Charolais a winner for Manilla crossbreeding business

Mr Russell and his family, who are based at “Brubri” but also have other properties in the district, joined 1200 Santa Gertrudis and Santa-Hereford cross cows this year.

Charolais as terminal sires were added to their beef “mix” in about 2010 and have been producing calves in keen demand at Gunnedah saleyards.

“We’ve been rewarded at the sales, they (buyers) usually pay pretty well for them. If you have got the feed to put in front of them, they perform very well,” Mr Russell said. 

Four centre pivots on “Brubri” are mainly used to irrigate grazing oats which has been a particular blessing in the current drought gripping much of NSW.

Mr Russell said the breeding cows were divided into four separate mobs. Joining was timed so that when one mob finished calving, the next mob was ready to start dropping their calves.

Calving was spread from about March to November which made weaning and marketing more manageable, Mr Russell said.

“We don’t have to manage (and feed) all the weaners in one hit,” he said. 

Weaners are turned off at between 300 to 350 kilograms (eight to 12 months), depending on the season. Mr Russell said he was happy to get them out the gate and let somebody else finish the job.

The Russells also send between 100 to 200 weaners each year to a feedlot near Boggabri for finishing.   

Mr Russell’s parents, Bill (who passed away in 2011) and Joy, established the enterprise which is now focused on beef and meat chickens.

The late Mr Russell introduced Santa Gertrudis for a crossbreeding program about 30 years ago, particularly for their bloat resistance and less problems with eyes.  

Bruce Russell had been buying replacement Santa Gertrudis heifers but started breeding his own last year because of fears sourcing them may become difficult in the future. He is now joining about 120 cows to Santa bulls.

The rest are joined to Charolais bulls which he has been buying from Helen Alexander and Chris Knox’s DSK Charolais stud, Coonabarabran, for about three years.

Mr Russell said the DSK bulls have a “nice softness which goes well over a big-framed cow”. 

He hasn’t been actively boosting the Hereford component of his breeding herd because buyers were happy.

A calf by a Charolais bull out of a straight Santa cow - “as long as she is a good Santa cow” – was outperforming the Santa-Hereford cross, he said.

The crossbreeding program results in good hybrid vigour which helps produce fast growing, high weight-gaining calves.

Mr Russell has been working hard on the fertility of his breeding herd and the “efficiency of getting a calf on the ground”.

One of the major benefits of the chicken meat enterprise for the cattle and soil fertility was the ready availability of top-quality fertiliser. 

Pastures and crops fertilised with the chicken litter produced feed that helped cattle gain weight, grow well and produce good milk volume for calves, he said.

Bill and Joy Russell grew their first batch of broiler chickens on their farm at Kootingal near Tamworth in 1964 and relocated the business to Manilla in 2000.

They were originally irrigated lucerne growers on the Cockburn River flats near Tamworth but profits were disappointing so they switched to meat chickens.

The early years were tough with most of the chicken operations being done by hand including bucketing feed and water into the sheds and continually raising and lowering canvas panels to maintain the right temperature and humidity.

Fully automated computer controlled chicken sheds were erected at “Brubri” with a capacity of 400,000 birds per batch, later increased to 800,000. 

Chicken litter is used on both dryland and irrigated paddocks on the property.

While Bruce Russell and his family manage the daily chicken and farming operations, Joy Russell is still involved in many vital parts of the business.