![Rod Casben, “Mini Bimbil”, Merriwa, with two bulls bought at the Golden Guitar Charalois sale. One bull was bought from Caloona park. Rod Casben, “Mini Bimbil”, Merriwa, with two bulls bought at the Golden Guitar Charalois sale. One bull was bought from Caloona park.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-agfeed/2078976.jpg/r0_0_1024_678_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
ROD CASBEN "Mini Bimbil", Merriwa, has been finding a suitable bull to suit his production for the past six years at the Golden Guitar Charolais sale.
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Last year, Mr Casben bought two bulls from vendors Steve and Louie Franco "Caloona Park", to put over his Angus and Angus-cross cows.
Since he has been attending the sale, Mr Casben has bought ten bulls from a mixture of vendors to use for his cattle production.
"It's the hybrid vigour we are chasing, and we achieve that nicely with the silver calves," Mr Casben said.
Mr Casben produces butcher vealers from the Charolais bulls, selling them locally through the Scone sale yards.
The vealers are bought by wholesale meat producers such as Empire Meats, Nathan Fathers Meats and Alexander Downes.
Alexander Downes livestock manager Stephen Gill, Merri- wa, said they had been buying Mr Casben's heifer calves for their consistent quality.
"The yield in these calves is good and their softness allows them to fatten really well," he said.
Alexander Downes supplies butcheries in Newcastle, the Central Coast and Sydney and Mr Gill said Mr Casben's calves were well suited to that market.
Mr Casben sells his Charolais-cross calves when they reach eight to nine months old, weighing about 320 to 360 kilograms.
As well as Charolais bulls, Mr Casben also breeds his cows with Angus bulls and said there was a significant difference between the growth of the Angus calves comp- ared to the Angus/Charolais calves.
"Our Charolais calves are 30kg to 40kg heavier than the British breed calves," he said.
"The Charolais just keep growing and growing."
Mr Casben runs one bull to every 30 breeders and said the calving rate is more dependent on the mother.
He usually only joins the bulls once year in the spring time as it suits his production.
Mr Casben said bulls he has bought from the Golden Guitar sale have been early maturing with good thickness.
"There's always been one or two there every year that suit our production," he said.
The bulls are used on three of the Casben's properties throughout the Upper Hunter and Mr Casben said they work well in all locations.
He runs his cattle on hilly country and is conservative with numbers to ensure he can feed his stock on undulating grass without overstocking.
"We're generally pretty lucky with that," he said.
Mr Casben said he enjoys going to the golden guitar sale as it's a good local event that provides quality bulls for reasonable prices.
"They're good value for money to use over commercial cows."