Proud of Angus cattle at Wallendbeen

Moving slowly through their stock, each takes time to stop and admire individual animals, pointing out various characteristics that enhance their performance and appeal.

“You must walk your cattle slowly, not rush them around ... it is a matter of treating your stock with respect,” Mr Heggaton said.

The demise of the wool industry in 1993 was the catalyst for Tate, Sue and Nick Heggaton to change enterprise direction for the family aggregation based on the 1900-hectare property “Bramshott”, Wallendbeen.

Since it had been purchased in 1927, the property was home to bought-in Merino wethers, but problems with footrot and lack of profitabilty in growing wool forced the end of the sheep enterprise.

“In 1993 we shore 9000 Merino wethers and then the wool market collapsed, so we dispersed the flock over the next six months,” Tate Heggaton said.

“The decision was made to gradually move into cattle and we started with Hereford, black baldy and Angus cows.

“They were joined to Hereford and Angus bulls.

“We also traded steers purchased during the Monaro weaner sales, and we found the Angus did the best on our country.”

Gradually Mr Heggaton moved their female herd towards greater focus on Angus because he had noted the Angus breed attracting greater interest from the buyers.

“There was the extra demand for Angus and the premiums paid for Angus make it worthwhile,” he said.

They have bought replacement sires from Doug and Barbara Tozer’s Onslow Angus stud, Wallendbeen, since the Onslow stud was moved in the early 1990s from the Southern Tablelands.

“We like his cattle and his enthusiastic approach to breeding stock with conformation which perform,” Mr Heggaton said.

“We go to his pre-sale field day and Doug comes with us as we look at all his bulls on display, and he helps us with our selection.”

Strict attention is made to the conformation of the potential sire and Mr Heggaton said characteristics like length and balance were important.

“We also don’t want any eye or feet problems, and we look for good heads and hindquarters,” he said.

Mrs Heggaton said temperament was most crucial as the stock did better and because her husband did most of the stock work.

“He is always in the paddock with them and our cows are very quiet,” she said. 

The Heggaton family has a commitment to continue lifting the standard of their Angus herd, and earlier this year bought 144 five-year-old cows pregnancy-tested-in-calf to Dulverton bulls during the dispersal of the renowned Kilburnie herd bred by Tony Clift at “Aberbaldie”, Walcha.

The Kilburnie cattle have at least 21 years of top Angus genetics, and the Heggaton family was keen to acquire some of the cows to intensify of their own breeding program.

“They were some of the best genetics in the country and it was a terrific chance for us to buy cows, which will lift the quality of our herd,” Mr Heggaton said.

“They now have 100 per cent calves and all are the type I like.”

The Angus cows are joined from October 1 for 10 weeks, for a July/August calving.

Their maiden heifers are pregnancy tested, with any not in-calf sold without getting a second chance.

Mr Heggaton said they were contemplating pregnancy testing the cows in future as well. 

“We marked 650 calves from 680 cows joined,” he said. “We grow a lot of winter wheat and oats as part of our winter cropping program, and the crops are used to grow out our calves before they are sold at the Tumut weaner sales in June.”

Mr Heggaton aims to have his steer weaners weighing about 330 kilograms to 350kg at 12 months and will supplementary feed them homegrown hay if necessary during dry times to maintain the required growth rates.

“Our pastures are based on phalaris, lucerne and Arrowleaf clover, which are highly productive,” he said.

“And the winter grazing crops often fill the feed gap during winter.”

They prefer to sell their annual draft of weaners at the Tumut winter weaner sale due to its reputation of yarding well-bred cattle, which draws a wide field of buyers.

Mrs Heggaton said their weaners had attracted repeat buyers for many years.

“It gives us a lot of pleasure to present our weaners at the sale, and we have been getting good feedback from the buyers,” she said. “It is an excellent sale, a lot of Victorian and northern buyers attend as it is one of the last sales of the season where quality weaners can be bought.”

Surplus and older cows are sold through the local saleyards.

Mrs Heggaton said their annual draft of older females would be in good condition this year because of the great spring during which 250 millimetres fell in September.

“We have had a fantastic season and all of our stock are looking good,” she said.

“We will also be taking a good look at any of the older cows, which are no longer suitable to our program, as we have the beautiful cows and their heifer calves from the Kilburnie dispersal to take their place.

“Our aim is to keep our herd developing along the lines we envisage as we now have better genetics so we can put pressure on our cows.”