Beef Cattle Farmers
Plan, organise, control, coordinate and perform farming operations to breed and raise beef cattle for meat and breeding stock.
A dry spring on the station
You are a cattle producer on a large station in dry country, with a herd to look after and the next rain nowhere in the forecast. It is early on a warm September morning. The dams are lower than they should be and the feed is thin. Today you have to decide what to do with the herd, and three people are waiting on you.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
Prices for older cows are decent this week. They may drop if everyone starts selling in a drought. I can take a pen of yours to the next sale. Do you want me to list some, or are you waiting for rain?
Wait for rain, because selling now would feel like giving up
The rain does not come for weeks. By the time you sell, everyone else is selling too and the price has dropped, while you have spent weeks feeding stock you could have moved. Hope is not a plan.
Sell most of the herd now to be safe and sort out the rest later
You avoid the feed bills, but you also sell animals you would have wanted to keep. It would take years to rebuild the herd. A sound decision for next week may be a poor one for the next five years.
List the older and weaker animals and keep your best breeders
You get a fair price, reduce the pressure on the paddocks and keep the core of the herd. Selling in a planned way is different from selling in a panic.
The pump on the far bore is not working, and the cattle in that paddock will be out of water by tomorrow. I tried a few things but I do not want to make it worse. What should I do?
Tell him to move the cattle to the near paddock today and fix the pump when you can
The cattle are safe, but the near paddock is already under pressure and the move takes the whole day. It works, though it leaves the pump unsolved and the feed in the near paddock thinner.
Thank him for stopping, move the cattle to water, and call the repairer to help him look
The cattle have water by evening and Tom learns from the repairer how to diagnose it next time. Stopping before making things worse is a good habit on a station.
Tell him to keep trying, because a repairer will take a day to arrive and the cattle cannot wait
He tries something else and the pump breaks further. Now the repair takes longer and costs more. Knowing the limit of your skills matters in remote work.
I have been up half the night worrying about the bank. I think we should just sell everything and walk away for a year. I cannot do another season like the last one.
Agree and decide to sell everything, because he is clearly exhausted
It brings relief for a week, then regret. A decision made when you are both worn out is a hard one to undo. Tiredness is a poor adviser.
Listen, then suggest you both talk to the bank and your adviser this week and decide together
Steve feels heard and the call to the bank turns up more options than you expected. A big decision needs a clear head and good information, and a partner you can lean on.
Tell him to hang on until the rain comes and not to worry
You mean well, but Steve feels dismissed, and a worry that was spoken out loud goes back underground. Support that only reassures does not help much when the problem is real.
How it went
By sundown the herd is planned, the pump is being fixed and you have a list of phone calls for tomorrow. Running a cattle station is part land manager, part animal carer and part business owner, often alone and often far from help. Would that mix suit you?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The dry year and the herd
A fictional case set in a fictional beef cattle station in dry grazing country, in the middle of a long dry spell.
The situation
Robyn Mackay managed a cattle station called Coolibah Downs with her partner Steve. By September, the dams were low and the feed in the back paddocks was thin. The forecast offered no rain for weeks. Their herd was in good condition now, but each week of waiting meant spending more on feed. Selling early would mean breaking up a breeding line that had taken years to build. Neighbours had different views.
What they did
Robyn counted the feed left, checked the water and walked the paddocks with a neighbour who had been through a drought before. She and Steve decided to sell the older cows and the weaker animals first, keep their best breeding females and move the rest to the paddock with the best bore. They told their agent early so they were not selling in a panic, and spoke with their bank manager before things became urgent.
How it turned out
Rain came three months later, later than they had hoped. The herd was smaller, but the core breeding line was intact and the land had not been stripped bare. Robyn said that the hardest part had been deciding early, before it felt necessary.
What would you do?
- Why might it be harder to sell some animals early than to wait?
- Who would you want to talk to before making a big decision like this?
- What does this say about caring for the land as well as the animals?