A FOCUS on producing good quality, easy-doing cattle with strong growth rates has made Susan Tym’s Shorthorn steers perfect for the breed’s Thousand Guineas program with JBS Australia.
Mrs Tym runs a commercial herd of 450 breeders at Gulargambone properties “Myalla” and “Bourbong”.
The family has bred Shorthorn cattle for more than 30 years, when Mrs Tym’s late husband David, a passionate supporter of the breed, started using Shorthorn bulls in the 1970s.
“David liked the breed for its toughness and fertility – they’re good mothers and they survive through droughts,” Mrs Tym said.
The Tym family sources bulls from Turanville, Futurity, Yamburgan, Moonbi and Marellan studs and focuses on growth rates to turn cattle off quickly.
They’ve been selling their steers to Caroona feedlot, owned by JBS, for the past 25 years, and were among the first commercial producers to sell into the JBS Thousand Guineas brand.
“I like the feedlot because it supplies data of scores at processing, so we can go back to that data and see where we need to improve,” Mrs Tym said.
Mrs Tym has received significant cents per kilogram premiums since the Thousand Guineas program began.
“In any other feedlot there would be a premium for Angus cattle, but since August last year we have been paid the same premium as Angus,” she said.
“We still need to have very good quality cattle, but now the Thousand Guineas brand is putting our steers at the forefront of high dining.”
The work of Shorthorn studs to constantly improve genetics has helped the breed produce the premium product, Mrs Tym said.
“I look at bulls as purchasing an investment in our business, and because of the extra effort put in by the studs, the breed is improving all the time. We value our genetics so we’re buying top end bulls for our commercial herd because we want to have cattle that turn off quickly for Caroona.
“David’s legacy is this herd and it’s exciting that all his hard work is coming to fruition with this program.”
