Pairtree helps brothers run the family farm

Brothers Martin and Roy Ilett breed cattle on what used to be their grandfather’s property, Warriwilla, near Childers in Queensland. They’ve recently returned to farming, and the family farm, after moving away and establishing careers in different areas.

Roy is a mechanic and Martin studied Applied Sciences and Agriculture at Central Queensland Uni. While the brothers plan to expand their operation — hoping to almost double the number of cattle over the next five years — for now, they both work off farm in their respective jobs too.

Martin signed up to Pairtree Plus 18 months ago to help streamline how they manage the operation.

“I find Pairtree really useful to get a general overview of what’s going on. I check it a few times a week and I love the fact that I can easily look at everything on one page with one login,” said Martin.

“I can check the livestock markets, the weather forecasts, our water tanks, just so I can plan our workflow for the next week and if there’s a particular issue that comes up, we can deal with it effectively and on time.

“The markets we’re in in the South Burnett aren’t currently tracked by MLA, but knowing what Gracemere is doing, our markets aren’t usually too far away from those prices, and I can see that on Pairtree alongside the rest of the stuff about our operation.

“We’ve also got our Xero there, so we know what’s happening with our accounts and cashflow situation too. It’s great to look at all that together to see how we’re tracking this month compared to last month and what’s around the corner.

“Pairtree definitely saves time and makes it easier to see the whole picture, and that helps to make the right decisions accordingly.

“I know they’re adding new integrations all the time, so we hope to connect our Elynx (livestock management software) soon too.”