Willinga Pastoral Co Case study

Gone are the days of collecting overwhelming amounts of data and spending hours working through multiple spreadsheets – operational decision-making has been streamlined for the team at Willinga Pastoral Co through the utilisation of Black Box Co. 

Owned by Terry and Ginette Snow, the Willinga Pastoral portfolio on Queensland’s Western Downs encompasses nine properties spanning 59,488 hectares, with the capacity to carry more than 15,000 cattle. 

Their utilisation of data is part of a broader vision to build a sustainable operation using regenerative agriculture principles.

Harry Scott, Manager of Willinga’s property Greenacres, said prior to using the analysis and insights software, he’d spent “hours in the office working through numerous different spreadsheets”.

“At the end of the day, you can get really caught up in how much data you want; Black Box brings that together so it's not overwhelming,” he said.

“There was information we were capturing that we didn't want or weren't looking for, that all of a sudden means something for us in the business and we can make more informed decisions.”

The insights are also a marker of success. 

“All breeders will be able to agree with this – they get so much pride in the calf they produce and send off. Being able to actually follow that through, know exactly how it’s performed - it's pretty satisfying,” Harry said. 

“Even if you're not going to own it through the feedlot processing period, you can still get the data back and see how your progeny is performing.

“We are able to get the full traceability of that calf now all the way through… and then make informed decisions for the next round of calves.”

Running a base herd of 2500 Hereford females and 2500 first-cross females, Willinga produces purebred and Santa Gertrudis/Hereford-cross progeny for feedlot and domestic grass-fed markets.

Willinga Pastoral Co Breeding Manager, Charles Tapp, said the analysis and insights provided by Black Box helps them ensure they’re fulfilling their breeding objective. 

“We've just got to really make sure that we're keeping our goal in mind of what we're trying to achieve so we can collect the right data,” Charles said. 

“We're not just collecting data for the sake of it; we need to be able to consolidate it and then make decisions from it, otherwise it's worthless.

“That's where Black Box comes in.”

To watch the full case study click here: https://youtu.be/PTw3Ow3z3p4?si=Jhg2diEuuiB7EEpI