Looking to diversify their core breeding herd, South Australian based WV James and Son, has turned to Yeoval producers Justin and Amy Dickens, JAD Speckle Park, for quality sires to breed first- and second-cross calves.
Running a breeding herd of 2000 Angus cows of Pathfinder and Mandayen blood on their 10,000 hectare property, Alec James said the cattle make up half of the operation with Merino and first-cross lamb production the remaining focus.
Putting Speckle Park bulls over the Angus cows, Mr James said he was retaining the best heifers each year with the remainder being sold as weaners at local sales.
A portion of the first-cross heifers were joined to JAD bulls to make a three-quarter Speckle Park calf, but Mr James said he hadn't had any production out of the calves as they were still young.
Mr James said he was very happy with the first-cross heifers he had kept on and began breeding from.
"We will do another cross to get the Speckle Park performance, the high milk production, soft easy doing ability, and a bit more drought resilience," he said.
Moving forward, Mr James said he was very happy with what the Speckle Park cattle had done so far so was looking to increase numbers but would not be going out of Angus entirely.
An advantage of the Speckle Park breed was the marketability and 'hype' of the calves, which has meant when selling weaners the James' have had interest from private parties and larger meat buyers.
Semen from their lead sires is collected for insurance purposes prior to bulls being put with joining mobs in case of injuries.
Implementing an artificial insemination (AI) program last year, he said he wanted to get the most out of the quality sires he had purchased. After great success with the first AI, they aim to increase numbers joined for this years program.
Purchasing stud Speckle Park bulls for the past four years from JAD, they secured five bulls at this year's sale paying a top of $48,000 for JAD Reigning R110 and average of $32,400.
"Certainly this year we hoped to pick up a bull that was suitable for the AI program and then we were looking for herd bulls to put over the maternal herd cows," he said. "We wanted a bull that could colour code the calves and compliment the females."
As the retained females increased in Speckle Park percentage, Mr James said he will continue to focus on the commercial cattle.
"Commercial cattle and commercial sheep is what we do, we are breeders and we know our game and at the moment we will leave the stud stuff to the people that are very passionate about that," he said.
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As consistent repeat clients, JAD stud principal Justin Dickens toured the James family's operation and became interested in following the progress of the cross bred steers and evaluating their performance up to processing and thus purchased the full line of 81 steers in the December weaner sales.
The steers were on display at JAD Speckle Park's bull and female sale on April 1 which created interest and allowed potential buyers to see the influence the bulls had in commercial operations.
Mr Dickens said the motivation to buy the steers was to grow them on grass, see how they performed under their management techniques, and then collect the carcase data at the end.
"As far as the cattle themselves, their weight for age is very impressing, they are exceptionally well grown, they are really performing well and demonstrating that high yielding performance," he said.
Anticipating carcase yields in the high 50-60 per cent range, Mr Dickens was very interested to see the outcome. "If they can reach those yields, it will be extraordinary," he said.
The grading of the carcase and the results will be used as performance information for the JAD stud.
After the great success and performance so far with the steers, Mr Dickens said he would certainly be looking at the cattle each year as they enter the sale.
"I would have no hesitation of going and buying them again if we get the opportunity," he said.
"We have traded steers from other breeds and I have never traded a mob that perform like that and have shown so much potential."
Mr Dickens said that the type of steers they are growing into would be a very easy product to market. Expecting a 600 kilogram liveweight, he said the steers were best suited to an export market.
Mr Dickens said his agents, Bowyer and Livermore, Bathurst, were confident there would be two to three main buyers wanting the cattle so there would not be any trouble selling.
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