Smallholding
Cattle Yards for a Small Block: What You Actually Need
The components a small herd genuinely needs, the dimensions the state design guides specify, real 2026 prices, and the siting decisions you cannot undo.
Small blocks & house cows
A few hectares and one or two cattle is a different proposition to running a station, and most of the advice online is written for one or the other. These are the guides for the small end.
What a house cow actually costs to keep once you count hay and vet bills. How much yard you need before you can safely drench an animal on your own. What fencing runs per metre in 2026, and how to get a calf leading on a halter without either of you getting hurt. Pasture gets its own guide too, because on a small block the paddock does more of the feeding than most new owners expect.
Every figure here is Australian and sourced, and where the rules differ by state — as they do for dividing fences and animal welfare — each state is named rather than averaged.
7 articles in this section.
Smallholding
Fencing a Small Block: Materials, Costs and Mistakes
What cattle fencing materials cost in 2026, the spacings and strainer specs that matter, how the dividing fence laws differ by state, and the errors worth avoiding.
Pasture
Pasture 101: Improving a Tired Paddock
Soil tests, lime, phosphorus targets that match your enterprise, what the Australian grazing trials really found, and why resowing is usually the last thing to try.
Smallholding
Buying Your First Cow: A Pre-Purchase Checklist
Temperament, udder, feet, vaccination history, the NLIS paperwork most beginners miss — and when to walk away.
Handling
How to Halter Train a Calf
A calm, step-by-step method that takes about a fortnight — the right gear, pressure-and-release, and the mistakes that undo everything.
Smallholding
What It Really Costs to Keep Cattle on a Small Australian Block
Real 2026 dollar figures for fencing, water, hay, vaccines and levies — plus an honest list of the costs nobody publishes.
Smallholding
A Beginner's Guide to Keeping a House Cow
How much land and water she really needs, what it costs to feed her, and the four health problems that catch every first-timer.