Hard work paying off at Velyere Farm

Jessica Whyte, Farm Weekly

Years of hard work invested in its cattle enterprise is finally paying off at Velyere Farm, Dandaragan.

The farm is owned by the Lee family from Malaysia, which has owned farmland throughout Western Australia for more than 50 years. Farm manager Peter Rathjen has been managing the property for the past four years, alongside livestock manager Portia Broadbent, who has been in charge of the cattle for nearly two years. Mr Rathjen was originally from York, where his family had a farm and prior to working at Velyere Farm he was based in Geraldton, where he managed a cropping property. Ms Broadbent has been in Australia for 10 years, having moved from New Zealand and worked on a feedlot at Hyden before moving to Dandaragan. The farm is 8094 hectares (20,000 acres) in total and has joined more than 1000 head of purebred Angus cattle this year. Of the land, 5000ha are dedicated to the cropping program, which includes wheat, barley, oats, lupins and canola. All of the oats are used as feed for the cattle as well as some of the lupins. In addition, they sow some pasture varieties, including vetch and various serradellas. For the past two years, the main focus has been on building breeding numbers up to 1000 head. Ms Broadbent said having reached the ideal herd size they could now focus more on breeding a consistent genetic line. “We can put more time and effort into perfecting the line,” Ms Broadbent said. Angus has always been run on the farm and she said that they like the breed because they had a good temperament, produced good results and had good meat qualities. Ms Broadbent also said they were suited to the climate and performed well in the area. To increase their numbers they have been retaining all of the heifers and mating them but they will now be able to cull any cattle that don’t meet the standards. Ms Broadbent said they were striving to breed a pure Angus herd, with cows that will drop a small calf with a quick growth rate. “With the heifers, we have been using low birthweight bulls so that they have a smaller calf,” she said. The bulls are put in with the heifers in August, while the cows are joined in September. They mate in September because it coincides with when the feed is most abundant. “The dates are a little bit later compared to other producers, but that is when the feed is at its best here and it takes calving away from seeding time,” she said. The heifers are mated a month earlier because Ms Broadbent said she likes to be able to focus that month on checking them every day without having the cows dropping at the same time. The general rule is that the bulls with lower birthweight figures are put over the heifers and then as the cows get older and bigger they are joined with the bulls with bigger birthweight figures. “This system ensures we are getting the best out-come with our steers, while looking after the heifers,” she said. All of the females are pregnancy scanned in February.