Ben Olive sees a light at the end of the tunnel every day when he leaves his job working in the coal mine at Curragh, in CQ, to head home and live his dream of producing quality black Brangus cattle with his family.
Ben, along with his wife Chelsea, their boys Bailey and Jack and his parents Dennis and Susan, run a primarily Brangus and Droughtmaster commercial breeding operation on 10,000 acres at North Pentwyn, Blackall.
“We have close to 450 breeders at Blackall and another 60 on our 1500 acre home block Ben-Lee at Dingo,” Ben said.
The land at North Pentwyn predominately comprises of Buffel and Gidgee, with the Barcoo River channel running through the “good soft country” providing their main water source.
“We’ve had a couple of good storms recently, so the channel is at a decent level at present, which has put us in a good situation heading into winter,” he said.
The Olive’s have been using Brangus on the Blackall block for seven years, where they cross females with Simmental and Charolais bulls.
“We’re also putting Brangus bulls over our Brangus, Droughtmaster and Grey Brahman maiden heifers.”
Ben said they’ve found the Brangus to be a “good hardy animal, which consistently produce high quality calves, and they handle our dry conditions really well”.
The Olive’s sell their steers at 270kg after they’re weaned off their mothers, to the southern feedlot market.
To improve the quality of the steers they produce, the Olive’s are introducing more poll cattle into the herd.
“We’re aiming to produce a nice heavy poll steer at weaning.
“We have close to a 50 per cent poll herd at present, so we’re trying to only buy poll bulls to help increase that figure.”
To help reach this goal the Olive’s bought two bulls from the Barlow family, Triple B Brangus, Dingo at their on-property sale bulls in 2016.
“We joined these bulls with our Grey Brahman heifers, from which we’ll be getting a mob of weaners in a month or so.
He said he likes the Triple B bulls because they’re “bred tough, handle our dry conditions well, and they aren’t overly done when they sell them”.
Ben went into the mines like his father before him, but said like Dennis, he’s always loved cattle and being in the bush.
“Dad had country around Dingo, which inspired me to purchase a 2000 acre block their in 2005, I’ve since sold that block in 2017 and we purchased North Pentwyn in 2011, which is the best thing I’ve ever done.”
The passion for cattle is set to continue through the third generation of Olive bloodlines, with Ben saying his boys are really keen to get into cattle themselves, when they get older.
He said his hope is to eventually leave behind the mines all together, so he can work his cattle, with his family, while occasionally taking a break with them to go fishing in the Gulf.
