A decision to keep and feed a culled mob of first cross Brahman/Angus steers and heifers during the brittle drought of 2018-19 is about to pay off for border grazier Erroll Steinhardt, whose steep and hilly country at the end of Oakey Scrub Road near Rathdowney, Qld, now has more grass than can be turned into beef.
The four and six tooth bullocks, some of them which qualify for EU grading, will go to Teys for processing - after the best ones have been drafted off, first being weighed and assessed for fat.
Last year's gamble came on the back of lost hay, destroyed by fire, with new stocks imported from as far as the Atherton Tableland.
Mr Steinhardt, 86, is no stranger to feeding cattle, having spent a few years fattening Brahman steers, sourced from central Queensland and fed for 100 days on grain in a prepared lot at the family property "Widgee", selected by his grandfather in 1889.
"You can't tell me Brahman don't fatten," he said.
Erroll's grandfather Hermann and father Charles developed Widgee from rainforest, clearing and milling the better timbers before burning the remainder - all felled with an axe - before hopping onto the still warm ash to spread green panic and Rhodes grass by hand.
Charles went to the Atherton to cut timber and returned with promising Kikuyu runners in his suitcase and from those propagated what now covers the hillside as far as the eye can see. Neighbours took some of those runners and did the same.
However, Mr Steinhardt is most proud of his work on Oakey Scrub road, a lifetime's achievement clearing forest and establishing paddocks and - most difficult of all - controlling weeds like lantana and thistle. The result is a park of even growth that shows up swell in this particularly good season.
Following timber the family turned to dairy for a living, milking Illawara cows but deregulation took the sting out of the enterprise and they switched to beef production in 1982. At the time Mr Steinhardt could see how Angus would return the farm to profit.
"I was always interested in Angus from Guyra," he said, buying first from Eastern plains and then Bald Blair and Wattletop. "They were good, square bodied cattle."
Certainly the market rewarded Mr Steinhardt for his insight, selling grass fattened bullocks direct to the processor. However, his sub-tropical scrub country - the kind that grows hoop pine in the valleys - brings challenges like tick that cruel the best of British.
Straight Hereford, for example, failed to do on his place - even cattle sourced from nearby Woodenbong, just over the NSW border.
"You could have a steer in the paddock for 18 months to two years and it just wouldn't put on weight," he said.
So, four years ago he made the decision to cross his females with Grey Brahman bulls, sourced out of Rockhampton. The result has given offspring the right hybrid vigour to cope with the climate.
Mustering cattle out of the steep hills and deep valleys into the house paddock is not a job for motorbikes, as the terrain is too dangerous.
"Bikes scare the cattle. I prefer to muster on horseback," says Mr Steinhardt, who employs a posse of volunteers with their own horses keen for a day's ride.
