Tandou Pastoral

Western New South Wales is traditionally pastoral country and when Tandou commenced operations near Menindee, in 1972, a large Merino flock grazed the area.

Given only a small proportion of our landholdings are developed for cropping, there remains the opportunity to operate a pastoral business. At Tandou Pastoral, we have developed this business into a profitable enterprise which further diversifies our portfolio which includes Tandou Farm and Tandou Services.

A new flock

At Tandou, we are constantly searching for ways to maximise return on investment. In 2007, Tandou recognised the opportunities that Dorper sheep presented for the pastoral country and we decided to change our production focus from the Merino breed to the Dorper.

This highly fertile, fast maturing meat sheep is ideally suited to Tandou’s pastoral environment as it requires little management and sheds its wool, removing the need for shearing.

We now run 4,500 ewes on Tandou Pastoral and a further 5,000 ewes on a local leased property.

Tandou are now in a position to sell lambs twice annually and have an average lambing rate of around 125%. Through our Dorper flock, our shareholders are now in a position to take advantage of the rising returns for meat sheep.

The ‘organic’ environment

To add further value to our grazing operation, Tandou is in the process of gaining accreditation as an organic producer. To-date Tandou has approximately 40,000 ha of fully certified organic country with a further 20,000ha in pre-certification.

At Tandou, we recognise the increasing demand for organically produced goods. Our isolation and freedom from pests and disease mean that we are well positioned to produce organic products. We are currently classified as “Pre-certified” under Australia’s peak certification body, the Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA).

Organic certification will add value to our shareholder’s by positioning Tandou well to take advantage of the increasing consumer demand for certified produce.