Farming the land is our passion.....and we enjoy every minute of it.
We love what we do and so not only is it our business, but we're proud to say its our hobby too.
With somewhere around 50,000 breeding ewes and
quite a few cattle being grazed on over a dozen properties throughout Victoria and southern NSW, there's plenty
happening. It's plain to see we love it and that not afraid of having a go
!
Minto Pastoral Company
In
owning and managing Minto Pastoral Company, Chris and Kim’s
operation encompasses a number of properties, being a blend of freehold
country and lease properties, running sheep and cattle where
appropriate.
Minto Pastoral’s properties and ventures extend throughout the southern states, from Violet Town to Gisborne, Broadford to Balranald, Craigieburn to Bonnie Doon, and Howes Creek to Corowa.
In each instance, the successful formula of having a team-orientated approach, together with an effective system in place, has proven time and time again to work.
Over
time, Chris and Kim have recruited and developed a team of stock men and women
(and dogs !) to
handle the enterprise’s stock appropriately, productively, and
efficiently. The team are
skilled and knowledgeable on farming techniques and activities, and have
an enthusiasm and willingness comparable to the company philosophy of “Growth through innovation, enthusiasm and
professionalism”.
Minto Pastoral Company’s direction has been to embrace leasing opportunities when and where appropriate, therefore enabling capital to be invested in stock and management of it, rather than land payments. Chris has been a forerunner in this approach, his success once again documented in a recent issue of the Outback magazine (Issue 29, Jun/Jul 2003).
Flexibility and diversity are the key factors of Minto Pastoral’s success. This flexibility is reflected in how our enterprise has survived and since flourished during the recent drought. We have come through holding our stock numbers and with our pastures everywhere in great shape.
Chris & Kim Stoney
Chris
Stoney is a fifth generation farmer in the Mansfield district, Victoria.
While MPC was initially established in north-east Victoria, the
operation has spread its wings from the local district many years ago.
Chris has studied grazing techniques through the local BeefCheque and FM500 groups, as well as field trips throughout Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and New Zealand. The grazing system Chris has developed has been heralded in the Sustainable Grazing Systems (SGS) magazine as well as the ‘Stock and Land’ newspaper.
Chris is also a scholar of Rabobank’s Executive Development Program for Primary Producers (EDPPP), designed and developed for Australia and New Zealand’s top primary producers. Through this program, students are exposed to progressive and futuristic thinking, strategic business practices, and mix with business experts from various industries. The program is held in high regard amongst agricultural business professionals and has been beneficial to be a part of.
Kim, third generation on the land and hailing "way back when" from a dairy family (something she's happy to leave in the pages of her Grandfather's history books), has grown up predominately around beef production in Victoria and wool in outback NSW.
Chosen to undertake in the Export Market Development Training Course in Sydney, conducted by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), Kim continued research into various opportunities for the great product we generate here in Australia. She has also completed her Bachelor of Business (Monash University), participated in Rabobank's EDPPP program, and since having children, completed her Diploma of Agriculture and Diploma of Rural Business Management.
Kim was selected to participate in the first National Young Farmers Forum in Canberra, September 2005. This Forum provided the framework and opened dialogue directly with the agricultural departments, and Ministers, to ascertain both the challenges, and opportunities, facing Australia's agricultural youth today, and how best to overcome these to secure a sustainable and profitable future for individuals, communities and the industry.
Pasture Management & Renovation
We
have been honing our skills in pasture management techniques and have seen
an amazing improvement in pasture composition on all of our
properties (even after the drought). This
has been achieved by either controlling feed, or giving country a rest,
depending on the time of year and the season.
We are strong advocates of rotational grazing and also have the
flexibility within our operation to move stock off if things are too
tight.
As big believers in fertility we undertake spreading single Superphosphate over many paddocks annually. This is standard practice and therefore understand and herald the subsequent benefits.
In property management we structure a complimentary grazing and weed management program, with the intention of achieving overall improvement of the farming entity. We spray and fertilise most of the pastures over time, working through a collated whole farm strategy, tactically managing each paddock as necessary.
With proper grazing management, we encourage existing perennial grasses to strengthen and flourish.
The Business....
Eastern & Northern Divisions
The
Northern Division comprises over 215,000 acres in the marginal outback country of
NSW's Western Division, between Balranald and Ivanhoe.
This division runs primarily Merinos, which are all joined to Border Leicester rams sourced from a number of renowned studs throughout south-east Australia, predominately targeting those which use Lambplan and are Super Border accredited. “Our boys” therefore come predominately from the Wongajong Super Border Stud at Deniliquin and Ellingerrin Stud at Inverleigh; mainly selecting these for their early growth and high fertility traits.
Numbers are not only important, but we also select on physical conformation as they need to be structurally sound to handle approximately 70-80 ewes each and walk big distances.
The Eastern Division is focused on lambing down the crossbred maiden ewes, the progeny of which are then transferred to the Central Division. Having a sole focus like this enables concentration on achieving good conception rates and more successful survival rates.
Central Division
The
Central Division covers a number of
properties around north-east Victoria totalling over 7,000 acres, as well
as encompassing properties in central-southern Victoria totalling over 10,000 acres.
With first-cross ewes running in these regions, both the land type and rich pastures are to their
liking.
We
join our crossbred ewes to Dorset rams from our own Stud. Relying
heavily on our AI program, we started off using Kurralea 211 – “5
star”, who we see as suiting our system with his maturity pattern and
muscling (meat yield). This
gives us a great female base to go on with.
We scan pre-lamb and run mobs accordingly, enabling us to match feed requirements and manage closer at key times.