August 4, 2021

 

Australian Agricultural Company hampered by drought, floods to rebuild herd

 

 

Drought and the continuing recovery from 2019's serious floods in Queensland Gulf Country, Australia, are still hampering herd rebuilding ambitions at the Australian Agricultural Company (AACO), leaving the beef business short of meat to sell.

 

While much of rural Australia has enjoyed a general turnaround from drought conditions in 2020-21, AACo chairman Don McGauchie told a recent annual general meeting that seasonal conditions across the company's 6.4 million hectares of cattle country were mixed.

 

Calving rates had improved in the past year, but were still low - up just 47% in 2019-20.

 

The company needed to buy in supplementary cattle to boost its herd strength and provide the beef supplies its markets required.

 

The meat shortage, tipped to worsen, means many AACo domestic retailers have been sacrificed in favour of offshore markets.

 

"This comes off the back of multiple challenging years, which impacted our calving rates over multiple years, impacting our mature animal numbers and meat production volume in 2020-21," said McGauchie.

 

AACO managing director Hugh Killen confirmed that, although seasonal conditions had improved, drought continued to bite at AACo's productivity.

 

Back in February 2019, AACo lost 43,000 cattle and fences, roads and infrastructure after 500 millimetres of rain and cold windy conditions swept across four of its 21 properties.

 

Killen said tough seasons and low calving rates since 2018 had limited the number of mature first cross Wagyu cattle in the company's herd life cycle, which averages about 3.5 years.

 

He warned of even lower meat supply volumes in 2021-22, noting it would take several years for the herd rebuild to flow through.

- Queensland Country Life