From struggle to innovation on the farm

When her four girls were small, Western Downs beef producer Karen Penfold colour coded their work shirts, so that when mustering from the air her husband Dan could recognise them right away.

Fast-forward several years and daughters Bonnie, Molly, Jemima and Matilda are now in their teens and early twenties. Over the years the sisters haven’t lost their enthusiasm for working the cattle at the family’s three properties and two feedlots in Queensland’s Meandarra district.

The sisters are passionate about staying on the land, where they help their parents turn off around 9000 head a year. Together, they are the faces of Four Daughters, an export brand launched in 2019 with an eye for the Chinese and Hong Kong markets. There, the girls’ distinctive red hair is a common talking point and Australian grain-fed Black Angus commands premium prices.

Since the COVID crisis, the family has also begun exploring alternative markets in Korea, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates. They’ve also developed a domestic arm to the business, selling their Black Angus in a signature pink Beef Box direct to families in Queensland.

According to David Michell, he and brother Peter have kept their company, Michell Wool, operating largely by being stubborn.  As he puts it, “One hundred and fifty years of effort building a business can’t be ignored.”

That determined nature can be seen in  other family members throughout the South Australia-based wool trading company’s long history.

Certainly, each generation has added their own ideas and innovations to the mix. Their grandfather set up the company’s first China office on the eve of that nation’s 1949 revolution.

Meanwhile, David and Peter made their own mark with the establishment of Michell Wool’s first Chinese factory in 2006. These ventures helped them

survive the Global Financial Crisis and growing global competition – as did their determination to make their machines even more efficient.

The brothers see their achievements through the lens of family. As David says, “Success for us is being able to

hand Michell Wool over to the next generation in better shape than we found it.”