The property has been in David’s family since 1946 and innovating has been key to the ongoing success of their endeavours.
Originally they ran Merino sheep producing quality, superfine fleece, today they run feedlot operations producing prime beef cattle.
The Gillett’s have faced their fair share of challenges along the way not the least of which was a catastrophic fire in early 2016. In the height of summer, with temperatures not far off 40˚C, disaster struck when their hayshed, packed to the rafters with over $1 million worth of feed for the coming year, was destroyed by a suspicious fire which then burnt for weeks.
After this setback David and Katy didn’t dwell on their misfortune choosing instead to look towards the future, planning how they could drive their operations to new levels of quality, productivity and sustainability.
David believes in staying not just a step, but streets ahead of average industry standards. In 2017 they commenced work on a project that would see an enormous 8,500sq/m of their feedlot put under roof.
This huge undertaking was to cost in excess of $1million and was made possible through the support of the Coles Nurture Fund. This fund provides grants or interest-free loans to help fund the development of new market-leading products, technologies and processes. The proposal from Jalna fitted the philanthropic and practical aims of the fund and they kicked the project off by tipping in $500,000.