HONNER FAMILY
Location: Brentwood
Farming since:
Operation: Beef cattle and sheep
AN Irish family with nine children in tow arrived at Yankalilla in 1858 and helped to build a farming foundation that has lasted more than 160 years.
The Honner family has reached its fifth generation of farmers with Tom Honner, who runs the family farm at Brentwood with his wife Amy, and his parents Anthony and Sue, after the Honner ancestors sprawled across the Yorke Peninsula in the late 1800s.
It was Richard and Sarah Honner, Tom's great grandparents, who bought Roscrea at Brentwood on the YP, after Moorowie Station was divided into sections in 1875.
Richard continued to build the family's farming legacy and bought Glenanaar at Maitland soon after, which was taken over by the youngest of the nine siblings, Joseph St Livinus Honner, while Roscrea Hill, Arthurton, and Ynoo, Maitland, were also bought by Richard in the following years.
The second son of Richard and Sarah, William, took over Roscrea, Brentwood.
"That left Tom's great-grandfather, James Joseph, to make his own future," Anthony said.
JJ, as he was affectionately known, was given five shillings with a horse and dray to build what today has become a 3000-hectare property running sheep, cattle and cropping.
"He sent the five shillings back to his father Richard after he ran a bullock team to the BHP mine at Silverton, NSW, supplying provisions from Broken Hill, NSW," Anthony said.
A lucky win in the Melbourne Cup in 1898, meant JJ had enough money to buy the farm neighbouring Roscrea in 1900 and married Margaret Mary Manning.
His brother William later sold Roscrea to the Murdoch family, but two years later in 1906, JJ took ownership of the property and grew his holding to almost 400ha.
JJ had two sons, Joe and Tom's grandfather Jim, who was the next generation to take over Roscrea.
The brothers continued to grow the Honners' holding and bought farms at Brentwood, Yorketown and Warooka.
But off-farm investment also became a focus for Honners as tough times hit in during the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Jim set up a licensed betting shop as well as other businesses including a General Motors dealership, grain and shipping agencies and produced corn sacks. He also became harbor master at Port Minlacowie.
Sharefarmers cropped the prime agricultural land for the Honner brothers while they concentrated on a self-replacing Merino sheep operation that was built on Cliff Farm, Babirra, Orrie Cowie and Carricowie bloodlines.
Jim introduced cattle to the mixed farming operation in about 1960.
"He followed what the Department of Agriculture at the time believed, which was you could run one cow with every 100 sheep without affecting the sheep carrying capacity," Anthony said.
"But Jim tired of the cattle knocking over the sheep fences, but I took an interest in cattle and welded up the cattle yards.
"It got easier with the introduction of some of the first single wire earth return electric fences in SA, the cattle were trained to stay in their paddocks and the cost and efficiency to build compared with a conventional fence in limestone country was a fraction of the cost."
Jim married Vera Shanahan in 1920 and they had three children including Anthony.
Anthony married Sue in 1970 and raised six children at Roscrea, with Tom to become the only child to pursue farming as a career.
Anthony kept the family farm running but also built a long-standing interest in local politics and career with SA Cooperative Bulk Handling Company.
"In 1969, the Labor Party asked me to stand for Goyder, including Yorke Peninsula, and I was offered an Upper House seat to understudy Tom Casey as Minister of Agriculture and when he retired at the next election, I was to be the next Minister of Agriculture at the age of 31," Anthony said.
"But a career in politics was not my aim so I knocked back an easy path to be Minister of Agriculture."
Elected in 1972, Anthony was SA Cooperative Bulk Handling Company's state director for 24 years and finished his career as deputy chairman, before he stood for the Australian Barley Board in 1976 upon his father's retirement from the board.
"My father Jim was on the board for 25 years and combined with my 30 years, it was 55 years of Honners working with ABB, that is a long association of representing farmers," Anthony said.
"In 2003, I made an election promise to merge ABB with Ausbulk, which was not popular with the board but supported by the growers, and the growers got their wish," he said.
"I retired when the merger was completed in 2004 and I was a strong advocate for single desk selling and for growers to own their own company.
"You cannot trade backwards and I think we have lost a great asset, but I would have to say that agriculture, sheep, cattle and grain is in great shape for the foreseeable future and our farmers are the best in the world."
Dedication to show ring brings many honours
Poll Hereford cattle breeding is in the Honner family's blood and after setting national records and collecting many supreme champion titles at shows across Australia, there is plenty of evidence to show they can do it well.
Tom Honner has a self-confessed obsession with breeding cattle and his ability to breed the "ultimate" bull was reflected with the sale of Minlacowie Jubilant for $95,000 at the 2016 Herefords Australia National Sale at Wodonga, Vic.
Minlacowie Jubilant was born and bred out of the Honner family's Poll Hereford stud, Minlacowie, and Tom said it was a career highlight.
"We took it to the Sydney Royal Easter Show and it holds the record for the most successful bull to come out of SA, no SA bull has ever beaten each bull in the line-up of the interbreed competition," he said.
"We would love to see another SA stud join us on that pedestal. It's so great to have a Minlacowie bull that has endured all the rigours of being run in a big pack be recognised."
The stud was formed in 1961 with about 12 Success Poll Hereford cows bought from the Moree, NSW, stud by Anthony and Sue, and it has grown to 180 stud breeders.
"There were just two South Australians at the sale because the locals were in drought and we tossed a coin for the top cow," Anthony said.
"We won the toss and held the bid on the standout cow but the stud had a reserve on it, so we bought Success Vernett 42nd after the sale for 500 guineas, which was a huge price at the time," he said.
"Fifty-five years later, descendants of that cow keep on making the top money."
Anthony began showing cattle at the Naracoorte Poll Hereford Show and Sale more than 40 years ago.
"They were just paddock bulls with a feedlot finish," Anthony said.
The stud aimed to breed bulls suitable for station country.
"Our market is station country that requires large drafts of bulls," Anthony said.
"Pastoralists know the bulls are raised on sand and stony country with prolonged periods of no green pick, so the bulls will stand up in station country," he said.
Tom returned to the family farm in 1996 and his exposure to the cattle scene was underpinned by a chance selection of six-month-old calf, Doonbiddie Hustler.
"For the first 10 years of being home I worked with cattle studs across the world in South America, Canada and New Zealand," he said.
"In the mid-1990s I used that knowledge and I bought a $25,000 share in a record-holding bull."
Doonbiddie Hustler from Doonbiddie Wonderview stud, Bundanoon, NSW, helped catapult Tom into the cattle showing scene and elite cattle breeding circles.
"Hustler was supreme champion at every major show in Australia from about 1998 to 1999 - it was the Phar Lap of its day," Tom said.
"It was a massive rise for me to be involved in its success and the marketing of such an incredible bull - I sold its semen all over the world," he said.
"I met cattle breeders from all over the world and I learned a lot - that bull was astronomical."
Tom said he continued to show cattle for stud promotion and maintain relationships with fellow breeders.
"I have learned from the best and we will keep showing to prove we are good enough to still be competing," he said.
"But I do feel the show scene is losing its commercial reality."
Tom said after decades of cattle showing, he had formed lifelong bonds with industry leaders and increased his skill sets.
"I would love for my children to be involved because it is a great discipline to learn," he said.
But Tom said he was realistic about the cost of showing cattle and would continue to do it "as required".
"My obsession with cattle began when I was very young and I would say that it will be too hard to wash that out of me," he said.
"The cattle industry comes up and goes down but if you are good at it, you will find a way to make it pay."
The Honners' dedication to breeding livestock has also been recognised in the sheep industry too, with the family having one of the longest running self-replacing Merino flocks on the Yorke Peninsula.
For about 100 years, the Honners have joined Merino ewes to Merino rams and Tom said they have continued to breed sheep to complement the cattle operation.
"A Merino is the camel of the desert in some respects, if you treat them well, they will grow a lot of wool and produce a lot of meat but in dry tough times they will get through it as well," he said.
"Depending on the season, Merinos are the most dependable and when cattle and grain prices are down, they are profitable.
"The reason we lease or sharefarm prime cropping land is we believe unless you are in the top 10 per cent of an industry, there is no point and my skill set is in livestock."
The Honners run 800 Merino ewes still based on Babirra, Orrie Cowie and Carricowie genetics and have recently used Rices Creek stud rams to increase wool cut and length.
"We breed ewes to cut about 7 kilograms of wool a year and we have also swung to a six-monthly shearing for the past three years. I am not completely convinced of its benefits for wool growth but it does make the sheep easier to manage with flystrike," Tom said.
Anthony said during his time working with Merino sheep, there was a period that he questioned their viability in the operation.
"In 1996, the price for meat was non-existent and wool prices were shocking," he said.
"We had six years worth of wool sitting in the shed because we would not sell it at the shocking prices being offered.
"But nine years ago, the prices took off and we sold six years worth of wool in one year."
Tom said wool returns climbed from below cost of production to some of the best prices seen in years.
"We were just lucky we could hold out until it turned around," he said.
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