Hay, in quality and quantity, is one of the pillars of success for Euroa beef producer Graham Newton.
He's running Oxton, a 343-hectare property on the outskirts of the town, which was was bought by Mr Newton's grandfather, after the First World War.
Since running the property, he said he had found there were several key ingredients to the success he has experienced.
"Hay makes the difference - if we are heading into a tough period, we will certainly crack into the hay, and the only other limiting factor could be water and that's not an issue," Mr Newton said.
"We do get quite wet here.
"If I am carrying 100 bales of hay too many, I don't give a continental - it's about as vital as water, electric fencing, the quad bike and our two tractors."
Mr Newton said he tried to produce his own hay, but if he didn't end up with 300 bales, he talked to his cousin who "quite often has it".
Hay, and conservative management, has led to saleyards success.
At a recent monthly store cattle sale at Euroa, Mr Newton sold one pen of 23 steers, 265kg, for $2140 or 807c/kg.
They were in a draft of around 60 cattle.
"We calve down 106 cows and we probably have about 30 heifers, at this point," he said.
"I think we will probably stick with that; any more would put too much pressure on myself and on the farm."
He said he was using bulls from Barry Ingram's Margni Park stud, Euroa, and Peter Collins' Merridale stud, Kerang.
Cows were from Oxton's own herd.
"When we buy a bull, it's generally for heifers, so we want one that throws small calves that then grow like hell.
"When you are dealing with heifers what you don't need is stuck calves - that can happen, so we run them next to the cattle yards.
"If there is any problem, we can get to the yards quickly."
Calves were born between March and May, with an estimated turn off date of October or November.
"What we trying to get them to grow during the winter, when there is grass around, and then come spring, we can get them off, like we did with those steers."
He said he was pleasantly surprised by the price, after believing they would make about $1700 "That was blown out the door by about $200 and the best ones made $300-400 more.
He turned them off on the advice of Nutrien Ag Solutions livestock agent Rod Carnegie.
"That weight would be the aim but if you can get them up to 250 kg or even 300kg that is magnificent - but, again the call has to come from Rod.
"If he says we run 'em on, we run 'em on - no arguments."
This year, the price had increased by about $200-300 a head.
"You write that one in your diary."
"From what I can gather, the demand is so great and cattle are a bit like hen's teeth," he said.
He said the good prices were in part due to constant feeding of the cows and heifers, over winter.
"We sat on a tractor every second day during the winter, we were feeding 100 cows plus the heifers, three bales of hay.
"We take that seriously because we have a moral obligation to our cattle, but we also want to earn as much money as we can from them.
"We have to really look after our cattle to the best of our ability and, in doing that we just have to poke the feed in."
He said he looked for feet issues in cattle, or anything that concerned him over a cow's ability to raise a calf.
"We have a cow, at the moment, with back leg issues
"She's been pulled aside and held back and not joined - she is on a one way trip, out of here, with the last of calves."
He said he predominantly sold through Euroa, although sometimes he also sent cattle to Shepparton.
But he said that decision was largely made by Mr Carnegie.
"I take the attitude, if there is no trust, you don't keep my business - and that isn't only with stock agents."
He said he would probably keep 15-20 heifers, with any animal not making weight being run on over summer.
"We have four or five steers, left over, we'll see how they shape up in November, if they don't make it, they will run on through Chrismas, into the New Year
"The heifers we will have a look at in November, we'll sell what we can and the balance, if they are underweight, we will run them on and sometime in the new year, they will go."
In conjunction with an agronomist, Mr Newton said he had been fertislsing and liming set paddocks, as some of the soils were quite acidic.
'We are fighting the onion grass at the moment, as it is a bit of a pain in the neck."
"We have been sowing ryegrass for hay, but once we put a bit of super and lime out, we are getting a fair bit of clover coming through.
"We are more content in keeping the onion grass at bay and getting the lime up
"It seems if you put the lime on to sort the acid problem, you then supply more nutrients to the plants
"It just appears to us, at the moment, we have clovers coming back fairly aggressively."
Mr Newton said he enjoyed getting out on the farm, looking at cattle and working with them.
"It's the whole farm, I can get on the bike in the morning and I don't have to work in an office, and tolerate a crappy computer
"There is nothing better than looking around at grass, half way up to my kneecaps, when I am in a paddock I am thinking of cutting for hay
"I can see cattle and I can see water - it's a bit hard to beat."
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
