WHEN Peter and Jan Milne first moved onto their property “Caterpillar Park”, at Gritjurk, in the rolling hills of the far Western District, there was nothing there.
Now, the place is a hive of activity, including an earthmoving business, cattle and sheep enterprises and farm contracting business, incorporating spraying and baling.
The family business, including Peter and Jan and sons Jim and Paddy is made up of autonomous business units, all tied together under one loaning system.
“Paddy and I work a bit closer together, Jim has an off-farm job with Iluka, he also has a farm and works in with us under the credit umbrellla, but he is one farm entity and we are another,” Peter said.
“It works in that we do our own thing, but are all linked in together.”
He said the greatest advantage of the banking system they had set up with the Commonwealth Bank was ease which they could get pre-approved finance on the spot.
“If I’m looking to get some machinery, we just have to go through the one process.
“It’s come in very handy already,” Paddy said.
“Last year, one of the balers broke down, and we were able to get our hands on a new one quickly.
“When you’re working with something time-specific like the baling season, you don’t have the time to wait around, it has to be done when it has to be done.”
Peter said he had been involved in earthmoving since the 1960s.
The majority of the work, between 80-90pc is agricultural, and the rest is civil.
“We do a lot of leveling, putting in drains and dams and construction work, such as farm shed sites.”
On the civil side, they are involved in road construction and urban developments.
The earthmoving business involves around 20 pieces of machinery, including bulldozers, scrapers, excavators, bobcats and trucks.
“It’s a fairly capital intensive business, having to have all the gear, so its good to have this umbrella credit limit to help us manage things in a flexible manner,” Peter said.
In recent years, the family has pushed hard to expand its farming enterprise, which includes around 8000 Merinos and 1000 Merino- Poll Dorset crossbreds, and 500 beef cattle.
The earthmoving business has complemented this nicely, allowing improvements to be made.
With the help of the earthmoving equipment, they were able to make some changes to land they had purchased including putting in gravel laneways suitable for accessing the steep hillsides, and installing dams and piping systems.
“The laneways have been brilliant in getting the livestock to run through more efficiently,” Peter said.
He said a couple of strategically located ‘turkey nest’ elevated dams were used to gravity feed water to a maximum number of paddocks.
On a block ran by Paddy, nine kilometres away, it is possible to monitor 17 cattle troughs, fed from the turkey nest dam from an internal lane system.
“It’s about making the most of your resources,” Peter said.
Working with the topography is also important in the hilly area.
Paddocks are formed according to contours, and with the view of allowing water to be piped or run most efficiently.
Ensuring erosion is minimised is also crucial.
“You’ve got to watch out for erosion, and that’s why there are plenty of shelter belts and the paddocks are formed the way they are.
Peter said he believed when purchasing blocks it was crucial to get any improvements done immediately.
“We believe its best to lend a little more than the land and get the fences and improvements in that you want straight away.”
Paddy said the working seasons meant there was a natural fit between the businesses.
“When you’re not busy on the farm, there’s plenty of earthmoving business and vice-versa.”
He said the farm contracting business was building up, utilising contacts from the earthmoving business.
He now does contract tillage, spraying and baling
The family also grows its own crops for stockfeed, but feels the area is not suitable for a full-on assault into grain production.
“It can get a little wet down here,” Paddy said.
An interesting sideline is a gravel pit, ran out of Paddy’s block.
The gravel is sold for use in road construction.
“With all these things going on, you can see we’re pretty busy all the time,” Peter said.
