Barclay Bassett certainly did his homework before taking the plunge and returning to his family property to take a front seat in the business.
Now an active member of the Bassett beef enterprise, Mr Bassett spent twelve months on the home property Jenavale, Roma, after completing his senior schooling, a time he said helped him learn the basics of property management.
“That first year at home gave me a good grounding in the practical side of things, such as understanding how fencing structures should be, how yard systems worked, why we fence properties the way we do, and where waters should be,” he said.
“After that year I went to Longreach Ag College for a horsemanship course and from there I went jackerooing at Boomera to get that out of my system while also getting into large scale systems work.”
Mr Bassett said he returned home for another “stint” trying to work out the family business and “get the fundamentals down” before realising a university degree was worthwhile.
“I went to Marcus Oldham College and studied a diploma in agribusiness for a year which was unreal. I then worked for Stanbroke to help me further understand broad scale agriculture and then came back into the family business for good,” he said.
The Bassett family own two properties in addition to Jenavale- Gleneden west of Augathella and Glenellen at Morven.
Mr Bassett said Glenellen currently stocked 1200 Droughtmaster Senepol breeders and their progeny in a self replacing herd, with all calves grown out on property and steers sold at 420kg. Gleneden and Jenavale are both trade operations and Mr Bassett said Jenavale was at a particular advantage for trading being situated so close to the major selling centre of Roma.
Having now been home permanently for six years, Mr Bassett said time spent in other businesses and a positive view of succession planning meant he felt confident in his future on the land.
“As part of our succession plan we’re trying to phase out breeding cattle up here and purchase a southern property on which to run them- it’s all part of opening up another avenue and diversifying into different entities,” he said.
“We’re at a growth stage now where we’re looking to buy more land and keep it rather than buy, improve and sell properties,” he said.
“When we buy a property we pull down all the fences and most of the housing and yards and disregard the water systems.
“We look at a property as a blank canvas so we go in and map it and sit down with surveyors- the systems we’ve got now allow us to be much more productive.”
In a nod to his future on the land, Mr Bassett said he always knew he would return to the family business and now had a clear mindset of steps to achieve his goals.
“I’m a systems person so everything we do gets measured. I know exactly how much weight a beast has lost or gained through its cycle on our properties and it’s a great way to ensure you’re not missing performance indicators and opportunities for better results,” he said.
“Moving forward I’d like to try and get to a stage where the business is less labour intensive and part of that comes into play in our property development goals.
“My take on things is that if you’re not moving forward you’re slipping backwards.”
