Ep 98: Andrew Kettlewell _ Mintor Beef _ Part B

In part two of my chat with Andrew Kettlewell, we dig deeper into the people, moments and decisions that helped shape his career in agriculture and business.

Andrew reflects on lessons learned along the way — from global companies to grassroots agriculture — and why staying connected to the land and community still matters.

It’s a conversation about opportunity, perspective and the long road from Jerilderie to a remarkable career in agriculture.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Step into the heart of Australian agriculture with Salt of the Earth Farm Stories, hosted by Darren Grigg.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

I just hope people appreciate how important agriculture is, like where their food comes from. I don't know. I think in 10-15 years' time the farm is going to be the ultimate because the food isn't there. You see what China's doing, the population growth across the world, like where the hell is all this food gonna come from? Like people still need to eat.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

We're back with Andrew Ketterwell. In this episode, we focus on the systems, clean water, feed analysis, and making decisions early. Andrew shares his view on leadership, staff, and creating balance while farming with young kids. We also talk about their own worm farm producing liquid fertilizer, building healthier pastures from the ground up. It's smart, practical, and forward thinking. Let's get into it. And I know you're big on clean water.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Yeah, this property, well, both properties are really good with water. The property we're sat on at the moment has this bore that is actually capped because it bubbles out the top. It's next level. It's unbelievable. It's drinkable water. I took some in to be tested and they said, is this drinking water? And I said, no, it's bore water. So we're extremely lucky where it comes from. I'm not sure. There was some rumors that it came from sort of northern Australia, even. And obviously, they're having an amazing year up there. So all our aquas may be full, but who knows where it's coming from. But water is massive. We've spent a lot of money on water putting in troughs, putting in solar pumps. We actually double pump to get clean water out the back of the this main block that's 2,000 acres. It's a long way. So yeah, we actually double pump using solar. And it's just water's touch wood. I'm not going to say that confidently. Touch wood is not an issue.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Yeah, and you're big on cleaning troughs out too, aren't you?

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Yeah, it's a shit job. No one likes doing it. And having a good bunghole is important and having it so that the downward side is downward and the water isn't sat on the other side. I'm a huge one with cleaning troughs, just clean water. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Simple. What does good farm management actually look like on a day-to-day scale?

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Yeah, great question. Because if you're a farmer and you're listening to this, you know every day is different. I think the ability to adjust, learn, take advice, look over the fence. And like I'm 40, 46, I'm still learning. Like every year has its own little challenge. Every year, like last year, it was the rain falling 22. We were so wet that we couldn't even drive on the paddock and we couldn't grow grass and we didn't get stuff to feel lot specification because we just couldn't grow the grass because it was too wet. So I think being able to adjust and just take things for what they are. Don't try and do too much in a day. Staff is a massive thing these days. Be respectful for them. They have families, they have issues. Give them time off. Time off is more valuable than being here sometimes. I hear farmers work 14, 12, 14, 15 hour days. Almost question what are you doing for all that time? Are you being truly productive? Or is it a that's what my dad did? I'm doing that. Yeah, my dad worked extremely hard. He worked on his own, and yeah, he he worked extremely hard, but we don't do those hours. I think we're still as productive. And don't complicate things, make things simple.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Well said. And what's one mistake that costs a lot of money if you get it wrong?

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Not going with your gut and not making quick decisions. Sitting on a decision can sometimes cost you way more than it would have if you've just acted on it. Yes, it's easy for me to say that as a farm manager, the money's not coming out of my bank account, but it's being proactive and going to field days, listening to older people or even younger kids, some of the younger kids and embracing AI and like the auto steer on the tractor, it's just next level because you're not exhausted at the end of the day. I know it's been around a while, but it's just one of those things you look at the upfront cost and you go, oh gee, look at that. But your staff are more appreciative and they're willing to stay longer and do longer hours. It's just those little things, the one percenters.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

And how do you prioritize tasks when everything's important?

SPEAKER_01 4:40

You look at the bigger picture and you say, can that wait till tomorrow? Like, is somebody's life dependent on it? Like at the moment, we're trying to put seed in the ground, we're trying to do a bit of spraying because we've got a lot of bindies here, we're trying to feed as well, and we've got a lot of other fencing jobs to go on, but you need to go, what what is important? And I think everybody getting home safe at night's probably your number one, and then everything else will fall into place. And probably I used to get really stressed about everything, but I think family, family's probably number one. I probably wasn't the most amazing dad. I was like a rock, I think, many years ago, and and I've realized that my kids, you only get them once. An old boss of mine just passed away, unfortunately, from a farm accident, and he was only 60, and it's like he was a safe person. So anything can happen at any stage. Like it's just yeah, don't sweat the little things too much.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

Is containment feeding the biggest thing that's changed here over the last 10 years?

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Yeah, that and rotationally grazing, I'd say. You'll see a lot of turbo braid here, so that's that sort of thick electric tape. Um, we've split a lot of paddocks up just so that we can better utilize parts of paddocks that cattle don't go. We don't have huge paddocks here, but it's amazing how they'll just eat one area. But containment feeding's definitely become a big, massive thing, especially over the last few years. It's just tough years. And at least when you've got them in a containment area, you've got control of the situation.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Do you have a core philosophy behind your beef operation here?

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Keep it simple. Definitely keep it simple, don't complicate it. And farming has to work in with your life. Like we get chances like you don't have to be here 24-7. The kids have got sport on. Go and watch them play sport. Those opportunities don't come around. Poppy is now 18, so her days being around here are probably limited. So I'm enjoying my kids more.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

I'm loving your management theory, mate. Geez, I'd come and work for you in a flash. How much success comes down to timing rather than inputs?

SPEAKER_01 7:00

Yeah, good question. So we've we've tried to reduce our artificial fertiliser that we're using. We we invested in a tow and furt, which is a New Zealand sprayer, I'd say. It's got a big agitator in it, so you can put urear out as a foliate rather than as a granule, and then have to rely on a good heavy dew or even rain to dissolve that urea. Um, so this machine has been game-changing to us. So Tom Fur claimed that it's 50% less urea you use. I'm not sure that's every situation and every account. Um, so that's changed a lot. We're able to put out a lot of non-artificial. So we we've got our own commercial worm farm, which is very, very simple. We put out a lot of worm juice, like we're talking 100 litres a hectare at some stages because you just turn the sprinkler on. I can't guarantee the consistency of it, but as long as it's like a good cup of tea, a strong cup of tea, not a milky cup of tea, you know that it's it's good. And you can see the difference. Our animal health bill isn't huge. Our drenching program, we don't drench anything over probably 12 months of age, that sort of older stock, um, which is probably a natural thing anyway. But yeah, try and look alternatively. And Linda's a huge supporter, has always been a huge supporter of that.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

And this is all organic. How is your worm farm set up?

SPEAKER_01 8:32

It's uh like a big concrete bunker with a slope on it down to one end, and it's just got a drain hole and goes into a 10,000 litre tank underground, and then we simply pull up to it with a Davy pump and fill up a 6,000 litre tank and bring it over here and put it out as and when we need it. So once again, we we invested well, Linda invested in that many probably 10 years ago. So we got in early, and at that stage it was cheap to a bit of concrete and all the horse manure and stuff goes in there and it gets turned over every now and then, and you it's next to the bore, so we turn the sprinkler on and to concentrate it, you just turn the Davy pump on and pump it back on itself, and it just makes it more concentrated at the moment because we haven't put anything out. You should say it's like black gold. So, yeah, we'll we'll dilute that down a bit more and and put some more of that out. It's thinking outside the box like red-legged earth mite. People say some of the chemicals you use is lamat, which is I saw my father get really sick one day for a couple of days. He was sick as a dog because he was spraying it and got ingested some and he was sick. So those little things sit in your memory. And that was when I was a little boy. So we use molasses at high rates, so five or six litres of molasses through the tow and furt. You wouldn't be able to put it out with anything else other than the toen furt for red-legged earthmite. So yeah, just think outside the box because what happens is a red-legged earth mite eat the sugar and they love the sugar and they just explode. Apparently, it just burns there internal internally. So basically, you're spraying out good bugs to fight the bad bugs. Yeah, pretty well. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Love it. Do you buy in feed?

SPEAKER_01 10:18

Yeah, we we do buy in. We try to cut as much of our own silage as we can, but last year just didn't allow. Just I don't know, we just kept missing every rain. The the tabletop rock, which we can see right here, is a huge rock, massive. It's and it's made up of tiny little little stones. So millions of years ago, this was where we sat here was the ocean floor, and it waves, created waves and made the tabletop range. And there's a lot of iron ore apparently in this range, and either it attracts the worst possible storms with all the lightning, the thunder, the wind, the hail, or it goes around us. So we're sort of in between a good spot and a bad spot. So we normally have an amazing year, but it's our turn. We we had four years that were amazing. Cattle prices during COVID were next level, so yeah, we made hay while the sun shine then. So it's our turn to be a bit dry, and you've just got to manage it for what it is. You can't change it. Mother Nature does what she likes.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Can't beat her. No, mate. Uh, when you're buying in feed though, do you look for feed quality or consistency?

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Probably a mixture of both. We've got some great suppliers, so everything. Well, we've done some feed sampling, we've been doing this a long time, so yeah, it's just having reliable people. We use a fellow who delivers the crack rain. Matt does a great job and is all it's just having good relationships, and that's probably one thing that we've learned over the last 18 years is building relationships. Yes, it may not be the cheapest, but you get offered the right service and you get supported when you need. So it's not all about who you can screw the most at one motto I sort of go by is a negotiation has to go two ways. Both parties have to win. Everyone has to make a bob to be able to stay in business. So don't try and screw the shit out of people because it's not worth it at the end of the day. You'll end up with a they'll try and have to do things to make money, and you won't get the product that you probably thought you were getting. So it goes both ways.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Relationships made it spig on that too. What's the hardest decision you've had to make as a farm manager?

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Not sure. Not sure. It's probably as hard as you make it, or really. Yeah, great question. I I wouldn't have an answer to that. Wouldn't have an answer.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

There's been some what three this will be our third tough autumn, and uh you're now you're you've got less stock on, so that must make you feel a bit better.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Yeah, it does. Probably making the decision to cull cows, like you've bought them all the way through, you've got great genetics, and it's like it's the unknown. Like we may it may rain now for the next month, or it may not. It's just you've put all this money and effort into these genetics and these cows, and like when we're rotationally grazing them, all you do is drive to the gate and toot the horn, and they follow you. They almost become like your family. And yesterday we had to move them out of a paddock where we've had them in containment and just drove to the gate, too to the horn. The the girls, they're almost part of my family. And one of my favourite jobs, this is probably sounds a bit corny. My favorite jobs is moving them into a fresh paddock and watching the animal behaviour of your lead ones go out and then all your other ones, and just watching them enjoy themselves in a fresh paddock is probably one of the most rewarding jobs you can do on this farm. It's not watching a B double of$3,000 steers go out the the gate, it's the small things. And we've we've been here a long time, so we've planted a lot of trees, and it's watching those trees established and all the little birds and insects that now live in those little areas and how the animals interact with them. I uh they're all the little things. My partner, she's a massive fan of taking a breath and looking at what's around you, and that's probably something that I cherish in our relationship. Is I used to be go, go, go, go, go, go, 20 million kilometres an hour, smash and crash and bash, where it's probably just taking those one minute moments.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

Well, someone's just said to me recently in an episode two that they listen to the land, and I suppose that's what you're doing too, isn't it? Taking the time.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Well, you've got to. You've got every paddock on this farm is different. And you may go drive around and go, oh, that's got 1500 kgs, and but I know that bottom part hasn't got that much, so you you make an average of what's in that paddock. And I like to actually on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of winter or early spring, is go around the farm and do a feed analysis of what we've got ahead of us and go, right, I think there's two days in there, five days, and you can build yourself a roadmap. That's probably one of my favourite jobs as well. Just not and going around picking up a few sticks and just all those little things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Yeah. Well, you are in a beautiful part of the world, mate, and this is a beautiful property. I'm I'm looking at um some very decent yards you've got set up and all your roads coming in through the farm. It's magnificent. Mate, are you ready for some off-the-wall questions?

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

If your cattle could talk, what would they complain about first?

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Food at the moment, food. Feed us more, feed us more.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Bloody autumn.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Yeah, it is. It's just you see them stood at the gate and you're like, oh, we'll just put a bit more grain in the mix, and then you look at the condition they're in and you're like, no way, you're gonna explode. But our cows are in magnificent order. I think we made decisions early. I think the biggest advice I'd give to any young farmer is make decisions early. Don't sit on your hands. Because once you realise animals are losing weight, you've lost them almost. Yeah, too hard to get it back. Uh last year we had cattle out at a Gisman out at Hilpston, and all of a sudden they got tough out there and they rang and said, right, you've got to bring them home. So in a week, we'll bring cattle home. We didn't have any feed, so we were dashing around, and I probably let cattle slip because I just didn't have the feed around us to keep them, and I should have probably drafted them. So we brought 200 cows home that we thought we were gonna carve out at Hillston, and it just changed. So that's another thing, like I said, you've got to be able to adjust to every situation.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Is there any job you secretly hate?

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Rock picking, rock picking, and yeah, when it's hot, rock picking. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

If you had to explain your job to a city kid in one sentence, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Just chaotic. Every day, like Josh comes into work every day, and what I tell him at the start of the day isn't what the day ends up like. Great job, awesome. I I just hope people appreciate how important agriculture is, like where their food comes from. We saw it during COVID, we saw people just being crazy, and I don't know, I think in 10-15 years' time the farmers gonna be the ultimate because the food isn't there. You see what China's doing, the population growth across the world. Like, where the hell is all this food gonna come from? Like, people still need to eat. So, yeah, farming's got a well must be one of the earliest professions, it'll be one of the last professions.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

Mate, that's well said, and that's what this podcast is all about is having more respect and appreciation of where our food and fibre comes from. So, well said.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

I'll just add to that, years ago I wouldn't have said I was a farmer. Like if I got introduced to some mates in Melbourne or something.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

I don't know, it sort of had a stamina about it. Where now I think I'm proud to be a farmer. And my old man, he's got Parkinson's and he he's an avid farmer, and he just he's he talks with so much passion about farming, and it never goes out of you. He's been retired for sort of 13 years now, but he's so passionate about it.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

That's interesting. Like, and I find farmers so clever, and and they're hidden gems really often.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

I think you have to deal with so much adversity, and like I said, every day's different. So you're dealing with HA, you're dealing with the banks, you're dealing with suppliers, you're dealing with fuel, you're dealing with Mother Nature. It's just it's awesome. I love it. I love the challenge. Every year has a different challenge.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

What's one thing that horses have taught you that cattle never could?

SPEAKER_01 19:05

Oh, that's a good question. I the horse is a magnificent animal. I rode there for many years back back, and I did a few competitions, and they'll give you everything. A cow will run over the top of you, but I had I rode a really, really good mare, and she gave gave you everything. Yeah. Oso Lee was her name, and we won a couple of I was in heavyweight division those days. I used to carry a few extra rocks in my saddle blanket to make heavyweight, but they'll just give you everything, and they're so loyal where a cow probably isn't as loyal.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

All right, interesting. Do you have a favorite tool?

SPEAKER_01 19:44

Have a look at our workshop. I think we have every tool there is. I just love the rattle gun, just how quickly you're not building your hands. The rattle gun is phenomenal, and we've got a little rattle gun that can get into most places. So let's go with the simple rattle gun.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

I like it. What's a farming habit you picked up overseas that confused Australians when you came home?

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Um I obviously didn't do a lot of farming over there. I did, however, we lived in a little village called Lombuckby, and I did have a mob of sheep. You couldn't take the boy like this Australian kid landed over there, and I had a huge veggie patch. They call them allotments over there. Huge veggie patch. I had my mob of sheep, used to put them in Amanda's horse box and take them everywhere. And in the middle of winter, I'd be out there feeding these fucking sheep. Um, snow, everything. I I don't think there is one particular thing, but yeah, you can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy. Like I used to so I worked in an office in IT, and we had an amazing sales team. And every year I used to do 10 killers, and I used to sell it to all the guys in the office, and they loved it that this meat came from well, everyone called me Andy Kay, from my sheep, and I'd sell them for a fortune. But I'd go around, I'd first of all put the horse float on, take them to an abattoir, which you probably couldn't do in the UK anymore, had them killed, they were cut up, boxed, and then I'd deliver them to people's houses like my 10 every year. And that would have felt good. It would it was keeping a connection to agriculture. It's never left my never left my blood.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

What piece of farm advice sounds wrong, but actually works?

SPEAKER_01 21:29

You don't need to work all the hours, as I've said earlier. Don't need to work 15 hours a day. You need to work smart, not hard.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

Right. If you lost all technology tomorrow, what would you rely on first?

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Gee, where's if I lost my phone? I don't know. Rattle gun? Yeah, yeah. Because the mobile phone now in agriculture is huge. You YouTube stuff, how to do this, you're contacting people, you're look you're doing Even drop pins for where to dump lime or fertilizer. It's like technology. Back when I was back at home, it was just how they did it. Even meeting people like you you met at the right time at the clock tower or light tower number four at the MCG. You met there and that's how it was. But not these days, you just say I'm running late or whatever. Yeah, so technology is huge. And I love technology. I we try to embrace it as much as we can.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

There's one of your staff going past now with the toe and furt. What would he be spraying at?

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Yeah, so we're just going to go and spray a bit of chemical over at the horse farm. We've just got a fair infiltration of bindies which seem to follow horses everywhere they go. So yeah, we won't add any good stuff to that because there's no green plant matter to absorb all the good stuff that we like to put out. At the moment, it's just a bit of chemical. I like it. It's got two big nozzles, and you can go over all types of terrain. Um, it does a 20-meter span. People are probably like, how does that tow them fur put fertilizer out? So it's got a big agitator inside, it makes it into a liquid form and two big nozzles. So I haven't got little nozzles, and they're all different size nozzles up to 40 mil, which is almost probably as thick as your little finger. So you can even put small seeds out, round seeds out like clover or chicory and stuff like that. We haven't done anything like that, but apparently some people have. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

Looks like a good bit of gear. What's one thing on the farm that that tells you everything's working?

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Yeah, and I think healthy animals. Yeah, healthy animals and temperament, temperament of your animals. Like if my young fella comes over and helps us in the yard, he's got some experience and the cows aren't running on top of him, we're managing them right, they're happy. And I think, yeah, just if the animals are happy, I'm doing my job right.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

Well done. If your kids run farms one day, what do you hope they don't copy from you?

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Probably go away more. As much as I don't work long hours, I'm always here. You're always I live on the farm, so you're always just nipping down to do this, doing that. Uh hopefully they probably live off farm so that you're not constantly thinking about it and breathing it.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Like, do what you did, just maybe fix up a few things along the line which I probably could reflect on and could have done better. But everything happens for a reason. I I I don't look back on things. Um, I probably used to look back on things, but everything happens for a reason. Just make sure you ask for opportunities, don't expect them to come knocking. But just have a go. Have a go.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

One last question. If you could live anywhere in the world, mate, where would it be?

SPEAKER_01 24:58

I do like the beach. I love the beach. Uh probably because I only go there on holidays. If I live there all the time, I might like it. Do love where I live here, so close to Aubrey, so close to an awesome community there in Aubry. Um, it's pretty hard to beat the Murray River down there at Norreel. Spent a lot of time down there. Yeah, just wherever I end up, I end up. That's because I've been taken there, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Well, Andrew, thanks so much for this time I've had with you this morning, mate. You're very passionate, and you are a hard worker. You're very clever, and I can see you're quite inventive and innovative, and a really decent fellow, mate. So thanks so much for the chat.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

Thank you so much. It's been awesome. I've loved listening to all your podcasts. You as the narrator just make it easy and listening to to all the guests you've had on the Bean next level, like it's real credit to you. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

Thanks, mate. Cheers. That's Andrew Ketterwell, the bloke who thinks long-term about soil, stock, people and family. From clean water to smart feed systems and building respect in the industry. Andrew's focused on doing things properly. If this gave you a better appreciation of modern agriculture, then he's done his job. Thanks for listening. Please subscribe and follow us on social media. In the meantime, keep your hands dirty and your spirits high.