Ceres Agriculture, Australia |
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About the farm |
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Started in |
2000 |
Personnel |
105 staff |
Livestock |
100,000 cattle (annual production) 25,000 Merino sheep |
Area under cultivation |
30,000 ha, including 16,000 ha arable land and 14,000 ha pasture |
Soil type |
Sandstone- and basalt-based soils |
Annual rainfall |
600 to 700 mm, depending on the region |
Machinery |
4x LEXION 740 2x LEXION 770 3x AXION 950 1x AXION 930 2x AXION 810 1x ARION 630C 1x ARION 620C |
About Australia |
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Population |
Approx. 23.6 million 3.1 people per km² (per 247 acres) |
Total area |
770 million ha (1,902,711,437 acres) |
Area under cultivation |
385 million hectares (951,355,718 acres) |
Number of farms |
Approx. 123,000 Over 70% of farms have less than 500 ha (1,235 acres). 100 farms have over 500,000 ha (1,235,526 acres). |
30,000 hectares, 100,000 cattle – one of the top ten farms in Australia.
Ceres Agriculture is one of the top ten cattle finishing operations in Australia. This Australian business sells up to 2,000 head of cattle per week, always has 30,000 cattle on its farms, and has an annual production of around 100,000 carcases. “As far as I know,” says Mark Mason, co-founder and Managing Director of Ceres Agriculture, “We’ve been the first ones that I’m aware of that have scaled supplementary feeding of cattle in the paddock to the extent that we have.” This makes it one of the largest cattle finishing operations in the country, and probably the biggest pasture-based finishing operation in Australia. He and his staff manage around 30,000 hectares (74,100 acres) of farmland. Just over half of this – around 16,000 hectares (39,500 acres) spread across several locations in Australia – is managed primarily as arable land, growing grain crops. The biggest location is the Northern Aggregation which includes the arable and cattle production sites around Warialda and Moree in New South Wales, south-west of Brisbane. The so called “Northern Operations” produce around 40,000 to 50,000 tonnes of high-quality grain, legumes and oilseeds annually, including bread wheat, durum wheat, malting barley, rape (canola), chickpeas, sorghum, maize and sunflowers. The Northern Operation also has around 20,000 head of cattle. Another 10,000 cattle are raised at the Oberon site, west of Sydney. Sheep are also run on the southern farms with around 25,000 animals, these farms are located in the south of Australia and produce superfine Merino wool. Pasture for cattle production and sheep breeding therefore accounts for around 14,000 hectares (34,600 acres). The fourth string to the Ceres Agriculture bow, alongside arable farming, cattle production and sheep breeding, is logistics. The company has more than 20 trucks which transport cattle, sheep, grain and feed.
We’ve worked hard to develop a sustainable business.
Mark Mason is a sixth-generation Australian farmer and worked as an agronomist for many years before starting the Ceres Agriculture business in 2000 with Australian businessman Garrick Hawkins. At the time, the business had one farm and two employees. “Over the last few years we’ve worked hard to develop a sustainable business, although we weren’t thinking of anything as big as this when we started,” he admits, explaining: “It quickly became clear how big it would need to be to run smoothly. Economies of scale is one way of remaining competitive at a global level.” Sustainability is also essential – both environmentally and economically – because: “We operate in a very difficult environment in a country where we don’t get subsidies, in fact there’s only a diesel rebate, so we have to be fit, competitive on a global scale.” Mason knows that it is possible to approach agriculture with the view that you will operate a low-input system with very little investment and without doing anything new. “Our view has been the opposite to that, because we need a good cash flow to pay our staff,” he explains, describing the conviction that has led to the creation of a business of the current size.
Constantly keeping track of several tens of thousands of cattle and feeding them is no easy task.
Constantly keeping track of several tens of thousands of cattle and feeding them is no easy task. “Other similar-sized farms raise their cattle permanently in feedlots, where they are fattened for 100 days,” explains Mark Mason. Feedlots are smaller, self-contained plots of land where animals are kept and fattened. But Ceres Agriculture takes a slightly different approach: “We feel that it’s a better welfare outcome for the animals to be in a free-range environment. So our fields or paddocks are of similar size to what they would be, whether we were feeding them or not.” Initially the cattle are kept in starter feedlots for up to 20 days at Ceres Agriculture. This is done so that they can acclimatise, get used to the feed rations and have the necessary vaccinations. They are then moved to the paddocks where they are still fed with a supplementary grain-based ration. From the paddocks, the cattle have free access to 40 hectare pastures where they spend the remaining 70 to 80 days and where they can move around freely. Each pasture holds around 100 head of cattle. Over half of the grain for the supplementary feed is sourced from the company’s own land and consists mainly of cooled steam-treated grain flakes. To produce this feed, the grain is heated up slowly and then cooked with steam for about 30 t0 40 minutes. Afterwards it is rolled into flakes and cooled back down to the ambient temperature. Steam cooking gelatinises the starch and makes the flakes more digestible. “We make the most of every mouthful,” says Mark Mason, but adds: “However, steam flaking means that the ration can start going mouldy within 24 hours.” The grain is therefore dried to around twelve per cent so that the ration remains stable for several weeks in the feeding stations in the paddocks. The cooled steam flaking mill is the first and only one of its kind in Australia. “It was a significant investment,” says Mark Mason. And also a bold one because, as he recalls: “When we imported the technology from the USA in 2008, it was untried over here and we were told that the ceiling to production was about one-and-a-half kilos daily weight gain. Instead, the weight gain is closer to two kilos, which is similar to the rate achieved on full feed in a feedlot.” At a weight of 500-520 kg, the cattle are taken to an abattoir in Inverell which is about 100 km away. Around half of the beef produced is sold on the domestic market and the other half is exported. The many medals and prizes that the company has won for its meat products nationwide show that this system pays off.
"When we’re choosing equipment our main concerns are quality and reliability. We get both of these from CLAAS."
But the emphasis on quality at Ceres Agriculture doesn’t stop at producing first-class beef. To work efficiently while guaranteeing high quality, many things have to come together at the right time: the people, the machines, the soil and the weather. Mark Mason and his team have the machines completely under control. “When we’re choosing equipment our main concerns are quality and reliability. We get both of these from CLAAS.” The company uses nine CLAAS tractors and six CLAAS combine harvesters. With regard to the tractors, Mark Mason points out that reliable equipment is essential, particularly during the winter crop harvest when they work twenty-four hours a day for eight weeks at a stretch. The same is true at sowing time, when the tractors pull 18 metre Morris disc or tined seeders and 11 tonne Air Carts. But operator comfort is also important, because as Mark Mason knows, “when the guys are sitting in the machines for long periods of time, being comfortable helps them to stay alert and avoid problems.” Another challenge for agriculture in general and machinery in particular is the weather. During the summer the temperatures often soar to well over 40 degrees Celsius, which is very hard to deal with. But CLAAS machines are up to the job. Mark Mason also sees enormous benefits in terms of fuel consumption. “Compared with other machines on the market, they are very fuel-efficient, and that’s very important in a business that uses three million litres of diesel a year. Particularly when you look at the hours we put on the tractors: our planting tractors do about 2,000 hours a year. If we can save a bit of fuel, it has a big effect.” As well as reliability, efficiency and comfort, service is another extremely important factor when choosing machinery. “A lot of what we do is time-critical. A couple of hours or a day out of action can easily cost us tens of thousands of dollars,” says Mason. And even though the company has its own mechanics, they can’t repair everything. Then he can rely on Jeremy Matthews from dealer WJ Matthews in Moree – which is still an hour by road from the farm.
"Our main focus is on growing high-value winter cereals"
You can choose your machinery but you can’t choose the soil and climate – you just have to cope with them. The soil varies from north to south: the northern cropping belt has quite young soils. On the slopes there are sandstone- and basalt-based soils which are relatively fertile, especially for Australia. However, most of the rainfall – 600 to 700 mm depending on the site – is in the summer, from November to February. “Our main focus is on growing high-value winter cereals,” explains Mark Mason. These are sown in May and June, and the harvest starts in October and lasts into November. The aim is to achieve average yields of three tonnes per hectare for winter cereals and around one-and-a-half tonnes for chickpeas. On the western land with the lowest rainfall, Ceres Agriculture uses a zero-till system including controlled traffic in order to use the moisture effectively and minimise soil compaction. The straw is left on the field after harvesting. In years with high straw yields, the residues are burnt just prior to planting to prevent problems with direct drilling. “We also grow summer crops, predominantly milo or sorghum and maize, when we can, when we get a break early enough,” says Mark Mason. Ideally, the summer crops are sown in September and harvested in February. Ceres Agriculture tries to grow summer crops on about 20 per cent of its arable land, if possible. One reason for this is that the farm has problems with glyphosate and other herbicide resistance and summer crops allow the use of different chemicals to help manage herbicide resistance.
"I’m very proud of what our staff achieve. Without them, we wouldn't be where we are today"
Ceres Agriculture currently has 105 full-time employees spread across the cattle, sheep, cropping and logistics operations, administration and accounting. But, as Mark Mason explains, it’s not easy to find good staff. “We’re relatively isolated here, a hundred kilometres from the nearest town.” But he offers his staff good conditions. A feeling of responsibility, passion and a team atmosphere: these are the characteristics that mark out the Ceres team. “I’m very proud of what our staff achieve. They work extremely hard and are very committed to the business. Without them, we wouldn't be where we are today,” says the boss with conviction. So it’s no surprise that the company values are care, quality and respect. “A day when we produce something that we can be rightly, justifiably proud of, something that people want to eat, that’s excellent work,” explains Mark Mason, adding: “I think there’s something fundamentally rewarding about growing food. It’s hard to beat.” You can sense that he finds his work fulfilling. He enjoys the challenge and doesn’t like sitting still. He is convinced that farmers in Australia need to be flexible and adaptable. He certainly is. And his vision: to leave a sustainable and profitable business.
AXION 950-920 Stage IIIB (Tier 4i)
When massive pulling power joins forces with maximum user-friendliness to deliver unrivalled versatility and performance – you are sitting in the AXION 900.
| AXION 950 | AXION 940 | AXION 930 | AXION 920 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cylinders | 6/TI | 6/TI | 6/TI | 6/TI | |
| Cubic capacity | cm3 | 8710 | 8710 | 8710 | 8710 |
| Nominal engine speed | rpm | 2150 | 2150 | 2150 | 2150 |
| Rated output (ECE R 120) | kW/hp | 298/405 | 276/375 | 254/345 | 232/315 |
| Max. output (ECE R 120) | kW/hp | 302/410 | 279/380 | 257/350 | 235/320 |
| Max. torque (ECE R 120) | Nm | 1650 | 1550 | 1450 | 1350 |
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