Cattle under trees nets positive result

The Wright family have been investing in land around Casino for the past 17 years with the aim of garnering a long term investment in timber.

When they appointed Trevor McKenna as livestock manager, his role was more about fire and weed control than beef production.

“Cattle were always part of our business plan,” explained James Wright, who along with brother, Mark, and sister, Wendy design and manage 3350ha of hardwood across 11 properties, of which 450ha is earmarked for planting within the next five years.

At Sextonville, west of Casino, Mr McKenna  is introducing cattle into trees planted almost three years ago, and in a short space of time they are reducing weed and fire load. In fact, with the price of cattle on the make, these beefy eaters are much more than a management tool, ’though they have yet to ‘pay for the place’.

Previous cattle were North Coast ‘red and black’ put to a variety of bulls, running one per 30, and sold as red-taggers at the Casino livestock exchange. Those cattle produced a calf at 75 per cent in a good year, 50 per cent in a bad one, running at one cow and calf per 2-4ha. Mineral supplement at 30g/day was a good investment.

Last year, as prices came off, Mr McKenna, with the full support of the Wright siblings, invested in 300 silver Brahman heifers purchased from Richmond, Bowen and Hughenden, Queensland.

“I wish I bought some more,” said Mr McKenna after calculating the herd was worth another $200 each with the kick in rain-fed prices –  a return of 25 per cent.

“We need Brahman content here,” he continued. “They are good mothers on rough country. They need to forage. Hereford can’t handle the ticks.”

The more these cattle graze under trees the less effect from ticks living among Lantana. Compared to other areas of the Kyogle district, tick pressure at the Sextonville plantation is less than you would expect.

“I reckon if you keep the Lantana and bladey grass down your will reduce the number of Bandicoots,” said Mr Mckenna pointing out the species were handy vectors for tick transmission.

These Brahman heifers now grazing under eucalypts have lately been put to Angus bulls from Medlyn, Lismore and Inglebrae Farms, Tenterfield –  at whose combined sale last August Super Forest Plantations was the volume buyer.

Brahman females, chosen to deal with low protein and pressure from ticks, will take a spell from the ordinary nutrition of pasture under the canopy of trees and will feed on improved country, in rotation, with lab lab and cow peas planted on flats for that purpose. The Brangus progeny, sold as weaners, will be expected to ‘jump into their jackets’ upon finding good backgrounding.

An experiment with broad leafed paspalum shows promising results for the shade tolerant variety. While low in protein it competes against bladey grass and lantana, and with cattle applying pressure the grass creates an excellent ground cover for growing trees. The low level of forage reduces laddering effect, whereby bushfire flames can climb to damaging heights, as in the case with lantana tangles.

“After finding success with this paspalum at the Nimbin property over the past six years, we are going ahead with it in a big way across our other properties,” said Mr Wright.

All cattle are treated every six weeks with pour-on Cydectin and have a 5:1 jab when they first arrive on the property.

Loose lick mineral mix has proven invaluable.  When the Queensland heifers came on property at Sextonville they at first gobbled 16 x 25kg bags per week of the stuff for the first few weeks but now, as they have acclimatised, are back to just one bag per week

The result, as seen already at Sextonville, is the ability to run more cattle.

Prior to forestry the property here, ‘Dunrobin’, ran 300 breeders and today with three year old trees runs the same number of females. Considering the prices of trees over a 35 year rotation equals that for cattle, at an average that includes prices prior to 2015, the idea of running cattle amongst hardwood trees has merit.

It is ironic that such thought still exists, considering that plantation forestry has failed so spectacularly on the North Coast,.

“We are the last ones left standing,” said Mr Wright. “And all those managed investment schemes used to laugh at us.”

Of the properties under trees, the oldest near Nimbin has timber 16 years old with the aim of harvesting at year 35.

The Wright siblings identified unconventional ways of growing trees that worked, like planting a diversity of eucalypt types in the same paddock.

“We found by planting a messmate next to a stringybark, or spotted gum, or red mahogany, we were able to find out which varieties worked where,” explained Mr Wright.

“We found by planting mix of eucalypts, for example Gympie messmate, Iron Bark, Spotted Gum and Grey Gum, that the trees choose what does well where and we thinned out the unsuccessful trees, rather than plant one type of Eucalypt and have failed areas.

Thinned trees, poisoned with 1:1 glyphosate and water applied to the cambrium with an axe, are left at wider spacings than ‘normal’, or 6m x 6m, which allows enough light for broad leafed paspalum.

Now, with a growing line of 300 silver Brahman heifers put to Angus bulls, which are replacing the historic red and black coastal cross, and a planned program of shade-tolerant pasture improvement, there is some excitement in the realisation that beef and timber can work well together.

“This place ran 300 breeders before we took over," said Mr McKenna. "We are now running 300 in-calf heifers among three year old trees and we think we can increase those numbers.”

With a hectare of hardwood equal to the average return on cattle over a 30 year period, farm forestry is an option worth considering –  even if so many ‘ma and pa’ investors lost lifesavings in the last plantation taxation scheme.