Summer Angus: Boosting weaner production at Pyalong, Victoria

Mrs Ryan has bred Angus cattle since the early 1990s, when she went to a sale at Wodonga to buy Hereford heifers with their first calf at foot.

Her father had bred horned Herefords for many years.

"I stopped bidding at $579 then the Angus ones came through and they made $629, so we changed our breeding and bought a line of 40 Angus heifers privately," Mrs Ryan said.

She's slowly worked towards a purebred line of Angus cattle and now runs about 300 breeders.

Mrs Ryan has used a range of genetics in her time in the Angus breed.

"Over the years, the female herd has been strongly influenced by GT Maximum and Vermilion Yellowstone genetics," she said.

"Last year I purchased a young bull Milwillah Elsom bloodline from Adameluca stud at Kyneton.

"He's grown out really well, and I've used him for two joinings so far, so I'll get two calvings straight away that'll show me what they're like."

A few tough seasons led to three joinings, but it hasn't been a big management issue.

"I love the idea of less feet on my granite soil," Mrs Ryan said. "When I joined the second lot for the late autumn or early winter, the idea was to sell them in calf to make more money, but we had the perfect season last year so we've got a lot of grass.

"I've been improving a few paddocks and haven't had to destock, so I'll wait to see how I manage with the different calvings.

"When the 300 or so are calving at once it's the only thing I do, but having groups of 40 or 50 makes it easy to go around them each day and be on the ball to look for problems."

Mrs Ryan likes a moderate-framed cow, which suits her lighter country, but she looks for frame in her bulls, along with structure and a good temperament.

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"If a bull hasn't got a good frame, he hasn't got a place to put the weight," Mrs Ryan said.

"Milk is also vital for me when selecting bulls so we have weaners that can grow out."

Mrs Ryan recently sold eight to nine-month-old steers at Euroa in December that weighed up to 375kg.

Her top pen made $1670 a head and the seconds and thirds, which were significantly lighter, sold for $1665.

"We've all had a great season and whole sale was heavy, but the best I've done highest before that was 359kg," she said.

"I always target the specialist weaner sales and that feature sale is for black Angus steers only, so the buyers are there wanting to buy Angus."

Mrs Ryan has focused on improving pastures following tough years of drought.

"In the past I have used lime and super but I didn't do much pasture improvement, but you can get very good results if you do it properly," she said.

"We've got a solid clover base, but by sowing phalaris there's better cover in summer.

"It was fantastic to see what the weaners could do with proper rain, and now I'll have better pasture in dry times."

Mrs Ryan makes the most of her 405-hectare property Kerami, at Pyalong, Victoria, by managing the land carefully.

While she's running more breeders than usual, having three different joinings will decrease the number of cattle on the property at once.

In good years Mrs Ryan has more trouble keeping breeders at a healthy weight, but she uses her higher boulder country for the cows, which helps manage their weight.

"I let the cows onto that hill, which has a watering hole below it, because I believe the exercise makes them fitter for calving, and the calf is smaller," Mrs Ryan said.

"They're better off being fit than fat, and it's also a good way of utilising that feed. Most of the time it's spelled because I couldn't have bulls up there, and it's too much walking for young calves."

An important part of Mrs Ryan's land management is improving biodiversity by adding more varieties of trees.

"I've planted over 20,000 trees starting from before I bought the farm.

"It was a slow process because I had to rabbit proof the tree plots, but the first trees were just for shade in the paddocks, then for erosion and now biodiversity. I've planted a greater variety of trees and shrubs like hakeas, mallees, flowering gums, and banksia, that add to the biodiversity of the area."