Coggan’s Field Day
In July 2026, Tom and Emily Coggan, together with the support of their parents, Phillip and Cindy, welcomed Macintyre Ag Alliance members and friends to their impressive mixed farming enterprise, Enarra, near Meandarra.
Spanning more than 65,000 acres, Enarra is a diverse operation incorporating cattle and sheep feedlots, irrigated and dryland cropping, extensive grazing, and a Meatmaster stud. While we only had time to explore a small part of the property, it provided an excellent insight into the scale, innovation and passion that drive the Coggan family business.
Our day began with a tour of the cattle feedlot before moving through the highly impressive sheep feedlot. Tom shared the journey of how he and Emily, along with their sibling Sarah and supported by their parents, have grown the sheep enterprise from just 10 head into a licensed 6,000-head feedlot, complete with three sets of sheep handling facilities designed to ensure efficient and low-stress animal management.
It was inspiring to hear Tom speak about the lessons they have learned along the way and the family's commitment to building a farming business that is both sustainable and ethical. Most of the feed rations are produced on-farm, with cottonseed being the only major ingredient sourced externally. The family has also invested in their own concrete batching plant, significantly improving efficiency and reducing the cost of constructing new infrastructure across the property.
Following the feedlot tour, Tom and Emily guided the group through the property, showing us both centre-pivot irrigation and dryland grazing systems. One of the highlights was seeing the Halter virtual fencing system in action. The cattle were grazing contentedly on a fresh strip of forage that Tom had allocated that morning—before even getting out of bed—using the virtual fencing technology.
There was no physical fence separating the cattle from an adjacent, highly appealing irrigated oat crop, yet the animals remained happily within their designated grazing area. It was equally impressive to see how relaxed the cattle remained despite a bus and convoy of vehicles stopping to observe them.
The group then returned to the ranch to enjoy morning tea overlooking the creek, beautifully catered by Gather4390. This provided a wonderful opportunity for members to catch up, meet new faces and continue conversations from the morning.
Parked on the lawn was one of the property's Swarm autonomous spray robots, giving guests the opportunity to inspect the technology up close. Tom explained the benefits of the two Swarm robots the family has operated over the past five years, highlighting the continual improvements made through manufacturer feedback and the exceptional dealership support they have received.
He explained how the addition of an autofill station has reduced the need for manual interaction from three times per day to just one daily inspection and grease, saving valuable labour while maintaining operational efficiency. Guests also had the opportunity to ask questions and watch the autonomous sprayer operating in the paddock.
We would like to sincerely thank the Coggans for being such generous hosts and for opening up their fifth-generation property to the Macintyre Ag Alliance community. They were incredibly welcoming and willing to share not only what they are doing, but also the lessons, challenges and ideas behind the decisions they have made along the way. We really appreciated the opportunity to see behind the scenes of their operation, ask questions and learn from their experience. Their generosity and willingness to share is what makes days like this so valuable, and we are very grateful to the Coggan family for making us feel so welcome at Enarra.
This Project is made possible through funding from the Queensland Government’s Natural Resources Recovery Program
