Our Environment
Environmental Influence
Telemon Droughtmasters is located at Dunluce, west of Hughenden in North Queensland, on the cracking clay soils of down country. Dunluce is approximately 53,000 hectares that spans across 5 original properties that have been acquired over a century; Dunluce, Annandale, Telemon, Sylvania and Montele Downs.
The country is largely undulating downs, which is naturally treeless, though there is alluvial river frontage to the north, and Boree channel country to the south.
​
A further commercial operation is at Burlington, north of Mt Surprise. Burlington is approximately 46,000 hectares that varies from granite forest to red and black basalt country.
Our Telemon genetics are used at both properties, along with various agistment.
What does this mean for our Genetics?
Our cattle have to be:
Heat tolerant, with our calves being born in the hottest, driest part of the year. Temperatures through this time of the year reach above 40’C for months on end, and with minimal shade the cattle must be able to withstand the full impact of the sun. This includes having genetics that are not susceptible to skin cancers.
Able to cover country. Our paddocks range in size, and we expect our bulls and females to be able to walk out and utilise paddocks evenly.
Sound in the hoof. Our cracking clay soils are very soft, with little rock to naturally trim hoof back. In these circumstances we only select animals that have naturally great hoof shape and length, so that their feet don’t blow out on the softer soils.
Parasite resistant. With the majority of Dunluce in ‘Ticky’ Country, we select cattle that have a natural resistance to the introduced cattle tick. We also can have incredibly high buffalo fly burdens in the wet season, so our cattle are selected to be genetically free of hypersensitivity lesions to fly-bite.
Kind tempered. We operate with less than one full time staff member per 1500 head, therefore our cattle have to be easy to handle. Being such a heritable trait, years of selective breeding have allowed us to breed cattle that are easy to educate and safe to operate.
Easy doing. Year round with a grass growing season of only a few months, we still expect yearly production of 0.5kg/day Average Daily Gain in dry cattle, with minimal to no supplements provided.
Adaptable. We have run our breeders in over a range of country, from north of Camooweal, to the basalt north of Hughenden, in granite forest west of Cairns all the way down to South Western Queensland. We’ve also backgrounded steers throughout Queensland over the years. We expect our cattle to handle any conditions thrown at them.
Our winters nights do drop below 0’C, and with windchill and occasional winter rain taken into account, our genetics need to be able to withstand cold as well as heat.
