Roma beef producer Chris Skelton's switch from breeders to backgrounding

Mr Skelton operates five properties in the south west, the 12,500 hectares Wanganui between Surat and St George, Kintilloch and Sunnybrea stretching 7200 hectares together outside of Roma, and Striling and Isoroy at Tambo making up 18,200 hectares.

Up until five years ago Mr Skelton had Droughtmaster breeders and offloaded weaner progeny.

But the seasons were too difficult to be locked into a breeding program and he turned his focus to backgrounding selling off his cows.

Now, he has about 8000 head of cattle, mostly steers, purchased from cattle sales across Queensland, including Toowoomba, Dalby, Roma, Blackall and also through AuctionsPlus.

In the next one to two years he hopes to have increased his numbers to 10,000 head, either through agistment or further land acquisition.

It’s quite a step for a man who once started out shearing sheep and building a goat enterprise to get his start in the beef game. 

“We just used to muster feral goats so then instead of selling the females we started holding onto the females and selling the billy goats and tried to build up an enterprise out of that,” he said.

“We sort of got up to 4000 to 5000 females there at one point. Sheep were worth about $20 a head when we came here (St George, traditionally sheep country) so goats were a good sideline business. 

“I hear young people go, ‘Oh it’s so hard in the rural industry’, but just get out and have a go and make it work.”

In a good season, Mr Skelton will truck his purchased cattle to the Tambo blocks with the aim of putting another 120kg on them.

They are then sent to St George for a further 100kg weight gain and sold direct to feedlots.

While for many, including Mr Skelton, the dry winter this year was a challenge, it provided the perfect opportunity for his backgrounding operation.

“You have got to find the opportunities and there were a lot of light weaners around this year because it was so dry,” he said.

“So I probably turned most of my cattle over this year and have just been able to buy little light calves under 200kg.

“Instead of trying to turn around in three or four months and make money on them I just hang on to them for a lot longer which you just need more country to be able to do that.”

Mr Skleton has recently laid a slab for their cotton seed storage and purchased trailers to lessen wastage when feeding during the winter months. 

Much of the properties have required clearing with Mr Skelton opting to pull and burn the country.