ANGUS cattle have helped the Hunter Valley's Mackenzie family meet a range of domestic markets for the past three decades and now they've set their sights on a new venture - exporting beef.
The family business is run by Bruce Mackenzie, his son Robert, and Robert's sons James, who is studying an agriculture and business degree, and Jack, an apprentice diesel plant mechanic.
Robert Mackenzie said Angus cattle fit well with any market which was part of their appeal many years ago.
"We bought our first lot of Angus cattle from Casino about 30 years ago and we've never looked back," Mr Mackenzie said.
"You've got to move with the times and the times are saying you need black cattle to get the premiums."
The family runs about 1300 breeders on Woko Station at Gloucester and "Oakfield Park", near Port Stephens.
"Both of them are breeding properties but cattle finish better on our Gloucester property," Mr Mackenzie said.
The Mackenzies source bulls from the Tickle family at Sugarloaf Angus, Dungog, running about 40 bulls across the herd.
Growth rate and carcase quality are the most important traits for Mr Mackenzie.
"We're looking for good growth rates, as well as eye muscle area.
"For our first-time calvers we're also looking for low birthweight bulls.
The top 120 heifer calves are retained each year.
The rest are sold to restockers, with the Mackenzie heifers sought after as replacement breeders.
Some weaners will be sold privately straight out of the paddock.
"We don't get top dollar for weaner heifers, so we're better off keeping our top heifers to keep improving our herd," Mr Mackenzie said.
Improving the female line has been the biggest focus for the Mackenzies.
"I think our future is in maintaining and improving our female stock," Mr Mackenzie said.
Females are joined in September for about six weeks, with Mr Mackenzie making sure there are plenty of bulls so they can cover the whole herd.
Weaner sales are a major market for the cattle, with the family selling 550 weaners this year.
"We sold 400 weaners at Gloucester a few weeks ago for good money and we've topped the sales at Maitland twice this year," Mr Mackenzie said.
Having good quality improved pastures on the Gloucester property makes finishing the cattle much easier.
"There's a lot of ryegrass and clovers, as well as chicory and other improved pastures," Mr
Mackenzie said.
"We've got a heavy organic fertiliser and liming campaign at the moment to increase soil fertility."
Mr Mackenzie said his aim was to improve carrying capacity to allow the enterprise to expand.
He found it was cheaper to work on improving nutrients with pastures and fertiliser to run more head per hectare than it was to buy another property.
The breed's ability to meet eating quality targets had helped Mr Mackenzie build relationships with international clients.
"Having MSA (Meat Standards Australia) graded meat is a tick of approval that you're selling quality meat and in a lot of overseas countries it gives them assurance that they're buying a quality, safe product because it's graded within Australia to Australian requirements.
"We're a lot stricter than most countries so overseas clients know it's a safe product."
Marketing premium beef to international customers is the next focus for the Mackenzie family, who have recently set up their own brand, Macka's Australian Black Angus Beef.
Owner Robert Mackenzie researched market opportunities earlier this year and found a big demand for top-quality grass-fed beef in the United States and Asia.
"We restructured our business and decided an export market was the way to go to diversify and start to build a brand," he said.
Macka's beef is a hormone-free, antibiotic-free and 100 per cent grass-fed product.
"That's what the US and Chinese markets are looking for," Mr Mackenzie said.
"Before it was lotfed cattle but the grass-fed taste is a premium and it puts you a step ahead of the rest in the world market."
Part of educating international clients about Australian beef is helping them understand Meat Standards Australia (MSA) grading and its importance.
"People overseas don't understand what it means, but they know they want good quality, premium beef," Mr Mackenzie said.
"America still wants lotfed manufactured beef and grass-fed will probably never overtake that, but there's a market for premium beef and people want the choice."
