Innovative young couple Aaron and Sarah Slattery have so much enthusiasm for producing quality beef and it is nothing short of infectious.
The energetic young couple manage the large scale Chinchilla district property Auburn Station, and it is clearly evident there isn't anywhere else in the world they would rather be.
The Slatterys took over the management of the property two years ago, when it was bought by southern based Lawndock Pastoral Company principal Ron Winestock and the first task for the couple was to set about stocking it.
According to Aaron, to stock the country they bought Brahman, Brahman cross, and British-bred breeders, from many parts of southern Queensland and northern NSW.
In all, about 95pc of breeders had calves at foot and the balance were in-calf.
"Now with those calves moved through the system, we can put our stamp on production, and join our breeders to Angus, Santa Gertrudis Angus composite bulls," Aaron said.
"We are really aiming to produce ‘a flat back’ British and Bos Indcius cross calf, that attracts a premium over the hooks targeting the Coles MSA grid.
"About 80 percent of our turn-off is achieving the Coles market, with the balance to to achieve 100 per cent by the end of this year.”
Auburn Station consists of 11,400 hectares, and is situated 100km due north of Chinchilla, with similar distances to Mundubbera, Wandoan, and Taroom.
The country runs from forestry country with the balance having double frontage to the Auburn River.
"Water is definitely a feature on the property and the country is watered by 43 troughs pumped from a bore, and 10 dams," Arron said.
"The Auburn River country is much sweeter and is improved country.”
Some 4149ha has been blade ploughed and improved to buffel and blue grass, with a lot of hard work carried out by previous owner, Rawdon Briggs.
A management plan is in place to develop more country for growing sorghum to cut and bale for silage, along with winter oats.
The couple join 1410 breeders all year to continually harvest the calves.
"We muster five times throughout the year, and are continually weaning, and pregnancy testing," Aaron said.
Aaron cut his teeth in the Kimberleys and Northern Territory for some 14 years, and carries out all the pregnancy testing and spaying of cows.
"We will spay any females aged 10 years or more and have a calf-at-foot. They will go back out with the mob and culled in the next muster. All culled cows once they have reared their calf, and empty heifers are backgrounded and sold.
At each muster all calves are branded and injected with Dectomax Injectable for internal and external parasites and ticks.
"As we live on the tick-line we treat every animal as required by our biosecuity obligations,” he said.
The couple place a strong emphasis on desensitising their cattle using the low stress cattle handling methods.
All calves are weaned at between seven to nine months, and it is from here their education and feeding regime starts.
"We educate them through the yards for three to five days feeding them a hay and sweet feed based ration. We work our weaners with Bordier Collies to desensitise them, and take the flight and fear out of them,," Aaron said.
“This makes them a healthier and stress free animal to assist them in gaining weight. This also educates them to feed from a bin or a trough for later in life.
“By the time they are turned out they follow me with the assistance of my dogs.”
"These weaners are then moved into the weaner paddocks, where we continue to feed a Top Country ration, and invest between 27 cents a day/head on lick through the winter months.
"It equates back to about $40/head over 150 days, and certainly puts them on an upward plane of nutrition.”
Once the warmer months arrive, all steers and heifers are placed into fresh paddocks of improved buffel, blue grass and a variety of legumes.
All cattle are finished for the Coles market, in a paddock assisted feedlot environment. They are finished in four paddocks consisting of 66ha that can run 100 head at a time.
In the past two years, they couple have split all breeder paddocks in half for ease of tick management.
As well, six paddocks have been sub-divided into 290ha paddocks on the better country for backgrounding, which totaled about 50km of fencing.
“With the way the cattle market is sitting at the moment we can re-invest and add value back into our own product and country.”