FOR Grahame Edgell, producing high quality beef is paramount.
And the addition of Charolais genetics has been the key to increasing muscle in offspring.
Mr Edgell runs around 150 Murray Grey breeders on his 240 hectare property, “Somerton Park”, Sodwalls, near Lithgow, but began joining his cows to Charolais bulls around six years ago in order to finish his weaners earlier.
Mr Edgell said he aims for the Murray Grey/Charolais cross offspring to reach 400 kilograms live weight at 12 months-old.
Mr Edgell supplies My Butcher on Main in Lithgow with two animals a week, but also runs his own business, Somerton Park Beef Direct, which supplies his boxed grass-fed beef directly to customers.
His weaners are processed at Cowra and then transferred to the butcher to be cut up and packed in 25kg boxes, which Mr Edgell delivers personally to customers in the Sydney region and Newcastle.
“Sydney is just over the hill,” he said.
“The market is right there. We get a lot of good feedback, and you can’t get any better than that.
“Flavour and meat quality are of paramount importance.
“We have to make sure we have consistent quality.
“There is no better confirmation of the quality of your own breeding than when a customer has no complaints and places another order.”
Mr Edgell said he also buys Murray Grey bulls in order to keep a purebred self-replacing herd, but that both the steers and leftover Murray Grey heifers are processed through his business.
His Murray Grey cows are put to a Murray Grey bull for their first and second joining, and usually put to the Charolais bull for their third joining. He calves twice a year, in September and February.
Mr Edgell is passionate about retaining his pure Murray Grey herd.
“Working with them is just a delight,” he said.
“We were just looking for that extra muscle. The Murray Greys are a great muscling animal, and are bred for their high intra-muscular fat, but it just takes a little longer to produce.
“The Charolais/Murray Grey cross gives us a fantastic result. We end up with an animal that is very acceptable to the domestic market.
“It is the hybrid vigour. It is the benefit of having two breeds in one.”
Mr Edgell said in the first year they trialed the Charolais cross, they found the steers were 50kg heavier than their purebred Murray Grey brothers.
“The commercial reality is we just get better product with the crossing of the Charolais. The carcase attributes are excellent,” he said.
Mr Edgell has bought his bulls from Violet Hills Charolais at Rydal for the past six years, buying his most recent bull Violet Hills Kywong at this year’s sale.
Mr Edgell said the bull had a tremendous growth rate and very low birth weight, as well as excellent structure.
Mr Edgell said he is dedicated to keeping his cattle healthy, with breeding, health care and management playing a big part in producing a high quality product.
He said his cattle are also very used to being handled.
“Our animals are not stressed,” he said.