Page 6 - OurStories-2022_Preview

6 | OUR STORY: GRUNDY

▲ YARDED: Angus cows gather near the yards after weaning. ▲ MOVING ON: The Dorper flock on the move.

The Grundys run a three-pronged livestock in spades with docile animals and good growth
enterprise, grow crops for feed and offer tourism due to low stress,” Sally said.
experiences, including station tours, photography The cattle herd is rotationally grazed through
and birdwatching tours, camping and self- paddocks for a week at a time and weaners are
contained accommodation for people interested moved to Hindmarsh Island to graze barley or
in fishing, kayaking, birdlife and the environment. lucerne crops.
Jessie, 20, and Jack, 18, both assist with The Grundys direct drill crops - 200ha of barley/
all aspects of station life and Jack is studying ryegrass and oat/ryegrass mixes - which are used
agricultural science at the University of Adelaide for feed, rather than solely relying on pastures.
with the aim to carry on the family tradition. Abundant summer feed on the freshwater
side of the islands allows the Grundys to carry
Livestock mix a good fit pregnant cows through summer and calve
down on strawberry clover, paspalum and native
Much of the Grundys’ success and longevity
pastures. ▲ CLEAN WOOL: Peter Grundy, Eric Birks and Jack
has come down to making the most of their
“We remove our stock from the wetlands during Grundy unloading sheep into the water to wash
environment.
winter and relocate them to the high-ground,” them circa, 1950.
Their present livestock enterprise consists of
Sally said.
well-adapted Angus cattle, Dorper ewes mated
“The wetland pastures are summer growing
to Australian White rams and wild Arab Australian obstacles.
and dependent on warm weather, while the
cross stock horses. The Grundys said they first became aware of the
high ground pastures are winter growing and
The unique island conditions have been no issue “catastrophic situation” unfolding in March 2007
dependent on rainfall.”
for the cattle, which have been known to graze when weaners in their stockyards walked to the
with their heads under water up to their eyes, Island challenges water troughs, sniffed and walked away.
while no fences mean no worries when it comes All barrages, designed to prevent salt water from
to the Dorpers. While there are some advantages in running entering the lower lakes, were leaking.
“They don’t respect fences, but they can’t swim livestock across a chain of islands, there are also Efforts to plug the leaks were futile as salt
and therefore respect our island boundaries,” plenty of challenges. water spread far and wide, impacting numerous
Sally said. The Grundys are unable to quickly navigate properties.
“They are magnificent meat sheep and the fact between islands with vehicles or motorbikes so A lack of environmental flows during the
they don’t require shearing makes them ideal for mustering is done on horseback or with drones. drought years resulted in huge fish deaths as
our island.” Son Jack has completed his Remote Pilot the waterways around the islands became
Angus heifers and steers are generally sold to Multirotor 25 kilogram licence and is the station’s increasingly salty and soils became highly acidic.
feedlot buyers at 12 to 18-months old from July chief drone pilot. Cattle relied on freshwater soaks the Grundys
to September, with top breeding heifers kept for “Drones provide a safer and drier option (for dug in the dried up lake bed of the River Murray
herd replacements or to sell with calves at-foot. mustering),” Sally said. to survive.
The Grundys are proactive when it comes to “Falling off your horse between islands is not But like the generations before them that had to
herd improvement, carefully selecting bulls with pleasant, especially if it’s at the beginning of the deal with workmen leaving to go to war, liver fluke
desired estimated breeding values and placing muster! issues due to the construction of the barrages,
importance on low-stress stock handling. “We also use drones to check stock on a regular and death duties, the Grundys persisted and
They have European Union and Meat Standards basis, which negates the need to saddle a horse found a way.
Australia accreditation to capitalise on their and spend a day getting to the islands, inspect “The drought forced us to pipe water from
dedicated approach, including a week of yard stock and return.” the mainland and install troughs into all our
weaning, typically in August, which they say Like all farmers, the Grundys are also subject to paddocks,” Colin said.
gets cattle accustomed to human activity in the whims of nature and this was illustrated during “We had to fence off all water courses because
preparation for trucking and moving into feedlots, the Millennium Drought years of 2007 to 2010, they turned to salt water. That made a lot more
breeds familiarity with people, stockyards and when costs to survive nearly sent them broke. paddocks and this is now an advantage for cell
water troughs and allows them to identify any The salinity levels of the River Murray are critical grazing and regenerative farming practices.
flighty animals to be removed from the mob. to the health of their livestock and a lack of “At the time this expenditure on infrastructure to
“The time and energy input required is paid back freshwater during those years presented major survive the drought nearly sent us broke.”

▲ INTERVENTION: Cattle relied on drinking from
freshwater soaks dug by the Grundys to survive. ▲ BIG DRY: The islands were surrounded by sand,
This area would have normally been covered by a ▲ UNINHABITABLE: High salinity in the River Murray rather than the fresh water of the river, during the
metre of water. during the drought killed scores of fish. Millennium Drought.