Dexters Thrive on Sprout Diet - Darling Downs QLD

Small cattle on a small property with intensive fodder feeding has been a winning formula for one of Australia’s most successful Dexter cattle enterprises.

Neale and Jeanette Bourne combine stud breeding and finishing the nuggety beef machines for the local premium trade near Oakey on the Darling Downs.
The couple have become serious Dexter producers on their 70 hectare property with more than 100 purebred females – one of the largest registered herds in Australia.

Investing in a Fodder Solutions unit to grow their own supply of hydroponic grain sprouts has allowed them to run more cattle and also significantly reduce feed bills. “We got the fodder unit and it has been great,” Mr Bourne said.  “It produces 42 biscuits of fresh feed every day.  We finish milk tooth steers with half a biscuit a day and a grain ration to a liveweight of 220 to 250 kilos.

The steers are sold privately and direct to abattoir and they now have buyers chasing them for the premium meat.  Their stud cattle also get a regular sprout ration to keep them in top condition for the show circuit.

“We cull our registered cattle hard and with up to 200 cattle on the property, the fodder unit has been a good solution to run the high numbers on a restricted land area,” Mr Bourne said.  “It has certainly been economical feed. Since we have been feeding sprouts, our grain use has been cut by more than half,” Mr Bourne said.