Australia-The Million hectare Farm.

AUSTRALIA-THE MILLION HECTARE FARM..

A transformation is taking place on one of the Northern Territory’s largest and best-known grazing properties which will see it emerge as a much more viable business unit under its new owners than it has been in days gone by.

Consultant David Warriner’s company Capricorn RPM has spent the past 15 months managing 900,000ha Tipperary Group of stations on behalf of owner, Allan Myers, as well as designing and implementing a major restructure designed to lift the property’s overall productivity.

While Tipperary ranks among Australia’s largest cattle properties by herd size, running between 80,000 and 100,000 head, it has not always been managed with the strongest operational focus.

The property started to fall into a state of semi-dormancy during the late 1990s, about the time former owner Warren Anderson and his Indonesian partners, Bakire Brothers encountered financial difficulties during the Asian currency crisis.

The turning point came with its acquisition by Allan Myers four years ago, and the restructure has gained momentum since 2007 under Capricorn RPM’s guidance.

According to Mr Warriner, some of Tipperary’s strongest attributes were its strategic location just two hours from Darwin by road, and its regular and reliable wet season rainfall pattern.

"One of the opportunities with the property is in wet-season turnoff," he said.

"This year, we turned off 2000 head into live export at the beginning of February, and could repeat that in March, hitting the market when others could not, while prices were high."

Offsetting these positives was a high level of mineral deficiency requiring strategic supplementation to maximise cattle productivity, and the sheer scale of the enterprise from a cattle management perspective. Some breeder paddocks run up to 5000 or 6000 cows.

Capricorn RPM’s restructure strategy undertaken at Tipperary has focussed on several key areas:

productivity improvements driven through better herd management and pasture improvement. The breeder herd and growing cattle are now more closely controlled through additional cattle yards, subdivisional fencing and waters. Pasture improvement has focussed on both legumes and introduced tropical grasses to lift grazing performance .