Burgi cattle to headline Pakenham weaner sale

The home was once an outbuilding of the famous Brampton Park and is now the base for the Burgis' Charolais/Angus enterprise.

As former orchardists, they are not afraid of hard work, but admit life on the farm looking out to the Great Dividing Range is far from the hustle and bustle of fruit packing sheds and cool stores.

"We thought we should start living an easier life," Mr Burgi, whose family were among the first European settlers in nearby Wandin, said.

"I did 50 years as an orchardist and about eight years ago we separated the two farms.

"My brother took one and we took the other and that led to a fairly dramatic change in our business."

The 120-hectare operation at Gruyere is spread across two properties, Hyde Park and Gruyeres, and includes a breeding herd of between 100 cows at any given time.

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In January, the Burgis will sell 100 Angus/Charolais-cross and Angus mixed-sex calves aged between January/March 2021-drop.

"We did breed Angus for quite a number of years when we were in the partnership, and then about 10 years ago we started to breed with Charolais," Mr Burgi said.

"The bloodline we ran previously, we had a bit of trouble with the temperament, but another farm in the Yarra Valley had swapped to Charolais and that really helped in our decision to buy a Charolais bull."

The herd features Violet Hills and Rangan bloodlines with three bulls used in the operation.

"We run about 35 head in a mob and we move them around the paddocks quite regularly," he said.

"Consequently the bulls go into not a very large herd and get swapped between those groups two or three times during the mating season."

As sole operators most of the time, the Burgis believe the good temperament in their cattle are among one of the most important attributes in their commercial herd.

"I have to have them so they're easy to handle," he said.

"Their temperament is very good and by the time they're ready for market they're fairly calm."

Their consignment of 10-12-month-old calves will be sold at the Victorian Livestock Exchange at Pakenham in mid-January, and in the past, the draft has been strongly contested by a field of buyers.

"A lot of our cattle have gone into feedlots in the past, especially one operator who has bought them over a number of years, along with some restockers with steers," he said.

Last year they bought breeding females from Pinola, SA, but generally spend their money at Victorian sales.

Ideal seasonal conditions in recent months have also helped the cattle bloom, despite a wet and cold winter and a late spring start.

"Things are looking very good here in the Yarra Valley at the moment," Mr Burgi said.

"We have to be optimistic with the amount of rainfall that's been floating around Australia.

"There's grass to burn and we hope it doesn't cause a fire, but I think there's some excellent potential for some weaner sales in January."

About 20 hectares a year is resown on the two properties with rye grasses and clover mixes.

"The property over the years has had a very good history with superphosphate and potash and that's helped keep the soil levels where they need to be," he said.

"With the way fertiliser prices are at the moment, it may be worthwhile to have that reserve in the soil, but we'll look to resow again in mid to late-autumn."