Jim Stringer has been on his Pig Valley farm all his life, utilising 430 acres of the family farm, which he and his wife Rosemary purchased in 1986. He runs beef cows and a few goats on his steep but fertile hill country, near Wakefield.
His flock of 350 goats were originally G2, but over the years they have become a fairly mixed breed. Jim described them as a 'tame feral' breed, used solely for weed control.
When he took over the farm from his father, they had mainly hereford cows and a shorthorn bull on the property. Today they have a mob of 100 friesian/hereford cows, for better milking to give calves a good start. They began by keeping stock through to fattening and finishing, but as the mobs got bigger, so did the handling problems and the inevitable damage to fencing and yards, and they now sell calves straight off the cow, at about 7 months.
"Handling them as young stock out the back has worked out quite well. The friesian hereford cows are pretty quiet, you only get the odd one that might be a bit stroppy, it makes it a lot easier for handling," Jim said.
The property has three simmental bulls, which are regularly replaced, roughly every two years, and all supplied by the Enterprise Cattle Company, since they took over the property in 1986. "We keep turning them over to keep young frisky bulls on the property. All our hill country up the back is not easy going by any means."
"A lot of people don't like the simmental, but I get on really well with them, they produce a good calf with a good demand for it. The simmental calves at the sale fetch a premium price, so we'll stick with them," Jim said.
"The last bull we sold, we bought for $1,800, and later sold for over $2,000. He went 656kg on the hooks, he was a good heavy bull, and they were paying over $3 per kilo at the time."
Jim confirmed the increase in beef prices saying they are now paying around $4,000 for a bull, and the best price received for a calf last season was $725. "The average was better than the year before, even the heifers were $15 per head better than the year before," he explained.
