They’re the second-largest cattle handling facility in Queensland, they’re halfway through a $2.3m facelift, and now they are under new management.
The Keyes Cattle Co, led by brothers Nathan and Dustin Keyes, know the Cloncurry yards inside and out from years of working alongside their stock agent father and they’re looking forward to having this aspect of the supply chain under their wing.
The pair are well-known from the Gulf to the Channel Country in the contract mustering world, on the ground and in the air, with Nathan offering a helicopter mustering service.
“It’s satisfying to see the cattle production operation from start to finish now,” Dustin said.
They offer weighing, dipping, spelling and feeding at the facility on the northern side of town.
Knowing which way cattle run best through the yards will come in handy when business ramps up around Easter time.
“It’s a bit steady at the moment but when everything starts to hop, we won’t stop,” he said.
The complex is made up of three different sections - the “dirty” tick clearing facility, the “clean” yards, and the rail loadout facility.
When live export boat orders are being filled the brothers have seen 10,000 to 12,000 head of cattle in the yards at one time.
Last year’s throughput - 312,439 head for the calendar year or 324,974 for the financial year 2014-15 – is way above the average of 250,000, driven by the big dry and the price rises towards the end of the year.
Nathan said they were hoping for rain to keep falling as much as any producer, to help the herd rebuilding phase, but are still expecting reasonable cattle movements.
“There’s still cattle in the Gulf,” Dustin said. “Plus the money is good enough to see some movement.”
When Queensland Country Life caught up with them they had processed 60 decks in the previous 10 days, bound for Darwin and Karumba ports.
“Where we’re situated, we call it the hub,” said Dustin. “You have the calf factory to the north, growing out round here, then cattle can go north to export, souths to channels for finishing, and east to meatworks and feedlots.
“We find business divides itself evenly. It’s whoever’s got the best money at the time.”
The Cloncurry Shire Council has completed stage one of an upgrade program, undertaking sealing works worth $675,000.
A joint Building our Regions-Cloncurry Shire Council project that will inject $2.28m into further upgrades, $1.28m from council coffers and $1m from the state government, is still in the planning phase.
“It’s going to solve a few dust problems for us,” said Nathan. “There have been a lot of safety improvements, things such as a lockable dip.”
The project has seen access roads constructed and sealed and a dedicated heavy vehicle set-down and coupling area made.
Landscaping and water infrastructure upgrades are expected to be completed in the next 12 months.