It’s time for another farm update.
Lots of things have been happening, we have had many visitors on our farm from universities and government departments, but not so much infrastructure has been completed.
The Birds On Farm program has conducted surveys every Spring each year, and on every visit they have had the privilege to see another new species. So far, the total number of species seen on our farm is 94, ranging from a Peregrin Falcon and Wedgetail Eagles to Fairy Wrens and the Red Browed Finch.
You can find us on birddata.birdlife.org.au – go to ‘Explore’ and use the ‘Search for Location’ tool. Search for ‘Shingle Hut Creek Nature Refuge’, or just click here. The click on the red dots, until you find the one for ‘Shingle Hut Creek Nature Refuge’ (as an example: see the screenshot below). It will then provide you with the survey results.
We also participated in some dung beetle surveys and were very happy to find beetles not only in summer, which is common, but we also had the autumn dung beetle species here on farm. This should translate into many more beetles next season. Dung beetles are well known to help reduce the fly problem for cattle, but are underrated in the other services they bring to the farm. The tunnelling beetles help with water infiltration as well as depositing carbon deeper into the soil.
Healthy Land and Water Grant:
We are working with Healthy Land and Water, a government department that facilitates help and grants for farmers. They have given us a grant to contribute to our grand plans of piping water up to our ridges for the beef cattle. We have two years to complete the project which has had a slow start due to some kafuffles in the Strait of Hormuz. With the increase in the price of fuel, the price of plastic pipe also rose. It seems to have stabilized now so Dominic can start to seriously look at purchasing the kilometers of pipe that will be needed for this job. Steel water tanks (fire resistant) and submersible pumps are also on the list. And all this has to run off solar too. A big job that needs to be approached incrementally.
Unfortunately, this winter Dominic is still trucking water up the hills to the cattle, even though we really wished we could have had this job done before then. The goal is to be prepared for winter 2027 and have some infrastructure completed in the paddocks we will graze that winter.
Vet Students:
Not many people know that we host vet students many times through out the year for “cattle placement”. Vet students must complete a certain amount of time on farms, with different types of animals for completion of their degree. (This is all done during their university holidays!). For a few years now we have had the privilege of sharing our methods and our animals with the students. It is lovely to see students growing comfortable with the cattle and seeing the personalities and behaviour of our animals. Sometimes students come here with a fear of cattle or just the idea that cattle are rather dumb, and it is great to see them overcome fear and learn new perspectives through the week they are with us.
Belmont Red heifers:
Unfortunately, our choice to improve our herd with some Belmont Red heifers has not been a success. They are too soft for our country and have struggled to perform to the expectations of the breed. We had a less than 50% calving rate, and none of those calves thrived. Healthy and bright eyed, lovely personalities, but stunted in growth, so not good future breeders for our herd. Their mums just didn’t have enough milk to raise them well. The bull however has done a lovely job over our base herd and we have a good number of calves born, with respectable growth rates.
Our mobile coldroom:
The mobile coldroom has been completed and it can run as a freezer or fridge. It has worked great for meat transportation and can also be used to flash freeze meat after the markets.
Irrigation:
We have gotten the irrigation working in one of our front paddocks, but it needs to be dug in underground to service the surrounding paddocks. As the dry continues we are fighting a losing battle to grow anything in the irrigated paddock, as the wallabies are eating any new growth before it can reach a decent height. An ‘exclusion fence’ might be a possible solution. Irrigation, broadcast annual seed and the ability to exclude the wildlife from a small number of acres outside our Nature Refuge could be a game changer for finishing animals better and quicker. (It takes us on average 2.5 – 3 years to properly finish an animal).
New Meat Butcher:
Sadly, earlier this year our butcher who we have been working with for over 2 years since we started selling beef direct, closed up shop so we had to find another place to butcher all our meat. Greg, at Harmer Family Meats worked with and advised us as raw first timers and finished up with Sandra working as his offsider during every animal butchered. We have learnt so much about butchery, there is so much more than expected involved. We have transitioned over to an on-farm butchery at Mt Mee with people who are passionate about providing a service for fellow farmers. Thank you to you all for supporting us while we iron out some initial hiccups in supply of different cuts and packaging. This is still ongoing, thank you all for your patience.
Article published in an American Farmers Magazine:
Sandra has had an article published in an American farming magazine, the April 2026 edition of the Stockman Grass Farmer. This is the first time she has ever had anything published and hopes there will be more to come in the future.
When I started writing this ^ blog post, I thought we hadn’t done much so far his year, but looking back we have been busy, just different “busy” than in previous years.
Much of our downtime these days revolves around discussion of how we are going to turn this venture into a viable business. We will keep you informed as things change, as they must, hopefully creating a better business for us all.
PS. To read similar previous farm updates from us, click here.