The McBride business of family

THE large-scale AJ&PA McBride business is one of SA’s most unique farming dynasties.

While featuring 97-years of McBride bloodlines, the business more uniquely has a second long-standing family history through its partnership with the Breeding family.

The partnership began in 1962 with Vic Breeding Senior’s appointment as manager of Teetulpa Station, via Yunta.

Vic Snr originally came to the business as a young cowboy on Teetulpa and went on to establish his own contract dam sinking business.

Throughout the years though, Vic Snr undertook substantial work on McBride properties; work that he spoke fondly of to his family. 

Vic Snr had five sons – Vic Jnr, Lindsay, Warren, Kingsley, and Grant – who are all heavily involved in the business as managers of the ever-expanding AJ&PA McBride business.

AJ&PA McBride consists of 10 properties, from SA’s South East up to the state’s north east and north west.

It also has wine investments and a commercial property portfolio.

Vic Jnr managed Braemar Station at Burra and continues to assist manager Josh Sheridan and Vic’s daughter Leisa on the property.  

Warren manages Teetulpa, with Grant as overseer, Kingsley manages Konetta Station in the SE, and Lindsay is the company’s operation’s manager, while also managing Nepowie Station, but soon to be based in the Adelaide Hills.

Along with Leisa, other third generation Breeding family members are also involved in the business, including Warren’s son Simon.

AJ&PA McBride director Robert McBride said it was amazing to have three generations of one family involved in the business.

AJ&PA McBride director Robert McBride said the company was fortunate to have three generations of the Breeding family working for them. 

“We are grateful Vic Snr indoctrinated into his sons to be gentlemen and about the importance of loyalty,” he said.

“We are fortunate the next generation, Vic Snr’s grandchildren, are following in the family’s footsteps.”

At a recent AJ&PA McBride manager’s dinner, Vic Breeding Jnr was recognised for passing an unbelievable milestone of 50 years with the business. 

“My grandfather Sir Phillip McBride served on the board for 50 years, but that would be the only McBride that has served this business as long,” AJ&PA McBride chairman Keith McBride said at the dinner.

“This milestone with Vic Jnr is an extremely rare thing to witness, and one which I feel extremely privileged to be a part of.

“The McBride business has a good history of long-service employees, which we hope will continue.”

Vic Jnr undertook his farming apprenticeship under Vic Snr at Teetulpa, before taking on the manager’s role at Braemar at age 23.

“We all grew up working at Teetulpa,” Vic Jnr said. 

“But once each brother finished our apprenticeship on-farm, we had to make way for the next brother coming up through the ranks.”

Vic’s first McBride pay cheque was noted in December 1965.

Brother Lindsay Breeding, who himself has notched up 35 years with the company, called his time with Vic at Braemar the “best period of his life”.

“After working as a wool classer for much of the 1970s, I joined Vic in 1981 to work under him at Braemar,” he said.

“It was a great grounding for me, he has always been and continues to be, a mentor to me and my brothers.

“Vic developed into a top quality manager, who, like our father could build or fix anything, utilising whatever was at hand.

“He also possessed excellent livestock knowledge and skills and a great affinity for his stock, but most of all, had a love for the land and knew the importance of preservation and conservation.”

When he took over, Vic Jnr described Braemar as “close to pristine” as you could get in a property.

“Braemar was a late developer because of the lack of water availability,” he said. 

Former AJ&PA McBride director Michael McBride elaborated on how Vic’s hard work and determination transformed Braemar Station into the productive property it is today.

“When Vic joined Braemar in the ‘70s, the property was purely dependent on surface water, like most north-eastern properties in SA,” he said.

“So you had to sell-off most of your stock except your base breeding ewes, which hopefully survived until it rained again.

“Back then though it was really dry, so Vic spent time devising a watering system with poly pipe and an old fuel tank, which he used out on our remote dams. He would move his invention around to keep his ewes watered and increased his ability to keep as many ewes as he could through the dry.”

In 1986, McBrides purchased Mulga Hill – a property on the north-west corner of Braemar, which had two bores.

“With the southern bore, Vic established a pipeline that gravitated water down to Braemar’s north-west corner.

“Unfortunately though, the bore was poor quality, so the pipe kept caking up. It was the bane of Vic’s life at Braemar for a while, with a lot of late night runs to keep the stock watered.”

Years later, the McBrides purchased another nearby property which included a good bore, “which provided more of the water that we needed”, Michael said.

More pipelines were laid from key dams, and remote dams became more accessible and connected to the homestead property. 

“Vic put all of this system in,” Michael said. “We also purchased a Cat loader, so Vic set about cleaning out all the dams on the properties – some had 15 feet of silt, among other interesting finds!

“But all this effort to transform Braemar meant Vic could keep more sheep through the dry and not run out of water.

“It also meant we could purchase more country around the homestead block.

“All of this required a lot of effort and Vic did this in his usual way of doing it once, doing it well.”

Michael said drought-proofing wasn’t the only project Vic conducted on-farm.

“With wife Anne, they also cultivated a lot of trees,” he said.

“There wasn’t many trees at Braemar before Vic started – now you can’t see the Braemar homestead for the trees.

“It has become a wonderful property, in terms of feed cover and water.”

Vic Jnr said the partnership with the McBride family purely stemmed from his father’s fine words of working with the McBride family.

“We just wanted to follow in his footsteps,” he said.

“And as time went on, you just got an affinity with the McBride culture, not just as a business but as family.

“When things got tough, the McBride family were with you. I have always appreciated that and always will.”

The AJ&PA McBride business celebrates 100 years of operation in 2020.