Double the breeding in high country

EUROPEAN-Union accredited Angus beef cattle breeders Peter and Julie Richards, of Swifts Creek in East Gippsland, Victoria, have developed a weaner production, system designed to suit the hilly, sub-alpine country where they own and lease land.

“We can’t fi nish cattle in this country, but we can produce weaners for the finishers, feedlots, backgrounders, and future breeders,” Mr Richards said.

Mr Richards runs the 650-cow herd with his wife Julie, son Christopher and his father Bob Richards.

As well as their own 400-hectare property, “Brookville”, they lease several other parcels of nearby land - mainly from retired farmers - totalling about 800ha.

They operate under the name of Alpine Maintenance, a refl ection of Mr Richards’ former profession as a fi tter then a construction supervisor.

He worked on oil rigs and natural gas sites and the good wages helped fund the leasing program.

Mr Richards said as a young boy he had worked on a property in the Omeo area that had exceptional stock.

“When you have good farmers with such good animals you always aspire to have the same type of animals,” Mr Richards said.

He said far East Gippsland in the high country had traditionally been Hereford cattle country, and with Angus starting to take over in that region the family had changed to Angus because it suited their operation.

Angus quality was so good in the area because it had that quality Hereford base that was used to cross breed into the Angus lines that come out of the annual high country weaner sales held every March, he said.

A feature of the operation is the split calving, with separate matings to allow for autumn and spring drops.

Mr Richards said cows that failed pregnancy tests for the autumn or spring calving were rolled over to the opposite joining cycle, and with new pregnancy testing technology they could be re-tested from 21 days.

“If they have not rejoined they go out the gate.”

For easy identifi cation he uses a simple colour-coded system of ear tags - green for spring calving and orange for autumn. 

Mr Richards said another advantage of the split calving was he could use the bulls twice a year.

“That means I can spend a bit more money on the bulls,” he said.

Mr Richards has brought bulls from Alpine Angus, Victoria; Te Mania, Vic, West Creek Angus and recently from Ireland Angus at Holbrook.

He said the cows didn’t get fat in the hilly country and consequently had easier calving, so it was possible to use bulls that produced calves with higher birth weights.

“The bulls do have to work in the hilly country but we have a good mating percentage,” he said.

Mr Richards said the different properties had a range of grasses, from sown ryegrass and clover pasture to native grasses.

“We fertilise where we can by truck and the steeper country by plane.”

He uses high analysis fertiliser because he can cover larger areas with lower volumes, and it lowers the freight cost.

Mr Richards said some of the steeper slopes had native pastures which he had tested, and had found many were high in minerals.

“Though some of this country looks tough, the cows and calves do very well in some of these areas.”

The family also grows clover and ryegrass pasture for hay on some blocks, usually producing about 1000 round bales a year for supplementary winter feed.

“It does get extremely cold in the high ‘Brookville’ country,” he said.

“We run our spring calving cows in the higher, colder country and because we wean the calves early they only need to get themselves through to the winter calving.

“Calving in the spring takes the pressure off them.”

He also feeds cattle the liquid supplement, Anapro, to provide extra protein, mainly when the paddock feed has dried off.

“It’s used as required mostly through the winter and leading into joining.”

Mr Richards said calves were weaned at six to seven months.

“They are run through the yards to get them used to being handled.”

He said the supplements got them used to the idea of putting their head in a trough, which would be of benefi t when they were sold to feedlots.

Mr Richards targets the major Victorian weaner markets at Bairnsdale in spring and Omeo in autumn, where up to 12,000 head can be offered across three days.

“These are popular weaner sales and the calves go from the mountains to South Australia and Queensland and everywhere in between.”

He said many of his steers went to feedlots in Victoria, South Australia and NSW for finishing, and some found their way into the grass-fed beef program run by the Coles supermarket chain.

All this effort pays off at the saleyard. 

At this year’s Bairnsdale sale he topped the market, with 144 steers averaging about $1200 a head, and some older animals fetching $1500.

Now he is starting to explore the possibility of exporting live heifers for breeding. 

He said because they had been building up numbers by keeping heifers for a few years, they had been selling the older cows to improve the genetics of the herd.