The farm is located in southeast Australia about 250 kilometers east of Melbourne in the foothills at the tail end of the Great Dividing Range in an area known as Gippsland, Victoria.  The  closest town is Maffra with a population of around 4000 people.   This part of Gippsland was opened up by Scottish explorers who traversed the mountains from New South Wales some 150 years ago ... so the cattle fit in pretty well.

The Scottish influence is noted with names like MacAlister River and Lake Glenmaggie.  To the northwest of the property lies Ben Cruachan, presumably named by the above explorers after a mountain of the same name in Argyll, Scotland ... hence the name of our fold.   Cruachan in Gaelic means "rounded or conical hill" and is pronounced "crew - ach - an"    or     "crew - ack - an" depending on your ability to pronounce the guttural "ch".

This area is in a "rain shadow" and  has only around 600mm (24") rainfall annually.  Most of this falls in the spring time with a little or none through the summer and sometimes (with a little luck) in the autumn.

Due to the lack of natural rainfall, there is a large irrigation scheme which supplies a lot of the commercial farms in the area.

The farm is just off the flatlands and into the foothills.   Hence it does not have access to the commercial irrigation scheme.  However, irrigation has been added to 40 acres of the farm using lateral sprays, supplied from a bore on the property.

At 80 acres (32 hectares) the farm would not be considered large enough to be a sole supply of income.  The Department of Agriculture would recommend a stocking rate of a cow and calf to 3.5 acres for non-irrigated farms  OR  a cow and calf to 1.5 acres for irrigated farms. (intense grazing management can improve on these stocking rates)

Born and brought up in Scotland I emigrated to Australia over twenty-five years ago.     I started breeding Highland Cattle in 1987 by means of a "grading up" program using beef shorthorn as a base.    A first cross cow with a heifer calf at foot was the foundation of my herd which was at that time "a wee bit of nostalgia".   The fold rapidly outgrew the "hobby" label with the importation of a delightful young "fullblood" heifer from New Zealand in 1989 .    Since then I have imported embryos from Canada and semen from both America and Canada,  as well as running embryo programs with my own imported female.

We generally aim to have around 20 breeding age females plus bulls, steers and young heifers ... giving a total between 50 - 60 head.  While this number of cattle is considered to be somewhat larger than a hobby, it may be a while before I retire from the rat race.    Running "stud" type cattle, in this case Highlands, we can maximise the earning capacity of the property.

Highland Cattle are promoted  for their ease of calving, flavoursome beef, their hides as a by-product, and the fact that they will hold their condition for longer than many other breeds in poor country.