Country Downs Station (2013-2018)
Host: Country Downs Station
Owners: Kurt & Nikki Elezovich
Region: Kimberley WA
Average rainfall: ~940mm pa
Nearest town for shopping, doctors etc: Broome
Nearest roadhouse: Roebuck Roadhouse
Number of staff: 0
How often and how the mail is delivered: Mail is picked up from Broome PO during town runs.
How often and how the stores shopping is done: Approx once a fortnight. Either by Woolies shopping online OR cruising the aisles!
How far off the bitumen you are: ~70km
My name is Nikki Elezovich and together with my husband, Kurt, we are the owner operators of our Kimberley cattle property, Country Downs Station. Country Downs is situated ~ 100km north of Broome on the (predominantly dirt) Cape Leveque Rd on the Dampier Peninsula in North-Western Australia. Our property is a family run station in which Kurt and I, with our two young boys (a 4yr old and a 1yr old), run the entire operation on our own. We produce mainly Brahman cross cattle for the live export markets, but do produce some cattle for the domestic market when and where possible. We also run some Boer goats, however, they are more pets than anything else!
My husband, Kurt, grew up on a station just south of Broome where he developed his innate love and passion for the land and the animals that exist in harmony with it. Whilst both of us have spent many years working and soaking up various experiences in other industries such as the Aquaculture, Pearling and the Mining Industries, Kurt finally managed to start living his dream in early 2003, when he purchased Country Downs Station.
I was born and raised in Broome, where I developed an appreciation and a love for the outback and all things intriguing and wonderful that goes with growing up in the country. As a child, my family spent many a weekend in the boat fishing or in the car (or even boat!) camping, but always heading out for fun and adventure. As I became a young adult and moved away from the country, into the city for a tertiary education in Marine Biology, I finally realised how much the country, and everything it has to offer, meant to me. So I focused on one day returning to the spacious, natural, quiet places that pulled at my heart and that day eventually happened when I followed love out to Country Downs in 2007!
Since then we have been steadily developing the property toward our end goal, which is to have the ability to do the work we love and to live the life we love, sustainably. The last 5 years have been a whirlwind of activity and emotion for us with our wedding, the birth of our two young boys, developing the property, dealing with the devastating effects to our family unit from the live export suspension in 2011 and dealing with the uncertainty of our future in the wake of the flow-on effects from that suspension. Despite some hard times, we are eagerly and optimistically looking forward to our intrepid and passionate journey towards developing an economically and environmentally sustainable agricultural business that we will be able to leave to our kids and generations to follow.
A big wet!
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elizovech, Station owner/manager The end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018 hosted the biggest wet season that most of the Kimberley has seen in many years. By the end of March 2018, two cyclones and an intense tropical low system passed over the West Kimberley area and dumped […]
Share this:
Another Story by Will
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Will Elezovich Like last year, William, our eldest son, was happy to write another blog telling everyone about some of things that he did over the last year. So, I will pass you over to Will for you to see and read about what we have done through the eyes […]
Share this:
From a Hobby Farm in QLD to a Station in WA
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Cortney Sonter, Governess. As in previous years, I have always asked if anyone who has worked or is working for us if they would like to write a blog. I believe that whilst its great for Kurt and I to wax lyrical about what we do and why, it is […]
Share this:
Repairing the Land – A True Work of Passion
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elizovech, Station owner/manager As I mentioned yesterday, there were many parts of Emu Creek that have been degraded over time and even though some forms of rehabilitation have been undertaken about 15-20 years ago, the hangover from the sheep days is still obvious and in need of rectifying. In […]
Share this:
The big move
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elizovech, Station owner/manager Yesterday I told you all that we made a temporary move to the Pilbara for 2017, but what I didn’t mention was where exactly that was. At the end of February 2017, we uprooted the family, packed up half a house, half a workshop, 3 dogs, […]
Share this:
A reflection of 2017
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elizovech, Station owner/manager As I said in our Day 1 blog last year, the years are just passing us by way too fast! I am astounded that another year has passed us by and trying to remember what we have done over the last year finds me going back […]
Share this:
Being a kid on a cattle station
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elizovech – Owner, Country Downs Station. In the past, we have had visitors, workers, and friends write a blog to give another point of view about our life and what we do. This year, William, our eldest son, was interested in knowing what ‘Central Station’ was and what it […]
Share this:
The Ugly Side of Pastoralism
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elizovech – Owner, Country Downs Station. There are many aspects of our business that we have discussed over the years, however, one of the many that we haven’t as yet, is dingoes and the role they play in our industry and more importantly in our philosophy. Many agricultural properties […]
Share this:
Genetic Improvement
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elizovech – Owner, Country Downs Station. The importance of genetic improvement is by no means a new area for many cattle breeders, or for any other livestock either, however, what is not well known by many is that the term “genetic improvement” can mean many things to people depending […]
Share this:
A full social calendar
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elizovech – Owner, Country Downs Station. As I mentioned yesterday, 2016 was a pretty busy year for us with continuing development and maintenance on the station, but also the realisation that it was only a matter of time before we were going to have to go to that next […]
Share this:
A Reflection of 2016
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elizovech – Owner, Country Downs Station. Once again another year has passed and, along with everyone else we know, I can never seem to get over or understand how quickly time flies by. 2016 brought us a wonderful sense of relief in our business and also on the station. […]
Share this:
An overall philosophy, not a system set in stone
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elezovich – Owner, Country Downs Station. I must admit that writing the blogs for this year has also proved to be a bit of a struggle. Mainly because as the years progress and the more everyone who is a part of Central Station describes, explains, and takes all of […]
Share this:
Me, in the middle of nowhere
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Maike – Backpacker, Country Downs Station. Yesterday you learnt about Brandon’s experience at Country Downs and what he liked, what he disliked, and about what he got out of his time with us. Today, I am introducing another fabulous traveller that happened upon us in late 2014 and helped us […]
Share this:
An Outsider’s Perspective
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Brandon – Backpacker, Country Downs Station. Today I would like to introduce you to one of the many overseas travellers that we have had the pleasure of meeting and spending some time with. I would have loved for all of them to write an account on what they thought, […]
Share this:
Fire – Pro’s, Con’s, and a Necessary Too
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Kurt Elezovich – Owner, Country Downs Station. I have asked Kurt to write today’s blog to explain a little more about both the useful and the detrimental effects that fire has on our land system. Having had to deal with the devastating effects of out-of-season fires for two years […]
Share this:
Rangelands Self Herding – A Novel Approach to Livestock Management
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elezovich – Owner, Country Downs Station. As we have stated in previous blogs, we are very much into what is generically called “Low Stress Stock-handling” or “Low Stress Stockmanship”. Whatever you want to call it, the biggest mistake people make is believing that it is actually low stress […]
Share this:
Kurt: International Jetsetter Extraordinaire!
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Kurt Elezovich – Owner, Country Downs Station. Today is Kurt’s turn to write again. One of our blogs in 2014 was about our own self-arranged visit to Sumatra where we were absolutely privileged to be able to see first-hand what happens to Australian livestock when it arrives in Indonesia. We […]
Share this:
Third Installment: Same, Same but Different!
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elezovich – Owner, Country Downs Station. WOW! It is already 2016, and we whilst we didn’t get our blogs to you in 2015, I cannot believe how quickly time flies by. Despite the fact that we didn’t host a week on Central Station in 2015, it certainly was […]
Share this:
The Sabbath
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elezovich – Owner, Country Downs Station. Here we are at the end of our week’s blog and you have met our wonderful employees Jenna and Josh and caught up with both Kurt and my perspectives about our current and future endeavours. I feel that we really have been […]
Share this:
Meet Jenna, Our Finnish Governess!
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elezovich – Owner and Jenna – Governess, Country Downs Station. Yesterday, you got to meet Josh, our newest member of the team. Today, you all get to meet our current Governess, Jenna. Now, Jenna is from Finland and started out with us undertaking her rural work in order […]
Share this:
Time to Meet Josh, Our First ‘Ringer’
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elezovich – Owner and Josh – Station Hand, Country Downs Station. Already Day Five . . . time just flies when you’re having fun! Yesterday, you got a short and succinct version of events from Kurt. As you can probably guess, we are currently so busy that all […]
Share this:
Keeping up with Kurt
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Kurt Elezovich – Owner, Country Downs Station. Once again, I have managed to convince Kurt to write about his perspective of what we have been up to and where we are heading . . . this is also great for me as I get a small window of insight […]
Share this:
Our Indonesian Trip . . . continued
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elezovich – Owner, Country Downs Station. So I left you yesterday at the end of our relaxing day and having got the go ahead to visit an abattoir that night. After an early dinner and quick couple of hours sleep, we dragged ourselves out of our comfortable hotel […]
Share this:
Our Indonesian Work Trip . . . ahem . . . Holiday!
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elezovich – Owner, Country Downs Station. My parents (being the wonderful people that they are!) late last year, had offered Kurt and I to not only look after the property, but the kids as well (good gracious . . . that’s a whole lot of love!) for a […]
Share this:
Welcome Back to Country Downs
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elezovich – Owner, Country Downs Station. Hi everyone and welcome back to Country Downs. About the same time last year we introduced ourselves to you all and gave you a bit of a run-down of what we do and why we do it. Well, a year later and […]
Share this:
What Do You Do When There’s No Cattle Market?
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elezovich – Owner, Country Downs Station. So, it’s our final instalment for our week as hosts of Central Station and seeing as you have all met the “Big Boss” and “The Backpacker”, it wouldn’t too hard to figure out who I have referred to as “The Bean counter”. […]
Share this:
Trapping versus Mustering
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elizovich – Owner, Country Downs Station. G’day to you all again. I hope you enjoyed getting a perspective of our life from both Kurt and Mary over the last few days. I have no doubt it would have been a refreshing change to the animated and sometimes convoluted […]
Share this:
The Back-Packer
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Mary – Governess/Au Pair, Country Downs Station. Today I am heading into to town to do a ‘stores run’ and a general run around . . . you know, the Post Office, various local businesses to pick up parts for our broken, run-down or just plain neglected machinery/equipment, the […]
Share this:
The Big Boss!
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Kurt Elezovich – Owner, Country Downs Station. Today I am heading out to do some fencing (checking and fixing wires etc.) and to chainsaw the larger shrubs and the not-too-large trees that continuously annoy us by growing along all of our fence lines. As I will be out all […]
Share this:
Cultivation, Chaos and Killers
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elezovich – Owner, Country Downs Station. Well today we have to spend some time in the vegie garden! Tie up tomatoes, pick the ripe fruit/vegies, and any fresh greens or herbs that we want for dinner. Fertilise, water, and check for pests . . . the biggest being our youngest […]
Share this:
Work, Play, and Education on Country Downs
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elezovich – Owner, Country Downs Station. On Mondays (so yesterday!), I spend the mornings teaching our four year old, William, his school work. Because he is only in Kindy, it is relatively simple but very time consuming as it is all about ‘play-based’ curriculum. We have lots of fun […]
Share this:
The Country Downs story
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elezovich – Owner, Country Downs Station. Hi to everyone reading this blog. As you may have garnered from our profile, I am Nikki Elezovich from Country Downs Station. My husband and I feel quite privileged and humbled at being a part of such a grand scheme as Central Station, […]
