Queenslander Anthony Cox has plenty of experience managing large scale cattle operations under his belt but his current gig at the helm at Legune Station in the far north west of the Northern Territory would have to be one of his most challenging and exciting.
The 178,870ha property, once an outstation of Victoria River Downs, which counts real estate legend Sir Leslie Joseph Hooker among its former owners, has been part of the AAM portfolio, via its Pastoral Development Trust, since 2018.
The Brisbane-based investment group prizes diversification across supply chains and geographical production areas, and Legune delivers all that in spades.
The station's brand - ST under a bracket - standing for Surf and Turf, epitomises its enormous diversity.
Situated in close proximity to the Ord irrigation project in Western Australia's east Kimberley, it boasts the 35,100ML Forsyth Dam, the largest privately owned dam in the southern hemisphere, and has a carrying capacity of 29,540 adult equivalent cattle.
This year 8000 Legune cattle were sold, about 85 per cent of them to the live export trade.
The dam gives the owners the ability to create an artificial wet season, flooding paddocks with the use of gate valves that they can rotate stock through, and farming is on the cards, along with the doubling of their current feed yard numbers to 4000 head.
For staff such as Condamine's Tom Drury, it all adds up to working in the 'coolest part of Australia', even if he can't cool off in the dam at the end of the day.
"The country's unreal, I've never seen anything like it," he said.
Water storage is Legune's boon
Queensland expat Anthony Cox says the job of managing 1800 square kilometre Legune Station on the Northern Territory-Western Australia border is different to any he's had before, because there are so many moving parts.
As well as running a cattle breeding and fattening enterprise on the property with miles of coastline facing the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf and meeting live export boat schedules at Wyndham, he is overseeing controlled releases of water from Forsyth Dam to boost pasture growth, planning for an irrigated cropping area, and overseeing a cattle feed yard.
In addition, the enterprise is the base for a grow-out facility for Project Sea Dragon, a prawn farming venture set to become Australia's largest tiger prawn farming operation and one of the world's largest prawn farms, projected to produce 150,000 tonnes of tiger prawns a year when it becomes operational.
And all of it has to be done with native title needs in mind.
Roads and infrastructure for the Seafarms Australia production tanks and employee hub got underway this year and Mr Cox said he was working his way around the logistical changes it would make to their cattle operation.
"It's exciting, I want to be a part of it," he said.
The Pastoral Development Trust leases country to the Seafarms Group, which is 100 per cent responsible for the development and ongoing operations of the aquaculture project.
PDT took the significant step this year of investing in SFG and AAM is taking a more active role in supporting it on the progression and delivery of the project.
Up to 250 people were expected in the construction phase, 10 times the number that Legune itself employs in its operation.
Bos taurus infusion
The property was a straight grey Brahman operation when PDT took over in 2018 but it's now stocked with 75 per cent Bos indicus cattle, thanks to the introduction of Brangus and Droughtmaster cross composite bulls.
While a portion of the country is unusable mud flats, which the occasional 'salt dragon' cow insists on braving the many crocodiles to explore, the floodplain country is Legune's most productive.
All their young cattle and heifers ready for joining are run in their northern country, which Mr Cox says is probably their strongest.
When you're fairly big, fertility is what's going to drive big places' improvement, getting calves on the ground with suitable supplementation programs
- Anthony Cox, Legune manager
"That's where your dung sampling and analysing the data, to capture a good load of data, comes in."
Sampling has shown that, somewhat surprisingly, the northern part of the land isn't phosphorus deficient.
"Everything's here - one thing Legune's got (is) a variety of soil types - you'll go out of floodplain, into black soil, and sandy country," Mr Cox said.
Live export is their major market and they like to send 320kg feeder cattle, preferably out of the port at Wyndham.
That's 240km away, compared to the 1000km journey north east to Darwin, but it all depends on boat schedules, Mr Cox said.
They've been sending between 3500 and 4000 head a year, including heifers that haven't got in calf, but those numbers are expected to ramp up significantly with the expansion of the feed yard at Legune.
Feeding boost
The feed yard was constructed last year, using the bones of large pens already built at their Bundaberg Yard, and it currently caters for 2000 head.
That's anticipated to go up to 4000 head, and they hope to feed 12,000 head per annum, not all of them cattle bred on the property.
Shade and a sprinkler system are part of the expansion envisaged, and a manager is planned once it gets to full capacity, although Mr Cox will still rotate the stock camp through feeding duties, as he believes it's good exposure for them.
"They've got to organise their day, what they'll take down there.
"They're independent - for a 19-year-old there's a fair bit of responsibility there with half a million dollars worth of gear and $2m worth of cattle to look after.
"And they on-teach - I reckon there's just as much learning in on-teaching."
Cattle are drafted into four weight ranges - under 180kg, between 180 and 220kg, 220 and 250kg, and heavier than that - and are in the system for a maximum of 85 to 90 days before going on a boat.
Toowoomba's Phil Due is their mentor and ration advisor, coming up to Legune once a quarter to cast his eye over the systems.
Mr Cox said they were fortunate to have "absolutely no health issues".
Because their rumen and body temperature heats up six hours post-feed, cattle are fed between 2 and 4pm each day, once a day, to cater for the hotter conditions of northern Australia.
"If you feed them in the morning, you can imagine what it would be like at 3 o'clock in the afternoon when it's 45 degrees and 80 per cent humidity," Mr Cox said.
COVID-related movement restrictions between states and territories have held up plans but it's anticipated that the facilities will be significantly expanded in 2022.
Supplied by the Ord
In mid-June the cattle on feed were putting on 1.7kg a day from a ration of silage hay grown locally in the Ord, plus cracked corn, soybean that comes across from Townsville, and vitamins and water.
All statistics for the bunk management system are recorded on paper at present but the addition of a Cel wifi system, in partnership with Seafarms Australia, will allow them to install an office and keep electronic records.
Cattle have been exiting the system up to the end of November or early December and will start again once the wet season is over and musterers can get onto the country.
Thanks to the prawn farm, bitumen road access will soon become a 12 month prospect, meaning they'll be able to truck cattle all year round.
The station has also been planning to ensure there is enough silage available in-house to start the season off, and is embarking on an improved pasture program with paragrass and desmanthus being aerially sown.
That will be coupled with a gate valve watering system and contours to run water across paddocks and drain into the creek system, thanks to a 1.5m outlet pipe from Forsyth Dam, allowing paddocks to be watered on a six-week rotation in the dry season.
Cattle will be rotated through the paddocks.
Mr Cox said it would be beneficial to water paddocks properly, rather than some areas getting saturated and other parts staying dry.
"It's maintaining ground cover, so that we can retain moisture (and) start to implement some improved pastures," he said.
Wallaby fencing
Exclusion fencing is thought of as a western Queensland institution but 66km of a 90km 1.8m high fence has been constructed so far on Legune's floodplain, to keep agile wallabies out.
Mr Cox said a 2019 survey had found there were 35,000 wallabies, equivalent to around 2000 AEs, over the 20,000ha floodplain.
"Dingoes don't keep them down enough - we've got plenty of dingoes here too so that's an ongoing- baiting program twice a year," Mr Cox said.
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