Client Testimonial – Radford Pastoral
The Radford Pastoral Partnership story began in 1981 when Gary Radford purchased Clifton Downs, a station in the far northwest corner of New South Wales. By the mid-1990s, this had expanded to 1 million acres in the western division and 4000 acres near Naracoorte. A shift in strategy to farming in the southeast of South Australia has established a portfolio of approximately 10,000 acres and 5500 head of cattle. While a lot has changed from the northern properties comprising of cattle sheep and goats, the southeast has concentrated purely on breeding and finishing our own cattle.
A lot has changed over the years to try to achieve best practise.
Whilst in the early years, cattle bred were mainly Hereford, there was also a mix of shorthorn and Santa Gertrudis. The shift to the southeast also brought a change with the first time Angus bulls had been introduced. Since then, the herd has been completely converted or bred into Angus.
The first Yerwal bulls were purchased in 2004 as part of the bull replacement strategy. Bulls were also sourced from other studs, but it didn’t take long to realise the value, quality and temperament of the Yerwal breed and all bulls have been purchased exclusively from there since.
Bulls used to be introduced to cows for 12 weeks and heifers for 8. This has been reduced to 6 weeks for cows and 4 weeks for heifers to allow for the most fertile females to remain in the herd.
While for years the main market has been feedlots with a target weight of up to 500kg. The diversity of these cattle have allowed for extra weight gain to access other markets. With the last 2 years showing a good flush of spring feed the steers have been able to gain up to 3.5kg a day.
