Steak and onions partner for Allora

David Brown and Troy Qualischefski have combined their cattle and vegetable growing businesses to maximise the efficiency of irrigation water and land use.

Perhaps what is most surprising is the highly successful business partnership is run on what has long been considered some of the least productive soils in Queensland.

While West Talgai has 320 hectares of irrigated deep alluvial black soil creek flats, the balance of the 687ha property are light sandy loans.

The well-drained and extremely stable ground along the Dalrymple Creek valley is ideal for West Talgai’s 1000-head feedlot.

And as it turns out, the sandy soil is also ideal for irrigation and in particular the growing and,

most importantly, the harvesting of onions and other vegetable crops.

“The sandy loam soils lend themselves to irrigation because we can very closely monitor how much water is required by the crop,” Mr Brown said.

“The biggest advantage is really that crops can still be harvested in wet weather.

“Black soils have infinitely greater water holding ability and nutrient levels, but they present a real challenge in wet weather.

“All soils have their advantages. Like different growing regions, each complements the other.”

Composted feedlot manure from West Talgai and composted chicken manure from nearby farms has been added to the soil to significantly increase organic matter levels. In addition, ongoing soil testing determines the quality and timing of the addition of micro-nutrients and

other fertilisers.

One the obstacles in ongoing development on West Talgai was State government vegetation management laws.

Two of the farm’s nine Valley centre pivots were unable to irrigate a full centre because of small clumps of bull oak trees which had virtually no ecological value and were far from threatened as a species.

Controversial mapping used by the Beattie and Bligh governments meant the trees were prevented from being removed and sustainable agriculture from being allowed to develop.

The result was that instead of the irrigators always watering dry ground as they progressed around the circle, the irrigators were forced to reverse and water already wet ground.

As an example of the low productivity of the country in its undeveloped state, Mr Brown said a 186ha block was added to West Talgai that previously could run only 15 cattle.

Now with the addition of three centre pivots and expert agronomy, the same paddock growing forage crops runs 800 cattle.

“That’s a lot of food, a lot jobs and a lot of wealth that is being generated for this region,” Mr Brown said.

The forage and vegetable crops are run in two-year cycles under each of the nine centre pivots.

Onions are grown through the winter with either pumpkins or broccoli in the summer.

Mr Qualischefski said the climate at Allora was something between Gatton and Stanthorpe and helped spread the production risk.

“We can grow two onion crops and two crops of either broccoli or pumpkins,” Mr Qualischefski said.

“The two-year program breaks the plant disease cycle and allows us to always being growing in new ground.

“On West Talgai we can very closely control the irrigation of the crops, be confident that each crop will be harvested and have relatively easy ground to prepare for the next crop.”

Qualipac will employ up to 100 people to harvest each high-value onion crop in addition to the flow-on benefits to the service businesses necessary to agriculture.

Water for the feedlot and centre pivots are supplied from a 1200ML on-farm storage.

The centre pivot areas range in size from 15ha to 70ha and are positioned on the most suitable areas of the slightly undulating landscape.

Interestingly, the areas under the centre pivots are farmed as a square.

The Trimble GPS guidance system is also linked to the planter which automatically decreases the amount of seed being sown in the non-irrigated areas of the paddock.

Each of the irrigators can also be controlled remotely.

Laptop computers allow the operators to start and stop the machines as required, adjust waterings and pause mid-irrigation for maintenance.

Mr Brown said he expected a significant increase in the amount of intensive agriculture in the region in coming years.

The GPS system also monitored ground levels to determine the construction of contour banks for the next crop.

“This is an area of relatively low evaporation and high water reliability,” Mr Brown said.

“The average evaporation rate here is about 1.2m a year.

“You do not have to go too far west to have evaporation rates of more than 2m a year.

“It is also in close proximity to transport hubs to supply markets and there is already a labour force here.

“We won’t ever see 3000 people working in a car factory here but we will see dozens and dozens of farms employing 10, 20 or 30 people as agriculture intensifies.”

Mr Brown said he saw significant scope for the dairy industry as well as for poultry, pork and produce.

Both the West Talgai Feedlot and Qualipac are long established Woolworths suppliers.

As such, both businesses comply with Woolworths’ stringent quality assurance programs.

West Talgai has supplied cattle to Woolworths for the past 20 years and has previously been recognised as a Woolworths supplier of the year.

“Woolworths has very high standards for their produce, but they are very fair to deal with,” Mr Brown said.

“If you meet their specifications there is no problem.

“We greatly value the partnership and knowing we already have a market for what we are producing.”

Mr Brown said farmers should always look to broaden their horizons to identify opportunities and better farming practices.

“The future of farming is tied to technology,” Mr Brown said.

“And every farmer should be experts at communicating and travel regularly.

“There are so many opportunities for agriculture. We have to get on the wave and not be left behind.”