Melinee and Robert Leather believe having a solid business plan and working hard is the key to any successful business.
“We cut sleepers for Queensland Rail for years for a long time everything we made from cattle was invested back into the property,” Mrs Leather said.
“Building cattle numbers and developing our properties was part of our strategy for expansion.”
The Leathers now use a parallel production system to run their business.
Their property Four Mile, a non-organic property, runs 1000 breeders and the progeny from there are transported to Barfield Station to be finished for the EU and PCAS markets.
“All of the cattle on Barfield are treated as organic, but the ones that are born on Four Mile (non-organic) and brought to Barfield Station will never in their lifetime be considered organic,” Mrs Leather said.
Their milk-tooth steers and heifers are consigned to Teys Australia, Biloela for processing into the PCAS and EU markets.
Steers usually have weights of 300 to 320kg, while heifers are in the weight range of 260 to 270kgs.
At Barfield Station the Leathers run a Brahman based herd with 500 organic breeders.
And they are constantly looking for new ways to improve the quality of their herd.
Currently, the Leathers are expanding their herd to include some Belmont Red, Limousin, Senepol and Brangus bloodlines to lift the marbling in their meat.
Since buying Barfield Station the Leathers have planted 240 hectares of Leucaena to strengthen the production system and make the property more resilient through dry times.
While the Leathers now run a very successful beef cattle enterprise at the historic Barfield Station, they have maintained their sustainable timber harvesting business and breeding operation at Four Mile where their son Adam and his wife Chloe live with their two children Ava and Jaxon.
“Our vision is to create a sustainable business by focusing on and caring for our animals, land and family members,” Mrs Leather said.
The cost of Barfield Station tour is $140/pp.