About Us
Our farm adjoins State Highway One at Waipara and runs over the top of Mt Cass and out to the Pacific Ocean. As well as Beef and Lamb we also trade Premium Wiltshire Genetics and Organic crops of Wheat, Linseed, Fennel Seed, Alfalfa Seed and White Clover.
ORGANIC FARMING
THE TEAM
General Manager Dave Wooldridge and the team at Mt Cass Station run the property sticking true to the fundamentals of the organic farming philosophy. Of utmost importance to the Team at Mt Cass is providing quality food, water and conditions for our stock to meat their full potential. It is a team effort at Mt Cass to bring our quality product up for your dining pleasure.
The key focus and the reason the property is certified organic is to ensure we can produce safe, clean, and healthy produce for customers around the world, while we minimise our impact on the environment, don’t use nasty chemicals, and provide the best conditions we can for our livestock. Dave recognises the commitment and dedication of the entire Mt Cass and Wash Creek teams in their efforts to bring you a quality dining experience.
SHEEP
Our stock consists solely of clean skin Wiltshire. They are derived from the ancient horned sheep which used to roam across south west England. This means they shed their wool naturally every year. Often, they are known as hair sheep because of the texture of the fibre.
Sometimes that looks untidy but it means that lice can’t gain a purchase on their skin, and dags do not persist, which means they are resistant to fly strike, so we don’t need to dip the flock these days. We run an elite stud, testing and recording the performance of the rams in order to produce the fastest growing and tastiest lambs, measuring a number of attributes to select only the most resilient ewes, who can thrive without drenches and medications.
PASTURE
We grow herb in our pasture like Chicory and Plantain which offer health benefits along with Lucerne which is packed with protein so our animals can perform and stay healthy
We also practice a clean grazing regime, whereby the lambs, at their most vulnerable, graze on paddocks which have been rotated by crops and cross grazed with cattle to minimise parasite egg contamination.
CATTLE
Our cattle are predominantly Stabilizer which was developed in Colorado in conjunction with the USDA. Stabiliser is a cross between Angus, Red Angus, Simmental, Gelbvieh and South Devon. They were selected with an emphasis on marbling and intramuscular fat, making for a juicy, flavorsome Steak. Next best to Wagyu Beef.
The breeding herd mainly graze on our hill pastures, where the cows help create quality pasture and provide clean grazing for our sheep flock. Weaned at 8 or 9 months old the young cattle are brought down to the lower paddocks with the lambs to fatten during the summer months on our mixed clover and herb pastures.
All the beef grazing is complementary to the sheep because they eat a different length of leaf and they are susceptible to different species of worms. Over winter they will eat hay, baleage, grass and feed crops. Slowly they will develop, as much as two years, until they reach prime condition.
SUBSCRIBE
Stay in touch with news, articles and special offers straight into your Inbox
"*" indicates required fields
