Our People

Our team is what makes Palgrove who it is. We have a team of over thirty people who are passionate about the beef industry and providing high quality and profitable genetics. We all go above and beyond to care for our cattle, land and people.

Palgrove Management

Ben Noller

Ben Noller

Seedstock Business Development Manager

Ben has a strong family history within the Charolais breed and is extremely passionate about the continued improvements in beef production through genetics. A lifetime involvement in the industry, working with numerous breeds and strong industry mentors has equipped Ben with the skillset to push Palgrove forward.

Ben manages our seedstock production and sales and ensures that our genetic performance remains at the forefront of the industry. With an extensive herd of 6500 plus registered cattle to oversee, Ben’s focus remains on producing genetics that improve profitability for commercial producers.

Will Heath

Will Heath

CEO

His career has included several commercial and leadership roles in the natural resources, investment management and agricultural industries. He is focussed on leading the Palgrove team to continue to deliver high quality beef genetics and service to our clients and to provide a rewarding and safe work environment for our team.

Will has a long-standing association with the cattle industry having worked on cattle stations in the NT and WA and his family operating a cattle property west of Blackall up until 2009.

George Stacey

George Stacey

Ultrablack Seedstock Manager

George Stacey is our Ultrablack Seedstock Manager, focused on improving productivity and profitability in northern breeding herds through the use of Ultrablack genetics. Raised on a cattle station near Richmond in north-western Queensland, George brings practical, on-ground insight to Palgrove’s Ultrablack seedstock program, with an emphasis on producing genetics that perform in commercial conditions.

Zach Duff

Zach Duff

Operations Manager – South

Zach Duff grew up on the family property on the Darling Downs and brings 20 years pastoral experience to the team. Zach started his career with Stanbroke Pastoral company progressing to assistant manager before moving to Georgina Pastoral Co to manage Armraynald Station.

Following the sale of Armraynald to Paraway Pastoral Co, Zach worked for 13 years managing large scale Breeder and Grower businesses in the Gulf, Barkly and Channel country regions before taking on the General Manager – Pastoral Operations Role with Packhorse.

He has a passion for sustainable agriculture and developing staff for the ag industry.

Michael Walker

Michael Walker

Operations Manager – North

Michael is our Operations Manager – North and oversees the management of our Queensland properties and significant capital development projects.

Nick Hovey

Nick Hovey

Bull Depot Manager
Nick joins us with over 12 years of operational experience in a composite seedstock business. He is passionate about improving fertility in the Northern cattle herd and understanding the key drivers of profitability.
Nick looks forward to forging relationships with Palgrove’s clients and delivering excellence at Glen Wilga through sustainable land management and best-practice animal husbandry, ensuring Palgrove bulls are presented in optimal working condition.

Our Breeding Philosophy

We maintain an efficient, productive cow herd, selected on the basis of science and practical assessment.

Our females demonstrate the following commercially
relevant traits:

CONSTITUTION

Ability to ride out lows of nutrition.

FERTILITY

Ability to rebreed in a short joining period under prevailing nutrition levels.

ADAPTABILITY

Ability to respond positively to fluctuating nutritional and climatic environments.

PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY

Ability to convert available feed.

Every Palgrove bull that leaves our front gate is a product of a breeding program that places maximum emphasis on moderate birth weights, optimum yields, efficient weight gain, the ability to lay down fat cover off-grass or in the feedlot and survivability.

Our breeding programme aims for a balanced set of EBV traits, backed up by a strict visual appraisal for structure; overall quality; doing ability; temperament and soundness. Commercially unprofitable cattle are eliminated.

We utilise technologies such as embryo transplanting, IVF, artificial insemination, genomic analysis and objective measurements (EBVs) to achieve genetic gain in each generation of Palgrove cattle.

Palgrove genetics begin and end with an eye on the final product which gives us the confidence to say, we are BRED TO DELIVER

Our History

Palgrove pioneered the development of the Ultrablack breed in Australia.

The development of the Ultrablack was a direct response to client requests to develop a suitable third breed for use in Charolais/Brahman crossbreeding programmes in northern Australia. An Angus based composite seemed to be an obvious choice but the limitations associated with purebred Angus in harsher environments had to be overcome.

In 2009, Palgrove started breeding Ultrablack, an Angus/Brangus fixed composite that retained the meat quality and fertility of the Angus breed but had the heat tolerance and survivability built in from the Brangus genetics.

This versatile breed is now adding value in southern as well as northern commercial herds.

Palgrove livestock and properties are now spread across Queensland and NSW. The stud currently runs around 2000 head of registered cattle.

Sustainability

Our business relies on the continuing well-being, good management and close relationships of our people, cattle, land and clients. These are the values that we believe will ensure the long term sustainability of the Palgrove business:

People

We want our family, staff and visitors to make it home safely every night; we endeavour to source inputs from local suppliers and contribute to our community.

Cattle

We ensure good animal health and husbandry practices; we breed for efficiency in growth, reproduction and good temperament. We are working towards a 100% polled herd.

Land

We invest in water, fencing, cattle handling and renewable energy infrastructure which allow us to manage our soils, water and pastures under optimum not maximum grazing practices.

Clients

We think long term in our breeding programmes so our clients can profit from our genetics; we advise, educate and assist our clients to build better businesses.