AN exceptional 90-day weight gain performance of 1.7kg to 1.8kg per head per day for steers and heifers turned off Joe Johnstone and family’s paddock feedlot system caught the attention of CQ BEEF Moura group members during a recent visit.
Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries senior beef extension officer Ken Murphy organised the inspection as part of the FutureBeef initiative which supports the CQ BEEF project.
FutureBeef provides project and training opportunities for producers to improve productivity, profitability and sustainability through improved knowledge, research and technology.
Around 40 FutureBeef extension staff work with cattle producers around the State to address improved nutrition, grazing and land management, breeding and reproduction and business management.
Mr Murphy said Joe and Gail Johnstone and their three sons, Stuart, Robert and Mitchell, hosted a recent group inspection of their 2977 hectare Banana district cattle and grain growing aggregation, Can-Berra.
When Joe Johnstone made the decision to migrate from the families’ The Lakes District (UK) mixed farming enterprise in 1981 and then invest in the original 650ha Can-Berra holding in 1982, it reflected Joe’s willingness to accept a challenge.
Purchase of adjoining properties has enabled the Johnstone family to comfortably run 1000 cattle including 350 breeders in a cyclical crossbreeding program targeting an EU market turnoff.
Mr Johnstone runs two separate red and black breeding herds originally based on a Droughtmaster-Brahman cross females and has used a mix of pure Angus, Gelbvieh, Charolais, Droughtmaster and Brahman bulls.
Bulls are joined from November through to early March with an objective to brand 90 per cent of the progeny in one concentrated throughput to reduce time and labour input. They are usually weaned in two drafts as management dictates.
Six years ago, the Johnstones began the process of creating a rotational grazing system using single electric wire fencing to create 20ha paddocks on the predominantly buffel grass pasture.
“Based on a visual assessment of available grass, we rotate the cattle about every three weeks and attempt to spell in summer to regenerate selected paddocks,” Mr Johnstone said.
“At the same time, we installed a Nutradose water medication system based on a 2000 litre elevated tank that delivers 70-80 grams/head/day of a urea and granulated ammonium sulphate through 37mm diameter polypipe to paddock troughs.
“There are a few paddocks serviced by surface dams that are not medicated but our dry season management aim is to ensure all stock can access the urea supplementation to activate the animal’s rumen and prevent weight loss.
“Our preference is to mix smaller 600L batches of the urea concentrate every 7-10 days to gain a quicker turnover of fresh product from the holding tank.”
Mr Johnstone grows out the young cattle on the buffel grass pasture which is periodically ripped to aerate and rejuvenate the root system. He then backgrounds them on leucaena or butterfly pea high protein legume before entering the feedlot.
“We have 50ha of established Cunningham variety leucaena and plan to plant another 120ha on 8m row spacing this summer on former cultivation. Our longer term aim is to convert a further 120-140ha of our shallower soils now under zero tillage grain cropping to leucaena-based pasture,” he said.
Mr Johnstone said they grow all their own grain and forage sorghum silage for the opportunity paddock feedlot operation started 10 years ago.
“We use a local contractor to put down 1000 tonnes of Chopper variety forage annually in a 2500t capacity silage pit and extract it with a John Deere 6320 fitted with silage grabs.
“At present we are using a 50:50 sorghum and wheat grain mix which we treat with caustic soda to boost digestibility. Our soda grain treatment involves 4t of grain and 110kg of caustic soda mixed dry for 5min in a Keenan mixer before adding 500kg of water. This mixed for a further 15-20min before adding another 1t of water.
“That 5.5 tonne batch is spread 700mm deep on a cement-floored shed and allowed to cure for four days before use.
“The feedlot ration comprising 55pc silage, 5pc straw, 36pc grain and 2pc molasses and 2pc water is made each day and fed out into purpose-built, 8mm rolled steel double-sided troughs.
“The feedlot finishing program is based on two mobs of up to 100 head each with alternative finishing dates to maintain a consistent throughput. These 200 cattle are held in two 20ha paddocks each having access to 20m of portable troughing.
“These paddocks are spelled after each batch and the troughs are relocated to another 20ha site to prevent erosion.”
Mr Johnstone said the cattle were eating 28kg/hd/day (13-14kg dry matter) of the soda grain ration and consistently achieving 1.7 to 1.8kg/head/day weight gain.
He was happy to share his most recent kill sheet for a line of 650kg liveweight steers averaging 23-months-old that averaged 347kg dressed weight after 90 days on feed.
The Johnstone family’s successful dryland grain cropping program has been specialising in winter seed wheat production for some years. Thanks to the zero till approach during an extremely dry winter this year, 100ha of Strzelecki seed wheat yielded 2.5t/ha with a similar yield from 120ha of Durum wheat.
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