Calliope cattleman uses 'tried and true' methods

But clearly, if you see what prices his cattle get when they're put up for sale at the Miriam Vale saleyards, those 'tried and true' methods appear to be paying off.

Growing up on a cattle property, Moolboolaman, at Gin Gin, Mr Elliot is no stranger to the beef industry, but he is also a qualified chemical engineer and until his sixties owned and managed a construction company with his wife, Jenny.

Trading as MJ and JM Elliot, the couple own four properties - Koombooyana, Calliope, where they live which is 350 acres, Taragoola, Calliope, (1050 acres), Larcom Creek, Mount Larcom, (500 acres) and a 60 acre ex-pineapple farm near Yeppoon.

Mr Elliot said his father, Phillip, had a champion poll Hereford stud and and when he bought Koombooyana in 1970 he started off with Herefords.

"I was probably the only bloke ever allowed to buy Hereford heifer breeders from Dick Wilson at Calliope Station and I continued with Herefords for a number of years, but because of the tick problem in this part of the world I changed to Brafords," he said.

"I had Braford cattle for many, many years buying registered stud Braford bulls through sales from a number of registered studs until about eight to 10 years ago when we started to get problems with prolapse and calving difficulties which appeared to be a genetic problem coming into the Braford breeding herd.

"So after discussion with a number of people, I changed to Droughtmasters and have been with them ever since."

Mr Elliot said Droughtmasters had the ability to withstand a lot of the pressures of the climate in this part of the world and tick problems and those attributes were sought after by buyers at the Miriam Vale cattle sales.

"But they still present as an animal that's soft enough - a straight backed type animal - to go into feedlots and produce high quality meat," he said.

"In this part of the world, you will find the Droughtmaster pound for pound will always outsell the straight Brahmans.

"And while the straight Brahmans are more suited to the northern and hotter areas and also the live cattle trade, I believe the Droughtmaster is a far better animal for the feedlots and meat industry within Australia."

Mr Elliot said across the three larger properties he ran 250 breeders plus progeny and about 150 yearlings.

"I have a whole lot of heifers down on Taragoola and I will grow them out until they're between 18-20 months and select the replacement breeders out them and sell the culls," he said.

"I don't like to have a cow calve until she's three years old or around there to give them time to develop a decent frame and bone structure."

Mr Elliot said he also did not cull his cows once they reached the 10-year mark like a lot of producers.

"I keep them going as long as I feel the cow is capable of supporting herself and the calf - I don't cull at 10 year old as many people do, I've got cows out there that are 12, 13 and 14 year-old that are perfectly capable of calving no problems at all," he said.

"That way they produce a very quiet calf that is much more respectful of our management than calves from young heifers."

With his bulls, Mr Elliot runs a registered stud Droughtmaster bull to every 30 head and leaves them in all year round.

"I used to pull them out, but my problem is when you've got 200 weaners in one go...as you get older it's pretty hard to handle so...I tend to wean in lots of 30 or 40 most at a time - so I am weaning regularly every couple of months," he said.

"Each bull has his own paddock and when I brand, the positioning of the date numeral, the number under my brand, determines which property they're on - Calliope or Taragoola or Larcom Creek - and the bulls stay where they are, but if a calf is breed on Calliope it can't go to a bull at Calliope it will have to go one of the other two properties and that's all done by the date stamp and the ear tag.

"The cows will be between 26 or 28 months until I put them out - up until that time they will be held in the heifer paddock away from the bulls."

The three main properties are typical coastal country - all Bluegum and Ironbark. Calliope is cleared because it was a dairy farm when the Elliots bought it while Taragoola is being cleared of lantana and rubber vine.

At Larcom Creek as well as the other weeds, they also have to contend with giant rat's tail grass.

Between the three properties, there are more than 20 paddocks which Mr Elliot started using on a rotational grazing basis about 10 years ago.

Currently, the Elliots turn off about 160 head a year, but Mr Elliot expects that to rise to about 220 head in the next 12 months if they get good rain.

And, as part of his management program, cattle chosen for sale are finished in a forage sorghum crop.

"I wouldn't say I fatten them, I top them out, I give them a bit of a hit (of feed)," Mr Elliot said.

Over the years, Mr Elliot has also been progressively improving the pasture on each property.

"All of Calliope and Larcom Creek and we're progressing on Taragoola have been deep ripped and planted with improved pasture predominately Callide Rhodes, Bisset creeping bluegrass, Seca stylo and Wynn Cassia.

"I chose those varieties because they have the best longevity in this part of the world. I do have other mixes as I am always trying others, but they're the predominate ones."

With the country deficient in phosphate, Mr Elliot all provides lick all year round to improve growth and help the cows produce milk to feed the calves.

The molasses based lick is from Gain Industries and contains urea, phosphate and many other minerals including copper and selenium.

Happy to describe himself as old fashioned at 81, Mr Elliot said his future plan was to keep working with his cattle and keep everything going on the properties.

"Everyone says 'when are you going to retire'. I have retired because retirement is doing what you want to do not what you have to do and I am doing what I want to do and that's work with my cattle," he said.