Can i make any money farming cows in South Australia

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wannabe

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I have always had a dream of running a few cattle back home in Aus and i am currently looking at 2 propertys one is 100 acres in
meadows with a 33" rainfull I think will sustain 16-20 pair. the other is in the southeast, Penola. This one i do not know the rainfull but looks like some good grazing land 500 acres .I dont really have a clue how many this will sustain. After reading through this site i really need some help. first question if i own the land and the herd say 100 pair how much return could i expect?

what breed is best? are you better off breeding them and keeping them to sell or selling of at 6 months , should i have feedlot?
what do you feed in a feed lot?
anyhelp would be appreciated.
 
Hey I'll jump in. I know it looks like no one here wants to help you out on those questions. Far from it. Most of us are not familur with the market and feed conditions in Aus. Around here the return on a cow is about $100.00 on average. Some years better some years worse. Thats after everthing is figured in. This will be way differant down under, I don't know which way though. There are a couple of folks on here from Aus. I'm sure they can offer more advice on your questions. Good luck.
 
A lot of your questions can't be answered very well. In the US people manage differetly in different areas of the country. Also you can have two cattlemen side by side ,but they may well do things different from one another. For instance they may have different breeds, one could be commercial and the other registered, etc.

You need to do a lot of reading to get some basics and then find out how they do it in the areas you are interested in.

Rather than ask "how" to do it, look and see the different ways others go about it and then formulate your own plans.

How much does land cost in the areas you are interestd in?
 
Thanks for at least trying ,I realize i am asking some pretty broard questions. That is really all you can make Bama?? Ryder the two lots have different values ,the small one is 5000 per/ac
The larger place is 800 per acre I was kind of hoping one of the aussie posters would reply. Surely there is a way to make more than $100 per head working with cattle???
Robert
 
wannabe":3k7iw56x said:
Thanks for at least trying ,I realize i am asking some pretty broard questions. That is really all you can make Bama?? Ryder the two lots have different values ,the small one is 5000 per/ac
The larger place is 800 per acre I was kind of hoping one of the aussie posters would reply. Surely there is a way to make more than $100 per head working with cattle???
Robert


In this market, if your actual per cow costs are $250 a year (and per cow costs can range from $150-550++) then you are probably making $250-300 a cow (I am talking US dollars, you will have to adjust it to Aussie dollars). Of course all of us can remember $.60 a hundred weight feeder calves not too long ago and anybody making $100 a cow was doing pretty good then. I can't tell you how many cows you can run on a 500 acre place in Alabama without looking at it and I have never even been to any part of Australia.
 
Figure in hay, grain, pasture spraying, tractor fuel, tractor upkeep, truck fuel and upkeep, Chemicals, meds, vet bills, fence upkeep, equipment, equipment upkeep, Hired labor, mis supplies, improvements, commissions, infrastructure, utilities, fertilizer, seed, wear and tear on equipment, etc.. You get the picture.

Thats where the 100 dollars per head average comes in.
 
Hi Wannabe,
I run a few cattle down the road a bit from Meadows in South Australia and I thought I would have a go (in my first post) at giving a local perspective on some of your questions.

The short answer to your question is that probably you can't make any more money from running cattle in South Australia including Meadows than anywhere else. The return estimates that I have seen on this board relating to the US unfortunately appear to be around the mark for how things are in this part of the world.

Meadows is within commuting distance to Adelaide (the capital of SA), has good rainfall and is very pretty country. The demand for lifestyle blocks of 100 acres is high and the price of these blocks far exceeds their agricultural value. This is the reason Meadows is $5000 an acre. Penola on the other hand is down South, less rainfall and not as pretty and you won't be living next-door to a surgeon. In Penola, in general, land prices will be more closely tied to their agricultural value – and that is why Penola is $800 an acre. Strictly in terms of cattle returns for outlay Penola is the better bet because you can buy more feed per $ in Penola compared to Meadows. But future capital gains are likely to be higher in Meadows and the lifestyle type place (near amenities – hospitals – good schools – shops etc) appeals to many people. So you are looking at two very different types of operation and which one is best for you only you would know.

But using your 100 acre Meadows block as a hypothetical case off the top of my head some ball park maths might look like this. Pick up 30 young black Angus cows – preg tested in calf. $32,000. Get 28 calves on the ground. Wean at 7 months at 250kg. At the moment prices are good – $1.80 kg live weight for heifers – $2.20 for steers. So assuming a 50/50 boy girl split returns approximately $13,000. This is really a maximum best case scenario and most years running an operation a bit larger than this I would not have achieved this return. Subtract costs: fertilizer for 100 acres say $2,000, hay making 100 bales – another $2,000, general fencing and odds and sods say another $3000. So your left with $6000 profit or $200 a head which is on the high side because I haven't factored everything in right and prices are high here at the moment. This is all just ball park remember!

In respect to what breeds are best – black / red Angus are getting more dominant in the area – and receive good prices from feedlotters. Not many people finish cattle themselves – the feedlot business here is pretty specialised and you really need a lazy million or two to get off the ground, good knowledge of the industry and it is probably a risky way to get started on cattle. Just out of interest I can report the local topic of conversation around here lately is the new electronic tagging of cattle we all have to do for the national database - which has created some very polarised views - but thats another topic in itself!

I'm sorry if this all disappoints. But I will say as a plug for this part of the world that on the weekend (Sunday anyway) the weather was glorious – the grass was jumping out of the ground – our cattle are all doing well – the calves are growing – our children are being raised in an idyllic setting – our neighbours and our little local community are great to be a part of – and I wouldn't have traded places with anyone. What better return from cattle can you get than that!

Very much enjoy the board – have improved a couple of aspects of our little operation as result of things I've gleaned here and hope to make the odd contribution when I can think of something sensible to say. Regards SouthOz.
 
Thanks South Oz
This was my first post also! I was great to read your reply! very informative and relative to what i am thinking. It is a great place up there and also a fantastic lifestlye I just wish I could figure out a way to make a few bucks with a bit of dirt.
It seems like bluegums are a good investment also. The lot i am
looking at is Thorps old place behind the sawmill on Brookman Rd. some of the lot is a bit wet and muddy . do you know this lot and what do you think?? I hear that some spots around there are a lot better than others for growing feed how would this place stack up??
Thanks
 
Happy to help Wannabe. When I say Im down the road - Im about 50km down the road which is close relative to say Utah -but the specific place your looking at is outside my local sphere of knowledge. So cant help there sorry.

Tasmanian Bluegum lots are springing up around the place but from what I know of them they don't make you a millionnaire quickly either - maybe a crop rotation in 10 years - need good fairly flat land - the companies tend to like larger places 100 acres+ to make it all viable. Higher returns can be achieved from trees for furniture where the tree needs a lot of work so there is higher value adding - but you need a bit a expertise in pruning etc.

Your desire to make a few bucks from a bit dirt is shared by many - and for some has been transmiited genetically across generations.

Which reminds of a joke I heard many moons ago. Little Johnny is enrolling in agricultural school and the course advisor asks him why he wants to get into agriculture. Johnny replies that he has a dream of making a million dollars from farming like his father. The course advisor is very impressed and asks how his father made his million. Oh no says Johnny he went broke but he had a dream of making a million.

Good luck with it all - but dont mention too much on these boards what a great place it is around here - you could create a land rush of rich American farmers and then we locals would'nt be able to afford to live here anymore. But then hang on we could all retire rich to the golf course having finally made money from cattle - so now I see your plan :) All the best SouthOz.
 
LOL
I think you are better off keeping SA a secret. Where are you from and how many head do you run?My DAD grew up on the
Butunga property in between Echunga and Strath and I went to
URRBRAE. I think it is a bit like Johnny, The Whole Family has always wanted to get back on the land but none of us have ever figured how to do it! It was great to hear that you really appreciate your lifestyle !!!! GOOD ON YA! That is what matters in the end.
 
Hi Wannabe,

I see your problem exactly - and was sort of in the same boat around 15 years ago. How to do it is very simple - just make enough money outside of farming so that you can get back into farming. Depressing isnt it.

Around here (and I suspect lots of places) there are two main groups farming - those who inherited large viable tracts of land and those who purchased land with money earned other than from farming.

There are very few these days that seem to be able to start from scratch on the land and build up purely from farming income. Not saying it cant be done - just that it sure looks a bit difficult for the average kind of guy (to me anyway).

Another sort of consideration I had to get up to speed on was the tax and accounting angles. And this factor sometimes had a larger bearing on success or failure than any farming decision (what type of cattle for example).

There are smarter people than me on this board - and I know there have been some threads adressing your problem in the past - and my advice would be to read and search and ask as much as you can. Im actually posting a question of my own on an issue that Id like to hear a few different opinions on.

Best of luck with it all Wannabe and Im sure that if you keep at it you'll get there. Regards Southoz
 
Seems the U.S. and Austrailia have a lot in common, when it comes to starting any AG related operation, and for the inheritance of land. If I did not have a regular job, I'd of been flat out finished, a long time ago.
 
Hi there I live in the New England region in the northern part of NSW. We run about a cow to three acres on our place. We have 1,000 acres of good high country at 1,000 metres. We breed Brahman,South Devon,South Brahvon and Hereford cattle we also have some Simbrahs,Charolais and Gelbvieh. I've been to SA but only around Mount Gambier. There is beautiful red soil country around there and pretty expensive I'd say. Our country is now 2 to 3,000 dollars an acre. So the only people that make much money are those that all ready own their land. My wife and I both have off farm jobs to pay some of the bills mainly ones that are brought about by drought induced feeding bills. If we had regular cattle prices and good seasons there wouldn't be a problem. Hardly any one would need to have to work off farm.
There are still a lot of Herefords in SA as well there are South Devons there as well plus a few Brahmans. A British breed or a Euro might be the way to go say maybe Simmental. SA has some top Simmie cattle.
Best of luck when you come back to Australia.
Colin
 

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