Despite the challenges facing the agriculture industry in recent years, producers have continued to diversify their businesses by capitalising on emerging opportunities.
For western Queensland cattle and sheep graziers Stephen and Claire Schmidt this meant finding a way to value-add their product.
Purchasing Victoria Hill, Allora, in May last year, the Schmidt family will build a lamb feedlot across three phases, with the capacity to hold almost 16,500 head on completion.
"The feedlot will allow us to value-add our own livestock, as well as buying in from other sheep producers," Mr Schmidt said.
"[We're] trying to be able to control our part of the supply chain and finish our own product, and take a few variables out of the equation."
The first phase of construction will include 31 pens, each with a holding capacity of 200 head.
"Hopefully, towards the end of next year, we'll do a second phase which will be another 21 pens," Mr Schmidt said.
"The third phase will be about another 20 or 25 pens, and our target is to get up to about that 16,500 [head capacity].
"Because we haven't got many sheep out west at the moment, we will try to set up some relationships with sheep producers and livestock agents, and just try to trade at the moment.
"We want to try to talk to as many people as we can and try to build on some markets and offer people another option in their selling."
The Schmidts will look to source animals at about 35 kilograms, feeding them for 60 days on a barley-based ration and offloading them to processors at 55kg.
"We have extensively researched modern and innovative feedlot designs, based on years of advisors' experience, data analysis and the latest technology to maximise profitability," Mr Schmidt said.
"We went down to New South Wales and went through different types of feedlots down there, and we've decided on a fairly standard layout I guess, one fairly similar to a cattle feedlot, with the feed bunks and using a feed mixer.
"Water management is another big thing for sheep so we are going to try and implement some sort of electronic controlled valves for emptying the water troughs."
The feedlot construction comes as the Schmidt family prepares to return their Charleville grazing operation to sheep.
Running Merinos until 2009, when wild dog problems forced them into grazing cattle instead, Mr Schmidt said a recently-completed exclusion fence enclosing almost 53,000 hectares meant they could start bringing sheep back.
"We've got a small number of ewes out there, but we're still finding we're getting a few dogs inside [the fence]," he said.
"We've taken about 150 dogs off that area over the last 18 months, and it's just getting those last three or four pairs left inside our cluster.
"We're probably only six dogs away from becoming a sheep operation again."
Following good summer rain and plenty of pasture growth while it was still warm, Mr Schmidt said they hoped to run about four to 5000 ewes on the property.
