OUR LAND
The Quindanning property is very scenic and covers relatively high rolling hills (highest point Wild Horse Hill at 405m) and valleys interspersed with large tracts of retained Jarrah bushland.
It consists mainly of fertile forest gravel soils and is classified as a high rainfall area with an average annual rainfall of 550mm. The Quindanning property is well drained with the Coolakin Creek to the west and the Marling Gully to the east, both feeding north into the Murray River system and the Peel-Harvey inlet region. To the south the Wild Horse Creek feeds ultimately into the Blackwood River and the Augusta-Margaret River region.
The western boundary adjoins the Wellington water catchment reserve and Nanga Reserve. On the eastern boundary are long held farming properties that were surveyed and first settled in the 1900s.
The Lynford Farms property is relatively free of salinity apart from a few small springs and low lying marshes. These are being contained with various measures including planted trees and perennial crops that are used for summer grazing.
The Quindanning property includes over 120 clay dams for water storage, has more than 200km of fencing and 30kms of private stock laneways. The distance from corner to corner is 20kms.
OUR STAFF
Lynford Farms is run by professional management with a team of staff that strive to achieve set goals. The management of the operation is guided by expert independent advisors in farm planning, sheep husbandry and agronomy.
Permanent staff members oversee specific areas of the farms operations in the cropping and livestock enterprises. Part time workers including local residents and casual staff are hired to assist with seasonal cropping and harvesting operations as required.
Lynford Farms is also a large employer of professional local contractors. Many services such as fertiliser spreading, heavy trucking, shearing and other sheep husbandry activities are performed by local contractors, some of whom are near neighbours.
All staff are provided the opportunity and encouraged to participate in training and professional development. Lynford Farms also provides traineeships for junior staff to gain qualifications in the industry.
Workplace safety is a key focus of our business with procedures being continually developed and documented. Comprehensive policy and procedure information is provided to inform and assist staff.
Quality housing is available on the property for staff members and includes 7 family houses and separate facilities for single persons. A farm orchard and grassed grounds are maintained by our on site caretaker.
The property is well located for services from the nearest towns of Williams (27Kms) and Darkan (29Kms). Limited services are available from the nearby infamous Quindanning Tavern. As such there are 2 primary schools within a 30km radius and 2 senior high schools within a 60km radius (Narrogin and Collie) with school bus services available to the farm gate.
For enquiries regarding job vacancies and opportunities you are welcome to email us at jobs@lynfordfarms.com.au
OUR LIVE STOCK
Lynford Farms livestock operation revolves primarily around the rearing and genetic improvement of dual purpose merino sheep. They produce fine 19 micron wool and premium quality prime lambs.
Only sheep with good wool and fast maturing traits are kept. All ewes are assessed at hogget shearing using benchmarks for wool, ewe muscle depth and yearling weight. Shearing is conducted at various times of the year utilising our 3 shearing sheds. The main shearing occurs at the end of summer.
The sheep flock is predominantly mature Merino ewes. Approximately half these ewes are our self replacing flock and are mated to Merino rams bred in our own stud flock. Their ewe lambs are reared and those with the best characteristics are retained for inclusion in our breeding flock.
The remainder of the ewes are mated to English breed rams for the rearing of prime lamb. Poll Dorsett and White Suffolk rams are sourced from local breeders and are selected using Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBV) for their breeding qualities and for the excellent meat quality of their progeny.
Once weaned from their mothers, these lambs are grown out throughout the year on green pastures. During drier months they graze on specially developed fodder crops in low-lying areas and are supplementary feed with cereal grains grown on the property.
Wether lambs and the culled ewe lambs reared from the self replacing flock are grown out on our pastures and summer stubbles. At their prime they are sold as lamb or hogget to domestic and overseas markets.
Our stud flock contains the best of our mature ewes. They are mated using genetics sourced from elite rams based on ASBV rankings which are normally in the top 1% of the Merino Select DP+ index. These genetics improve the wool production and meat qualities of our flock. They are passed down from the best of their progeny such that the flock rams we produce from our stud generally rank in the top 5% of the Sheep Genetics Australia database.
Some parts of our land are better suited for the rearing of cattle so we also manage a herd of beef cattle to graze these areas. We no longer breed cattle but young cattle are backgrounded for intensive feeding when market conditions are favourable.
All livestock are marked with electronic tags which enable us to track their individual production performance, movements, veterinary treatments and in some instances their family tree.
OUR CROPS
Lynford Farms is situated in a very reliable rainfall area with rich forest gravel soils suited to cropping. Our cropping operation revolves mainly around a continuous rotation of canola, barley, wheat and oats crops. A slightly cooler climate poses a minor frost risk in winter, so careful selection of varieties and crop rotations are used to minimise the risk.
Most of the canola and cereal crops are delivered to the nearby Narrakine delivery centre and sold direct through the CBH system. Lynford Farms has silo storage for 1000T and shed storage for 800T of grain so some cereals are retained for feed for our own livestock or local producers.
The canola seed produced contains a high grade oil content and most of our barley is malting grade varieties suitable for beer production.
Large parts of our oats crops are purposely sown for the production of export quality hay which is sold in large rectangular bales. The balance of the oat crops are harvested and sold for a variety of uses including domestic consumption.
Our annual cropping program includes the planting of cereal fodder crops and perennial crops. These areas are used to provide quality supplementary feed for our livestock especially during periods of high feed requirements such as lambing.
The cropping program also includes the rejuvenation of dedicated pasture paddocks. The work being done on these areas is helping us to increase our stock holding capacity and paddock productivity.
We utilise the services of specialist agronomists to help manage our crops. Each year we conduct a variety of agronomic trials to improve our cropping activities. Soil tests and plant tissue tests are taken annually to monitor the health and needs of the soils.
We also use sophisticated data and mapping systems for planning activities including geo-referenced yield maps to improve the productivity of the cropping inputs.
OUR MACHINERY
Lynford Farms uses large modern machinery to implement its cropping and harvesting activities. GPS guidance systems are used to automatically steer machinery in precise and efficient paths to help maximise productivity.
The farm is also very proactive in utilising labour saving technology in the area of sheep handling equipment. Electronically operated dipping machines, sheep crushes, weighing and drafting equipment is used to improve efficiency and to ease manual tasks.
Some of the key equipment items presently used are:
- 2 New Holland T8.435 tractors
- 2 Morris Concept 2000 41’ airseeders
- New Holland CR8090 45’ harvester
- Millar Nitro 5333 120’ boom spray/swather
- Trufab 30T seed/super/chaser bin and 110T mobile field bin
- New Holland square baler
- SP windrower and swather
- New Holland telehandler
- Bobcat skidsteer loader