Care for the people, the animals and the environment is at the heart of the dynamic mixed farming operation on Windy Station on NSW’s rich Liverpool Plains.
Story Kirstyt McKenzie Photos Ken Brass
Dave Lee drops to his haunches and scoops up a handful of rich black Liverpool Plains soil. “This is what it’s all about,” he says. “It’s pure vertosol – rich clay that develops deep cracks to store water. There are only a couple of other places in the world that can match it as it can grow anything.” Dave’s wife Clare agrees: “It’s so fertile they say you can grow babies in it.”
Dave is the manager of Windy Station, a 20,234ha property near Quirindi on the NSW north-west slopes. The property is owned by Romani Pastoral Company, which belongs to the European-based financier Urs Schwarzenbach and his Australian-born wife Francesca. Romani also owns properties at Harden and Cootamundra. Dave runs Windy in conjunction with nearby Warrah and Mandeville, which is an hour’s drive away at Premer. He heads up a team of 9 staff supplemented by contractors for planting, spraying, harvesting and busy times in the cattle yards. Clare manages the burgeoning agritourism side of the business.
The lush black soil supports a rotation of crops – wheat, dryland cotton, sorghum, chickpeas, barley, canola and sunflowers – and, in a good season, a herd of 7,000-plus Angus/Hereford cross cattle that includes 3,100 breeders, 1,200 replacement cows, 100 bulls and 3,000 calves.
This story excerpt is from Issue #159
Outback Magazine: February/March 2025
