GARY and Jan Mason said cell grazing on their 50-hectare property in Longwarry North has been the most efficient way to manage grass growth, and keep their herd of Hereford cattle well-fed.
“With cell grazing, you get the maximum benefit out of the grass you’ve got, and you’ve always got grass in front of you,” Mr Mason said.
“We’ve got 26 paddocks, and we rotate them around all the time, usually every four to five days, and it gives you a constant supply of new grass.”
He said the grass grows quicker because it’s not being touched for significant amounts of time.
“It’s like your lawn at home, you mow it, and it grows straight away, because you’re not mowing it again, but if you mowed your lawn every day, it wouldn’t grow,” he said.
“We take the cattle off, harrow the paddocks straight away, and the cows might not get back to that same paddock for another 10 weeks."
Mr and Ms Mason run 60 breeders, and sell steers and heifers to local clients.
“We sell about 30 steers a year, to clients who come from within a 60 to 70 kilometre radius of our property, who grow them out to be bullocks,” Mr Mason said.
“We keep about 10 heifers as replacements a year, and sell the remainder to breeders looking to restock their heifers.”
They sell the cattle at about 10 months of age, at store cattle sales at Pakenham towards the end of the year.
He said clients are drawn in by strong bloodlines, and positive visual assessments.
“People tend to follow the breeding of the stock when they’re buying from you, they want to know what the bloodlines are, and if they’ve got good bloodlines, and are good doers, then they’ll buy them,” he said.
He said they have used Pakenham Poll Herefords’ genetics for the last 10 years, and to change things up, recently bought a bull from Ke Warra Poll Herefords, Moorooduc, who are one of the vendors at this year’s Herefords Australia National Show and Sale.
“The bull is from Allendale Robin Hood genetics, so we thought he’d have good potential,” he said.
“We’ve followed the stud and what they’ve been doing for some time now, so we were pretty confident with the purchase.
“He’s got calves on the ground now, and they’re brilliant little calves.”
After growing up on a nearby dairy farm, Mr Mason made the transition to beef cattle 20 years ago.
“I was a builder for many years, and when I gave that up, I got back into cattle,” he said. “Dairying is time consuming, you’ve got to be there full time, but with beef you can manage the cattle around other things.”
He said temperament is a top priority, as they don’t believe in selling wild cattle.
