1. LOCATION:
Millaa Millaa; Far North Queensland. 1 ½ hours from Cairns on the southern end of the Atherton Tablelands.
2. SIZE:
We own 565 ha on the Southern End of the Atherton Tablelands; we then lease another 330 ha which we operate as a separate dairy enterprise (2 farms managed by us) 100 ha irrigation on each of the farms. Both farms are set out with laneway systems, water systems, irrigation and paddock rotations.
3. CATTLE:
We milk 900-1000 cows. As a management tool we move cows between farms to take advantage of feed supply.
Nash Road (home farm):
• We are milking a cross-bred herd (the topography of this farm is hilly-steep, and the cows have to walk up to 2klm to pasture).
• We manage 3 milking herds:
H1=Fresh Cows and Mating Cows
H2=Pregnant Cows
Bucket Cows
This system enables us to control feed input and mating programs.
Moregatta Road (leased farm):
• Herds are rotated over to this farm – when they are pregnant or need to run with the bulls
Breeding Program on FARMS
• We calve all year round (no seasonal milk production) but only rear the AI (artificial insemination) bred calves – these have superior genetic quality.
• An intensive Artificial Breeding Program is run each year with professional selection of semen and orders done once/year to gain better pricing.
• During the hotter months we rotate bulls with the herds to maintain conception rates