Leucaena, Christmas and The Granshaw Family

A couple of weeks before Christmas, I was busily preparing approximately 60 acres to plant Leucaena, the Wondergraze variety. I have planted it in double rows, with eight metres between each dual row. Not only does Leucaena, improve your soil quality, but also has the ability for cattle to gain weight of 1.1kg per day.

Since planting, we have been very fortunate for the paddock to receive 110mm of rain. This section is the start my plans to have a wagon wheel rotation with approximately twelve paddocks in the design. In the future, this design will be a self-monitoring weighing and drafting system in the paddock.

Leah, myself and the kids headed up to Mackay to spend Christmas with all the family. As always, there was plenty of presents, food, drinks and even a special visit from Cowboy Santa and Mrs Clause!!

We were lucky enough to have Bryan, Sue and Riley Granshaw spend a couple of days with us. Bryan is also a 2012 Nuffield Scholar who was in my Global Focus Group. The Granshaw family own a sugarcane farm near Ayr, where they have implemented dual row sugarcane along with intercropping with soya bean, and modified all harvesting and planting machinery accordingly. We had lunch down at the beach which was enjoyed by all.

Starting tomorrow, we are going to make a start on branding this year's calves. Pictured below is one of the first cab off the rank, one of our stud calves.