Looking after the land is vital to our operations – at the end of the day, we couldn’t do what we do without it.
Our feedlot is regulated by Australian state government environmental authorities and the stringent National Feedlot Accreditation Scheme. This scheme specifies ways in which we must mitigate our environmental impact, especially around effluent management, community amenity and water preservation.
Sustainable agricultural practices
We’re committed to making our agricultural activities sustainable. The work we’re doing today is Global G.A.P accredited, meaning we’ve been independently certified by the international Global G.A.P. standard to say our agricultural practices are sustainable.
We manage our waste onsite by transforming the manure by-product into a certified organic, composted fertiliser to be reused on our property as a carbon sequester. Once a difficult to manage waste product, this natural fertiliser is also provided to neighbouring properties to support their farming activities.
100% of our feedlot’s rainfall run-off is collected and used on our farming country for irrigation. We also rotate our crops, practice minimal till farming to maintain ground cover and to ensure we optimise the soil biodiversity of our land.
Reducing our emissions
Over time, the Australian beef industry has been progressive in adopting change to become more sustainable. We’re committed to continuing this progression and are aiming to hit our industry target of carbon neutrality by 2030.
Kerwee has already installed renewable solar energy generation on site reducing our power consumption from off farm by over 60%. We have a vision to exclusively use renewable energy sources when the technology allows.
Our energy use is monitored and benchmarked to ensure we remain efficient in our usage. Our steam flaking mills ensure that our cattle can get as much energy from their feed as possible using fewer resources than traditional feeding methods. Along with the use of probiotics, our cattle have a smaller water use and carbon footprint than those finished on grass. We are active participants in industry research looking to increase cattle productivity to reduce lifecycle carbon emissions, feed efficiencies to reduce food wastage, turning our cattle manure into a source of energy to be used by the public, and feedstuffs that might help reduce the methane emissions of our cattle.
Land stewardship
We recognise our role as custodians of the land on which we operate.
All by-products, including manure and effluent, is collected and managed onsite. By doing so, we not only protect our local waterways, but we are also able to use our certified organic, composted manure to increase the soil health of our land and that of others, improving their ability to sequester carbon and reduce the reliance on synthetically produced fertilizers.
We’re not the only ones that call Kerwee home. We have several tree planting initiatives to encourage more native wildlife to prosper on our property. We also work with local associations to populate, track and record the native fish that live in Oakey Creek, which runs through our property