Hugh and Sheridon Brown have been weaner producers for many years, but they've branched out this year, adding a small paddock-to-plate program to the business.
The Browns supply Orange restaurant and specialty store, The Agrestic Grocer, with one animal every six weeks, choosing heifers for their ability to lay down fat.
"The manager there was having trouble finding a regular supplier of grass-fed beef, so we've been supplying heifers for the past five months.
"They range from nine months to 18 months, and we try to stagger the production a bit so we don't have some getting overdone.
"We're still in the learning process with it all but that's how were trying to work it so some aren't getting too fat."
Crosshills Grassroots is a boutique beef brand that fits well with the restaurant's grass-fed nose-to-tail dining experience.
"They take the whole animal, using the beef, offal, bones, and trim - everything," Mr Brown said.
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The Browns are still working out what the future includes for the brand, but they hope to supply The Agrestic Grocer's produce shop.
"We would like to supply more product to sell in there but we're also looking at dry-ageing for the restaurant."
Being able to supply grass-fed beef is key to the paddock to plate business.
Mr Brown's weaners are fed ryegrass or young pea and oats silage, or they're on oats or hybrid ryegrass crops, depending on the season.
Breeders are on pastures mostly phalaris, ryegrass and cocksfoot with clovers.
"Our tough time is winter so our main focus is having enough feed to get through winter.
"Even in good seasons we'll feed through winter because of the cold, but oats grows well, if we get the rain."
The paddock to plate heifers are processed at chemical-free abattoir Tablelands Premier Meats in Canowindra and broken down in a butcher shop at Orange.
"The chefs at The Agrestic Grocer have a cut up sheet and they get the beef exactly how they want it," Mr Brown said.
Processing their own cattle is giving the Browns solid feedback about their production.
"This product has been very helpful for us in that respect, seeing what our product is like, even down to the offal where you can ask the butcher if there were any lesions, or any offal that couldn't be used because of fluke, which is a big problem in our area," Mr Brown said.
"We get first-hand knowledge of their health which is fantastic. It's the best way to know how your animals are tracking."
Nose-to-tail dining
The Agrestic Grocer has a seasonal menu, with five new dishes every week, in response to what produce is available locally and what cuts of meat the chefs have to work with.
"The chefs love the beef and they're able to use a lot more creativity in the kitchen as they work their way through the different cuts," co-owner Danielle Martin said.
"The quality has been exceptional. We love that it's pasture-raised and that we get to use every part.
"It means were also able to make lots of bone broth and stock for soups and risottos."
Focus on temperament, growth and maternal traits
Hugh and Sheridon Brown have been breeding Angus cattle for about 25 years and now run 500 breeders, as well as a crossbred prime lamb enterprise, on 1200-hectare property Crosshills, on the eastern side of Blayney, NSW.
The best heifers are retained, and most of the steers are sold as weaners, through Carcoar's blue ribbon sale. For that reason, the Browns focus on maternal traits and good growth rates, particularly 200-day and 400-day estimated breeding values.
"We retain about 100 heifers a year and either sell the cull heifers at the same weaner sale or we might keep them for a little longer, but they're still turned off before the winter."
Breeders are joined to Karoo and Kywarra bulls for calving in August and September.
"With Karoo we've been buying from there for three years," Mr Brown said.
"They've got exceptional growth rates but with both studs, we're buying bulls from the same climate as we use them in."
Calves are weaned in the yards for three days on silage.
"We use a natural magnesium supplement as well, which settles them down to reduce stress of weaning, so that by day four they are out in the paddock very happy and content. The hard work is done, so all the purchaser has to do is put them out and watch them grow".