalogs
Annie Scott: and their catalogs are highlighted in all different colors, and
Annie Scott: red pen and black pen everywhere. The other thing that
Annie Scott: we do, also do is structural assessment. We get someone
Annie Scott: into structurally assess our sale bulls. So basically what we're
Annie Scott: trying to do is we're trying to guarantee our product to the best that we
Annie Scott: can before it leaves the gate so that leaves us
Annie Scott: less open to problems down the track. I'm not saying
Annie Scott: we're perfect, but I think what we're doing is probably
Annie Scott: what makes us as successful as what we are.
Lauren Costin: And I guess following on from that, then, marketing. Like, hey,
Lauren Costin: going in that space and what's your strategies there?
Annie Scott: So marketing's a hard one for us. I'm not one
Annie Scott: to blow our own trumpet, so I have another person
Annie Scott: that's on our team come in and do that, and
Annie Scott: her name is Fee, and she's from Hammer and Fields,
Annie Scott: and she's just a bomb at doing our socials. She
Annie Scott: started our socials probably around this time last year, and
Annie Scott: we have nearly tripled our audience in that space, and
Annie Scott: we get favorable comments on all our socials about how
Annie Scott: well professionally it is presented and the content of it.
Annie Scott: So Fee comes here probably once a month, strolls around,
Annie Scott: takes her content that she needs to for that day,
Annie Scott: or if we're doing something in the yards or something
Annie Scott: that's a bit left of center, I'll send her a
Annie Scott: few photos of what we're doing for the day. She's
Annie Scott: always at me for stuff for behind the scenes to do,
Annie Scott: so we do that. It's just marketing I think has
Annie Scott: become a very important tool to get a positive message
Annie Scott: out to the wider industry and to those that are
Annie Scott: interested in our industry in the Ag space. So she
Annie Scott: does that for us. She's exceptional at what she does.
Annie Scott: And this, again, goes to what I was saying before,
Annie Scott: it takes a team to succeed. We also engage Brett
Annie Scott: from Signature Ag Marketing to do our print media for
Annie Scott: our upcoming bull sale. So the stuff at the Land,
Annie Scott: Beef Central, all that, Brett organizes our space in that
Annie Scott: and does our ads for us for that as well.
Annie Scott: So between those two people, that's our marketing. In the
Annie Scott: sense of where we target, well, we try and target
Annie Scott: our commercial cattle and our steers and our heifers, they
Annie Scott: pretty much will speak for themselves. They are highly sought after,
Annie Scott: so not real hard to sell there. And then we
Annie Scott: target with our bulls. We primarily sell our bulls to
Annie Scott: a local area, probably within a 200 or 300 kilometer radius. But
Annie Scott: in saying that, I've sold bulls to every state and
Annie Scott: territory except for the Northern Territory in Australia. So we're
Annie Scott: fairly well known throughout the industry, and our cattle pretty
Annie Scott: much will speak for ourselves. I guess that's my marketing,
Annie Scott: which I've had the little blinkers on for that. And
Annie Scott: that's when Fee came in last year and said, " I
Annie Scott: think you need to wake up and you need to
Annie Scott: get out there and promote yourself a bit more," which
Annie Scott: is doing a great job of.
Lauren Costin: So back into the nitty- gritty. Calendar of operations, what's your
Lauren Costin: cycle like annually?
Annie Scott: So there's always something going on. There's never a dull
Annie Scott: day at Karoo's. But I guess as a summary, February is busy
Annie Scott: with Gareth planning our winter feed.
Lauren Costin: So here's your pastures man.
Annie Scott: Yeah, he's our pastures man. We talk about him a
Annie Scott: bit later on, get onto pastures, but he's our grass manager.
Annie Scott: He's our GM, we call him. He's our grass manager.
Annie Scott: So February is busy with him planning our winter feed.
Annie Scott: Then we move on to March, I guess, is our
Annie Scott: weaning and our sale of our commercial steers and our
Annie Scott: excess females. The excess females that we sell are usually
Annie Scott: those that are under 300 kilos. That's our first process
Annie Scott: of seeing which heifers we keep and which heifers we
Annie Scott: sell in the commercial herd. That's our first indicator. So if
Annie Scott: they're under three kilos, they go at weaning time. And
Annie Scott: then April is preg testing. June is busy with AI
Annie Scott: of our autumn stud cows and heifers. Also scanning of our
Annie Scott: sale bulls. Semen testing of our sale bulls is in June as well. July, I
Annie Scott: guess we start calving, both the stud and commercial herd.
Annie Scott: August is bull sale month, so that's a really, really
Annie Scott: big month for us to get ready for the bull sale.
Annie Scott: In our commercial herd, in September, the bulls go out.
Annie Scott: In October, we start spraying out paddocks that will be
Annie Scott: cropped the following year and breeding our stud cattle. November
Annie Scott: is weaning the autumn stud calves. And, I guess, that's a quick overview,
Annie Scott: but we've always got something going on.
Lauren Costin: How are you finding this season this year where, what,
Lauren Costin: are we middle of May now, it looks like there's
Lauren Costin: a bit of feed around at the moment.
Annie Scott: Yeah, it's not too bad. It's probably getting a bit too
Annie Scott: cold for us to grow any grass. But our crops,
Annie Scott: we were lucky enough with Gareth and the way he managed it
Annie Scott: that we've got all our young stock on crop at
Annie Scott: the minute, whether that be wheat. We've got paddocks of wheat,
Annie Scott: grazing wheat, and the rest is oats and ryegrass. So
Annie Scott: we're lucky that way that the young cattle and bulls
Annie Scott: are on crop at the minute, so they're looking really well. Commercial
Annie Scott: cattle are just dry at the minute, so they're out in the
Annie Scott: bush and feeding for themselves. And it'll just gets a
Annie Scott: bit tricky now this time of the year to start
Annie Scott: managing our autumn calving cows, which is only a portion
Annie Scott: of our stud herd. We only calve in the autumn.
Annie Scott: Just gets a bit tricky managing them with the lack
Annie Scott: of growth in the grass and a few issues with
Annie Scott: grass technique that comes round, but we manage that the
Annie Scott: best we can.
Lauren Costin: Because around, I guess, Meadow flat, and what do you say,
Lauren Costin: 1100 at the highest point, it's quite a high altitude
Lauren Costin: there and bit of a cool winter.
Annie Scott: Yes. Yes, no, well, I think winter's fairly well upon
Annie Scott: us if you look about today. But it is cold.
Annie Scott: It's a cold temperate climate. I like it because it
Annie Scott: definitely has the four distinct seasons that we have, but
Annie Scott: where we are does make it a bit tricky in
Annie Scott: the sense that our autumn and winter are probably a
Annie Scott: bit longer than most. We won't get grass growth now
Annie Scott: until about probably middle of September, so it will really start to
Annie Scott: fire along. But yeah, it's a good climate to be
Annie Scott: in and it's somewhere that ... We've been here for 30 years,
Annie Scott: or over 30 years now, and I guess we know what we're up against as
Annie Scott: the seasons progress and change and we'll manage that the best
Annie Scott: we can.
Lauren Costin: And have you set up your calendar operations to meet that
Lauren Costin: sort of environment, then to grow?
Annie Scott: Correct. Yeah, correct. So that's why we calve a bit later. We calve July, August,
Annie Scott: but generally towards the end of July. And our main
Annie Scott: carving month is August, a few into September, but we
Annie Scott: carve a bit later than others around because we just
Annie Scott: want to prevent that or lessen that grass technique issue.
Annie Scott: We'll never ever get rid of it, but it's an
Annie Scott: issue that is big for us in this Tablelands area.
Lauren Costin: I think we've segued beautifully into the pastures section.
Annie Scott: Into pastures. As I said, Gareth is our GM. He's our
Annie Scott: grass manager, so I guess-
Lauren Costin: I do enjoy watching your pastures from the roadside.
Annie Scott: Well-
Lauren Costin: Always good to see what you guys are up to.
Annie Scott: ... Gareth does a good job on that. So I guess our pasture types,
Annie Scott: we place a great emphasis on our pastures as they're
Annie Scott: the number one thing that determines our success. Because if
Annie Scott: we don't have good pastures, we can't get that weight gain.
Annie Scott: We don't have cattle that are healthy, shiny. It's just
Annie Scott: something that we really, really need to be our number
Annie Scott: one focus. So when we're doing new pasture, it consists
Annie Scott: of a mixture similar to forefront perennial ryegrass, hummer fescue,
Annie Scott: prairie grass, choice chicory, and a few clovers like arrowleaf, coolamon,
Annie Scott: and sub, and also a bit of brace white clover
Annie Scott: in there as well. That's our energy or our go-
Annie Scott: to mix that really suits all our types of livestock
Annie Scott: and categories of livestock. So it's something that we just
Annie Scott: have something in similar to that in each paddock that
Annie Scott: we regenerate. So it also helps with cattle if when
Annie Scott: we're moving them from paddock to paddock, they're not having
Annie Scott: to change their gut system to focus or align with
Annie Scott: something else. The consistency makes it important for us as
Annie Scott: we move cattle around.
Lauren Costin: How long do those, like your perennial pastures, how long
Lauren Costin: do they last for in your system?
Annie Scott: If we look after them well enough probably around that 20 to 25
Annie Scott: year mark. And by that time, I guess, it's just
Annie Scott: like anything, there's always something better. So there's a better
Annie Scott: variety of the chicory. There might be a better variety
Annie Scott: of the ryegrass that we use and they've run their
Annie Scott: course in that 20, 25 years. A paddock gets a bit tired.
Lauren Costin: So you're applying fertilizer during each year, or?
Annie Scott: I, also, as part of our team, we also have
Annie Scott: a consult agronomist. Gareth is an agronomist by trade anyway,
Annie Scott: but we also have an outside agronomist that comes in. Which,
Annie Scott: they're good. They really bounce ideas off each other really well.
Annie Scott: So it does help to have those people on board,
Annie Scott: but we always did a fertilizer program prior to them
Annie Scott: coming on board. But I guess what's changed, and this
Annie Scott: is part of the improvement that you get from outside consultants,
Annie Scott: what's changed is we've done a lot of soil testing
Annie Scott: and we soil tested the whole place. So now fertilizer
Annie Scott: lime goes on those soil test results, so it's paddock-
Annie Scott: based now. So that even goes down to how many
Annie Scott: kilos of fertilizer lime we put on each paddock. That
Annie Scott: changes for each paddock or an area of the farm
Annie Scott: that we focus on for that particularly. But every year
Annie Scott: the farm gets fertilized. And then on top of that,
Annie Scott: if funds allow, then we do go into that liming
Annie Scott: program or that chicken manure program or whatever we think
Annie Scott: we can do to better the pastures and the quality
Annie Scott: of pasture that we get out, plus the matter of
Annie Scott: the increase in dry matter per hectare that we can
Annie Scott: make the farm work. The farm's got to work for us,
Annie Scott: otherwise we don't have a successful business. And like I said, pasture's number
Annie Scott: one in making that business work.
Lauren Costin: And I think having those soil tests that's information on
Lauren Costin: that paddock there and then they're not that expensive soil test-
Annie Scott: No.
Lauren Costin: ... compared to just broad spectrum.
Annie Scott: That's right. And that's where you throw out your fertilizer,
Annie Scott: your old single super like we did 10 years ago. Then, sure,
Annie Scott: that's fine. You get a result from that. But if
Annie Scott: we can apply it to each paddock specifically and apply
Annie Scott: the right nutrients to that paddock, that gives us the
Annie Scott: extra grass growth, and I guess that stops us from
Annie Scott: having to feed out and the time and the money
Annie Scott: that that costs. We'd rather put the money into getting
Annie Scott: it right in the first place and trying to avoid ...
Annie Scott: I'm not saying that we avoid feeding altogether, like our
Annie Scott: climate doesn't allow us, we have to feed during winter
Annie Scott: at times, and especially when we start calving, and our
Annie Scott: autumn calving cows, they do take a bit more feed
Annie Scott: than spring calving cows, but that's just for the bull
Annie Scott: program that we operate that we have to have those.
Annie Scott: So that's what we do with our pastures, and I
Annie Scott: think it's a really important point to point out that
Annie Scott: it is paddock- based and it is something that we
Annie Scott: really focus on throughout the year.
Lauren Costin: Do you have goals for those individual paddocks then as
Lauren Costin: well or, in terms of the, I guess you've planted
Lauren Costin: it at, say, year one and you've got a certain
Lauren Costin: ratio of those different species, and then over time selection
Lauren Costin: of grazing and things might change your components of legumes
Lauren Costin: and grasses and things like that. Do you monitor that and
Lauren Costin: just check it or am I getting a bit nitty- gritty?
Annie Scott: No, no, no, you're right. No, no, no, no. We
Annie Scott: do monitor, and I guess monitoring the sense of eye appeal,
Annie Scott: like we do, but the best thing to tell us
Annie Scott: whether we are doing the right or wrong thing is
Annie Scott: the animals pick and choose different grasses and species and
Annie Scott: then that makes us fine tune what we're doing. We
Annie Scott: found that they love the chicory, and we've got a
Annie Scott: couple of paddocks here where it's actually, we've let itself seed,
Annie Scott: and it is actually becoming quite prominent within the paddock,
Annie Scott: so it's probably overtaking it a little bit. But we
Annie Scott: love it. They love it. So it's great. It takes
Annie Scott: a bit for us to get over the fact of
Annie Scott: looking at it, that it's not a broadleaf weed, as
Annie Scott: we do have problems with broadleaf weeds. So we, first
Annie Scott: few years, we were just having trouble with that, but
Annie Scott: now we just love it. It's a great feed. And
Annie Scott: if things are a bit tight, there's a couple of
Annie Scott: paddocks that we've got that we actually put the bulls on.
Annie Scott: If we've had a bit of a tight year and
Annie Scott: we can't put them on the oats because there's not enough
Annie Scott: oats for them, we put them on a couple of
Annie Scott: these paddocks and they just do pretty much as well
Annie Scott: on this because it's highly chicory- based pasture.
Lauren Costin: So I guess on those weeds, do you have any
Lauren Costin: big challenging weed problems?
Annie Scott: We have a few weed problems, and our main challenge
Annie Scott: is a couple of weeds in Paterson's curse, fleabane, and
Annie Scott: just broadleaf weeds in general. We have, and particularly in
Annie Scott: our granite country, not so much in our basalt country,
Annie Scott: but particularly in our granite country, it's a difficult or
Annie Scott: tricky soil to manage.
Lauren Costin: Is it because of the ground cover?
Annie Scott: Yeah, it is. Probably a ground cover because it's harder
Annie Scott: ground and it's harder to get your pastures established to
Annie Scott: the extent that we need them established. So it is
Annie Scott: that the species aren't, or that there's just not that
Annie Scott: ground cover there to outcompete the weeds. So that is
Annie Scott: a bit of a problem, but just like anything, you
Annie Scott: have to manage it and-
Lauren Costin: Put the GM onto it.
Annie Scott: Yeah, put the GM onto it, and he gets his
Annie Scott: spray rig out and away he goes. But the pastures
Annie Scott: are what makes us and the high performing cattle, and
Annie Scott: like I said, the cattle lets you know when some
Annie Scott: paddocks are not performing the way that you need them
Annie Scott: to and they need some attention. And then with weeds,
Annie Scott: I guess another weed that we have trouble with is
Annie Scott: Chilean needle grass, and it's found along our creeks and waterways,
Annie Scott: and it's pretty hard to get rid of. We try
Annie Scott: and heavily graze it. If we can't do that, we
Annie Scott: try and keep it at bay. It doesn't spread too
Annie Scott: far from the creeks and waterways that we've got here,
Annie Scott: but if it's in a paddock that we're regenerating, then
Annie Scott: obviously it gets sprayed out and that's how we control
Annie Scott: it then. So they're probably our main weeds or so
Annie Scott: you just have other weeds come up, temporary, like thistles
Annie Scott: and things like that, but we've got them fairly well
Annie Scott: under control now. Other weeds like blackberries and things like that,
Annie Scott: we have a program. We have someone come in and
Annie Scott: spray those each year and try and keep them at
Annie Scott: bay too. Also, probably tussocks is another one that we're
Annie Scott: just getting on top of at the moment. They've probably got away a little
Annie Scott: bit on us with a couple of wet years that
Annie Scott: we've had, but yeah, we're getting on top of them
Annie Scott: this year and we'll have them under control again. So
Annie Scott: spraying and getting on top of our weeds is integral
Annie Scott: to our success too.
Lauren Costin: Especially keeping those pastures long- term.
Annie Scott: That's it. That's right. And like I said, pastures is our king,
Annie Scott: and we need to look after them.
Lauren Costin: I might do a bit of a selfless, I don't
Lauren Costin: know if it's selfless, more selfish, plug on the New
Lauren Costin: South Wales WeedWise app. That's always a handy source for weeds
Lauren Costin: if you want to have a look at how to
Lauren Costin: identify and then the impact that they could potentially have
Lauren Costin: on your biosecurity duty, but also some control options and
Lauren Costin: outlines your chemicals. So download that app if you want
Lauren Costin: to have a bit more info on any of those
Lauren Costin: weeds or any weeds that you think you've got on your place
Lauren Costin: as well.
Neroli Brennan: Thanks for listening to part one of our two- part conversation.
Neroli Brennan: If you've enjoyed it as much as we did, you
Neroli Brennan: can catch the rest of this chat in our next episode.
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