THE saying 'good things come in small packages' holds true for the Hayes family's Undoolya Station and the quality Poll Hereford cattle they produce.
At 144,000-hectares, Undoolya might be one of the less expansive operations in the Alice Springs region, but it is renowned for turning-off top-notch stock.
The herd is European Union- accredited and has been part of a Meat Standards Australia grading program for the past three years.
On Todd River floodout country and bordered by the MacDonnell Ranges, a mixture of arid land and smaller shrub trees, together with buffalo and couch grass pastures, the property produces excellent feed for finishing cattle.
All of the stock are grassfed, with only some of the bigger bulls and steers feedlotted at Werribee, Victoria.
Most of Undoolya weaners and yearlings are sold on-hooks to T&R Pastoral in South Australia.
Ben and Nicole Hayes run Undoolya, with their children Nikita, Mikala, Shannan, Tahnee and Jamie, and Ben's parents Jim and Gail.
Ben's brother Andy and his wife Jane run neighbouring station The Gardens.
Another brother Richie, and his wife Jane, also run a 60ha vineyard producing Menindee seedless grapes on Undoolya.
A four-wheel motorbike tour company, Undoolya Discovery, is part of the station enterprise.
So far this year, most cattle have been sold to T&R Pastoral, including a lot of older cows, some of which weighed up to 404 kilograms.
"Western Australia and Tasmania are pretty much the only places that we haven't sold cattle," Nicole said.
In May, for the first time the Hayes sold 84 Poll Hereford steers and heifers, 12 months to 18mo, at the Wodonga National Poll Hereford Show and Sale, Vic, to $2.02/kg or $690 for steers. Heifers sold to $485.
The heaviest steers weighed 360kg with heifers to 320kg.
"We weren't expecting to make much, but we were expecting to break even," Nicole said.
In the first half of this year, 200 cows and calves were sold to Queensland.
Weaners were also sold at the annual Blue Ribbon Alice Springs Show Sale in July, on the Thursday before the Alice Springs Show.
The decision to become part of the MSA program was made to maximise the price of their cattle.
"The price is a bit higher for MSA grade cattle - we get a 20 cents/kg dressedweight premium," Nicole said.
"MSA is all about getting the right meat colour, thickness of fat and minimising dark cutters.
"We're in a central area to a lot of markets, but we sell a lot down south."
Nicole said becoming EU-accredited was simple because they had already ensured they were careful when it came to maintaining records of stock management and any treatments.
*Full report in Stock Journal, September 13 issue, 2012.
