Wendy Sheehan shares insights into the running of the generational property, Trinidad Station.
A lot has changed since Wendy Sheehan’s great-grandfather bought Trinidad Station in the early 1900s. The Quilpie property has grown, and the family has had to develop a more diverse business model to manage risk.
After spending her childhood growing up on Trinidad Station, Wendy returned in 2000 with her husband Peter in tow. Working for her mother for some time, they later went into a partnership running the property together.
Over the years, the location of the 100,000ha property has forced their hand over some management decisions.
“We run sheep and cattle, although we’ve had to cut down on our sheep numbers, because the pressure from wild dogs was getting too much,” Wendy said.
“We’d love to be able to run more, especially so we don’t have all our eggs in one basket and can manage our risk, but there was a fairly rapid increase in sheep losses from wild dogs in the early 2000s which influenced our business model.
“We bait, trap and run guardian alpacas with our sheep. Despite the Wild Dog Barrier Fence tracking across our property, there are certainly some dogs still on the inside.”
Manage what you can
Despite some decisions being out of their hands, Wendy and her family are working to make improvements where they can.
Utilising MLA’s training has been a tried and trusted method for the Sheehans to implement new strategies on-farm.
“My husband went to a Nutrition EDGE workshop and found it really valuable,” Wendy said.
