Family showcase farming system

A fully integrated farming system including a cropping program, a cow and calf breeding unit and an annual 4000 head beef cattle feed-lot was showcased at the recent Better Beef forum.

Ucarty Holdings, south of Dowerin, is run by the Quartermaine family, including Tony and Barbara, their sons Todd and Glen and their wives Linda and Kim.

The Ucarty feedlot tour was attended by 60 delegates, who witnessed the progression of the Quartermaine’s investment in feeding cattle for 70 to 120 days.

Their program has helped them achieve 1.5 to 2kg a day growth rates.

“Cattle sourced off-farm include a mix of breeds with a 60-40 steer-heifer sexed ratio,” Glen said.

“We supply our own Lawson’s Angus blood steers into the feedlot.

“Finished cattle are turned out on a Woolworths contract and we also have other custom feeding contracts in place.”

The family recently installed a new roller mill to help their value-adding operation, which involves using 3000 tonnes of grain to produce a mixed ration for cattle.

Recently, a new roller mill was added at Ucarty to improve the value adding of the farm’s annual 3000 tonnes of grain usage in the form of a total mixed ration for beef production.

Read the full story, and more about Better Beef 2019, in tomorrow’s Countryman.