Cattle night yard
A dry, fenced yard on compacted hardcore and murram, roofed at one end, with a feed face along one side.
- Built from
- Hardcore, murram, eucalyptus and mabati
The Farm
The place they come home to
Two plots at Isinya, 4.67 acres between them: the headquarters where the animals spend the night, and the 2.5 acres that grow their feed.
- Land
- 2.17 and 2.5 acres
- Ground
- Black cotton soil
- Rainfall
- Two seasons
- Role
- Night base · feed store
The animals graze out by day. At the headquarters they drink, are fed and checked, and are shut in for the night. Their manure goes back onto the fodder.
The people behind the farm
Tangama Farm is owned by Kassim Salah. Abdurahman manages the farm, and Mohamed works on it.
Kassim Salah
Owner
Abdurahman
Farm manager
Mohamed
Farm worker
Also on the team
Head of pest control
- Role
- Rodent control and fence inspections
- Method
- No chemicals, just whiskers
- Hours
- Mostly nights. Naps by day
- Pay
- Board and lodging
Out by day, home by dark
The herd grazes permitted land by day and comes back to the headquarters in the evening.
- 06:30
First look
Every pen walked and counted; anything lame, off its feed or close to birth is spotted before the gates open.
- 07:30
Out
The herd walks out with a herder. Young stock, heavily pregnant females and anything under treatment stay home.
- 08:00
Clean down
Pens scraped, manure onto the heap, troughs scrubbed, feeders refilled, and the evening ration mixed.
- 16:30
The walk home
Back along the track before the light goes, and straight to the troughs.
- 17:15
Feed and inspection
Fresh cut fodder or silage by the season, minerals and salt always out, and a look at feet, eyes, coats and condition.
- 18:30
Shut in
Females sorted, sires kept where they belong, young stock back with their mothers, and gates checked for the night.
Times move with the season and the light.
Everything the evening needs
Each part has one job in the animals’ day. It is built to be easy to clean, repair and move.
Galla and Dorper night pens
Open sided shelters with low mabati against the wind and raised, drained floors, goats and sheep penned apart.
- Built from
- Eucalyptus posts, mabati, timber rails
Water
Tanks filled from the source and from every guttered roof, feeding troughs set on concrete and drip lines to the fodder.
- Built from
- Tanks, guttering and durable troughs
Feeders
Food grade drums cut lengthwise and set at the right height for each animal. They are cheap, easy to scrub and quick to replace.
- Built from
- Food grade drums, cut lengthwise
Feed store
A mabati roof on eucalyptus posts over cut fodder and feed, open enough for air and closed against driving rain.
- Built from
- Eucalyptus and mabati
Silage
Pits or sealed tubes of chopped Sugargraze and Napier, on firm, drained ground by the feed face.
- Built from
- Pits or sealed tubes on drained ground
Maternity pens
Quiet, bedded pens where does, ewes and cows close to birth are watched without being disturbed.
- Built from
- Timber, mabati and deep bedding
Young stock
Separate pens where kids, lambs and calves are fed, weighed and watched while their mothers go out.
- Built from
- Timber rails and mabati barriers
Quarantine
A pen well apart, downwind and down slope, where every new animal spends its first weeks.
- Built from
- Its own pen, water and feeder
Handling race
A timber race, crush and sorting gates, so inspection, treatment, weighing and loading stay quick and calm.
- Built from
- Timber race, crush and sorting gates
Feed preparation
A covered, raised floor where concentrate, home grown fodder and minerals become the evening ration.
- Built from
- A raised, roofed floor
Manure and compost
Pens scraped every morning, manure stacked and turned under cover, compost carted back to the fodder and the surplus sold to other farms and gardens.
- Built from
- A covered heap and a wheelbarrow
Built for black cotton soil
Simple buildings from local materials that are easy to repair, suited to a hot, windy place on heavy clay. Money goes where wear, water and hygiene need it most.
Frame and roof
- Main posts
- Treated eucalyptus
- Rafters and purlins
- Eucalyptus and sawn timber
- Roofing
- Mabati, guttered to storage
- Sides
- Mostly open, for air
Pens and gates
- Barriers
- Low mabati, against wind and draught
- Rails
- Timber
- Gates
- Simple timber and mabati
- Feeders
- Food grade drums, cut lengthwise
Ground and water
- Resting areas
- Compacted hardcore and murram
- Foundations
- Raised pads, shallow drainage
- Concrete
- Only at troughs, feed faces and wash downs
- Troughs
- Plastic or simple, durable concrete
The feed store comes before the herd.
A home farm, and land around it
The headquarters cannot feed the whole herd on its own. The farm adds land in this order, each step once there is feed for it.
- 01
The headquarters
The 2.17 acre plot: water, night housing, feed store, young stock and breeding control.
Owned · running - 02
The fodder acres
2.5 acres in three sections, on drip and composted with manure from the pens. Super Napier, Sugargraze, alfalfa and desmodium.
Growing - 03
Five more acres
Five more acres come into cultivation from January 2027, for more fodder and silage.
January 2027 - 04
Leased fodder land
Long term leases on 5 to 10 acre blocks, added as the herd grows. Leased land grows feed, and the animals still come home at night.
As the herd grows - 05
Permitted grazing
Day grazing and browse where the farm has permission, out in the morning and home by evening.
Every day
