Dan and Alli have been breeding cattle for the last five years together. Although it all started long before that, Dan with his commercial cattle and Alli with her beloved Braunvieh!
Together they now have a strong commercial herd based on British breeds (mainly Shorthorn and Angus) and a Braunvieh stud. They also run 200 laying hens and a small herd of free range pigs for the ultimate self sufficient and integrated farming practise.
The cattle are run over three properties in the Carlsruhe district on varying soil types that include black cracking clays, red and grey loam soils. The area has 28” rainfall.
The properties are mainly flat to undulating with clover, rye and fescue pastures split into a cell grazing regime. Annually 50ha is cropped with mainly rape, oats, wheat and annual pastures forming the basis of hay and grain production.
We have a holistic farm management style, with all our cattle running free range, predominantly grass fed (minerals and hay are fed in Winter), drenching is on an as needs basis and all animals are handled quietly. All our stud cattle are broken in and transported by accredited livestock transport.
Dan has been in the Woodend district his whole life and is passionate about breeding tender, quality, easy doing cattle. His focus for the commercial herd is selling cattle direct to the consumer and PTIC heifers to restockers.
Alli hales from the Moopark Braunvieh Stud which is located at Broadford one hour north of Melbourne on the Hume Freeway. Her family has had Braunvieh cattle for many years and she has shown them extensively all over Southern Australia. For more information on Moopark please follow the link on the website to the profile.
Alli and Dan formed their own stud Alla-Meade Braunvieh in 2006 and now have over 35 females and a selection of bulls.
Combine the two interests and you have a pretty handy operation; all commercial heifers are joined to our Braunvieh bull Xfactor. We always have commercial females for sale and steers are sold direct to feedlots, backgrounders and freezers! The properties have Campaspe river frontage and an unnamed creek. a bush block up the back and predominantly perrienial pastures.
Alli & Dan have embarked on some solid environmental works including stock exclusion fencing, gorse control, riparian and shelter belt revegetation projects (see our news and events section for the latest project).
Along with the cattle we have strong interest in integrated farm management in 2010 we brough 200 laying hens and have them rotating through the paddocks with the cattle. The philosophy is to cut down on fertiliser and add another dimension to the farm income. We have customers in Melbourne and supply the Royal George Hotel which is known for its fine dining and regional produce in Kyneton.
In 2009 we experimented with pigs and now have 3 sows (Harriet, Henrietta and Luceille) and in 2010 we purchased a large white boar 'Percy' who is just gorgeous! We plan to do some ploughing with these pigs they are totally free range and we hope they will control some our gorse when its cleared. See the news section for pictures and the latest on the pigs. If you would like to order some free range pork please give us a call.
Visitors are Always Welcome.