… to love the planet and the animals.
Matt was raised on a Poll Hereford Stud and a mixed farming property called Woorndoo Park. Since he was young, he has held a passion for cattle and farming, and after a long and successful career in the construction and property industry, in 2009 Matt decided to return to farming with his family.
Pardoo farm has seen quite a few changes while under Matt’s care, with his family starting out with conventional farming practices they have evolved to now using Regenerative Farming practices with rotational grazing. Rotational grazing is used to help mimic nature and allow the paddocks to develop and maintain better ground cover.
Why Provenir?
“Pardoo is all about making sure that their cattle’s’ lives are stress free and saw Provenir as a way to help ensure and maintain that crucial aspect all the way up until their final day.”
Matt
Farm fast facts
| Farm Name | Pardoo |
|---|---|
| Farm Size | 1600 acres |
| How many cattle? | 750 Angus cattle |
| Who works on the farm? | Matt, Ange, Jack, Clancy and Will Joyce, Glenn, Kirsty, Archie and Charlie Paton |
| Favourite beef meal? | Slow-Cooked Roast Beef and Vegetables |
| Why Provenir? | Part of why the Pardoo farming team decided to partner with Provenir is due to an admiration and appreciation of their ethical code that communicates to their personal focus of giving their cattle a good, healthy life. Another factor in their decision, is that Pardoo is all about making sure that their cattle’s’ lives are stress free and saw Provenir as a way to help ensure and maintain that crucial aspect all the way up until their final day. |
Livestock
Pure Angus Breed
Pardoo runs a closed self-replacing pure Angus herd, they chose this breed as it is renowned for its mild temperament, incredible maternal characteristics along with having good growth rates and wonderful beef quality especially with IMF (inter muscle fat) which is more commonly known as marbling.
Pardoo has developed its herd over many years using Rennylea, Te Mania and Pathfinder genetics. Pardoo’s cattle are finished and ready for processing year-round. Pardoo also grows and cultivates a herd of Australian White Sheep.
Livestock management
The Pardoo farm and their team utilise Low-stress animal handling techniques when managing the cattle to ensure that the animals are not exposed to high stress environments that would be detrimental to their health. The cattle graze on a multi species pasture for better nutrition and health standards. Pardoo also grows fodder crops along with crops for hay, silage and haylage production.
The Pardoo farm cultivates an antibiotic and pesticide free practice with all their animals, only using them if only absolutely essential for the animals high living quality to continue. If a particular animal has need for antibiotics to help keep it in good health, then it is culled from the herd to keep the other animal’s exposure at a minimum.
Land management
Pardoo takes their land and water management very seriously with multiple measures in place to ensure that not only the animals are kept in good health but also the soil, natural flora and local creeks are protected and maintained. Currently they are redesigning their BioFert plant, with past projects having them focused on planting out the last unprotected creek areas.
At Pardoo they a no pesticides, Fungicides Herbicides, policy that keeps the soil’s PH stable and keeps chemicals far away from the stock’s food source. They also use Organic Biological Home-Made Fertilisers and Multi Species plants to restore the nutrients that had been taken out of the soil last time and to add diversity to the cattle’s diet. Pardoo’s irrigation water is all their own catchment water, keeping their effective water management short, sweet and simple.
Due to Pardoo’s location in the wonderous Otways they have little seasonal issues as their farm usually stays green year-round. Their main concern with the seasons is if it is a “wet” winter, as this can cause waterlogged paddocks that are unpleasant and potentially dangerous for their livestock to stand in.
However, Pardoo does have a solution to this problem, if the paddocks are too wet then they use feed pads to keep the animals dry and safe.
