MORE needs to be done to protect the financial viability of pastoralists' grazing operations in northern Australia according to Heytesbury chief executive officer Paul Holmes a' Court.
Part of Mr Holmes a' Court's Heytesbury enterprise includes Heyetsbury Cattle Company, a165,000 head cattle operation that spreads across six stations, or 24,000km2, in northern Australia, including one station in WA.
Speaking at the PGA Convention last week, Mr Holmes a' Court outlined his pastoral operation's challenges and the opportunities available to pastoralists, in an address which rang true with the majority of WA pastoralists in the room.
Heytesbury's grazing operation has extensive involvement in the live export industry.
This year Heytesbury expects to export 40,000 head of cattle to Indonesia according to Mr Holmes a' Court.
"We will supply beef to two million Indonesians; the equivalent of 10 per cent of the Australian population will be fed by our company," he said.
While Heytesbury and other pastoralist companies contribute valuable export dollars to the economy and take care of the land, Mr Holmes a Court feels their contribution is not appreciated by the wider community.
"We're financially fragile, we don't feel it's widely understood by government, who take our existence and the very good things we do in that part of the world for granted," he said.
To offset rising input costs, Heytesbury has been able to increase the size of its herd and also found some operating efficiencies in its business.
However, Mr Holmes a' Court conceded they are now close to full capacity and can only expect to extract marginal efficiency improvements in the future.
"They cannot be enough to offset any significant shocks that we might receive in terms of cattle price, or operating costs," he said.
The biggest expense in Mr Holmes a' Court's grazing business is labour, with the retention of staff proving to be a key issue.
"Its getting harder to attract good staff, especially with experience in horses and cattle," he said.
One of the ways Mr Holmes a' Court belives pastoralists can improve staff retention is to pay hard-working staff better, provide extra benefits and improve accommodation conditions.
An increase in indigenous involvement in the pastoral sector could be another avenue to improving retention rates and also standing in the general community.
"This very subject, more than anything else, can prove our industry's value to regions where we operate, the state that leases us its land and the country that we rely on for its support," he said.
"When it comes to improving the lot of so many disadvantaged young indigenous people in the northern pastoral regions, no one else can do what we can do.
"We are therefore in a uniquely powerful position, the jobs that we can give are real jobs, they are not government program jobs, or filling a quota, these are real jobs that need doing by people from the area."
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