Lives and Livelihoods

Outstanding achievements by outstanding Individuals

Dan and Sarah Thomson – Ceres Downs, Douglas Daly

Dan and Sarah Thomson came to Ceres Downs in the Douglas-Daly with their young family from Goondiwindi in Queensland five years ago and have since immersed themselves in a diverse mix of farming pursuits.

The family runs breeding and live export cattle, grows 500 ha of hay and also operates a highly productive turf farm, with the output being sold all over Territory - from Darwin and Palmerston to Borroloola in the Gulf.

Dan was raised in Toowoomba in Queensland where his parents were chemists and his Dad had a small hobby farm.

“I got interested in farming there and ended up going to agricultural college at Gatton,” Dan says. “I went on to spend nine years at Walgett and later moved to a mixed farming property at Goondiwindi where we were involved in forage cropping for cattle feedlots.

“At Ceres Downs, we run 1500 head of predominantly Brahman cattle, including 1000 breeders, and we’re fundamentally producing for the live export trade through Darwin. We’re considering shrinking our breeding herd to concentrate on trading.”

He sees the live export trade strengthening even further in the future because of growing demands for protein and food, and believes the NT cattle industry will continue to evolve around that sector.

Like other Douglas-Daly farmers, the Thomsons are dismayed by the extended land clearing moratorium over the district and its impacts on development.

“Ceres Downs is only half developed and we would like to increase production but we have no choice at the moment because of the moratorium,” Dan says.

Source: Kerry Sharp