Speaker - Sam Van Assche, Sava Pastoral - How I'm building a big performing Livestock business from scratch

To buy a ticket to the FarmTender2024 - Entrepreneurs in Farming event, click here

Speaker - Sam Van Assche

About Sam

First generational farmer in the Western District, with wife Samantha. Schooling and growing up were in Melbourne, with family ties on both sides to the Western District. After Jackarooinng in South Gippsland, spent 7 years in the Mansfield region, 2 of which contract managing 5000 acres mixed Farming.

Completed several farm management/business courses over the years as well as a business degree. Purchased Land in the Victoria Valley (Vic) with wife in 2021 to begin the Farm business journey. Currently running 3 enterprises and intensifying production on the current parcel of Land before timing external expansion.

Sam will be speaking from 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm.

Some of the questions we want to fire at Sam might include:

• Where do you Farm, and what do you Farm?
• When did you buy your first Farm, and what was it like when you purchased it?
• Were you looking for a Farm in a particular area, or didn't matter so much?
• What sort of relationships do you have to build when trying to find the right Property?
• What sort of financing did you use, bank, vendor, cash or something else?
• Did you have Livestock somewhere else, or did you start from scratch buying in?
• What principles did you apply to building up your flock?
• How did the downturn in Livestock prices affect you?
• Is there a particular breed you are aligned with, and what are the benefits of that breed?
• Since your arrival on the Property, what have you undertaken as far as capital improvements go?
• Are you a diligent record keeper, and if so, what program do you use?
• A little birdy told me you have started to make your own Stockfeed recently, and now you have turned that into a business. Is that right?
• What are some of the key boxes you have to tick to have a profitable Livestock operation?
• Do you have ambitions to expand, and if so, what is your strategy?
• You run 3 enterprises on your Farm. Can we talk about about each one of those?