THE Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) is to move a third of its 200,000-cow breeding cow herd south to northern NSW and southern Queensland in a bold strategy to spread its exposure to seasonal risk and cut costs.
AACo will sell the 70,000 to 80,000 head to a newly-formed financing partner, which will lease the stock to selected breeders on the condition they sell the calves back to AACo.
The new "alliance partnership" is likely to involve about 20 cattle producers based between Dubbo in NSW and Longreach in Queensland breeding AACo genetics on behalf of the big beef company.
The young progeny will then be sold as weaners to nearby markets, saving AACo up to $40 a head in strategic freight advantages over weaners bred and freighted from the company's northern Australian stations.
The stratgey will free up land for more cattle to be carried on the company's 19 stations in Queensland and Northern Territory, also liberating some of the capital it has tied up in breeding and raising stock before they are eventually sold.
The program is due to start rolling out in spring, with AACo already lining up with producers interested in taking on the cattle lease arrangements.
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