Fiona Conroy and Cam Nicholson, of Knewleave Partnership on the Bellarine Peninsula (Vic), breed feeder steers for the longfed market, focussing on marbling.
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Their herd is registered on the Angus Commercial Register and they use Breedplan to help inform their breeding decisions.
They join half their herd using fixed time artificial insemination.
"We join nearly all our yearling heifer drop at 14-15mo, weighing at least 350kg, and about 60 second-calvers for one cycle and then run them with a back up bull for one cycle," Ms Conroy said.
"We have a tight joining period and tight calving pattern.
"All the mobs go out to single sires, because we want to keep track of parentage.
"We record all the joining details and dates and this makes data collection straight forward for the Angus Society and Breedplan.
"During calving, I check all the mobs twice a day; and calves are weighed at birth and matched to their dams."
Birth date and weight, parentage, calving ease, 200-day and 400-day weights are all recorded.
The couple put pressure on the herd for a tight calving pattern and select their breeders for maturity type.
"We have moderate-framed cows with good growth rates, good calving ease and fertility.
"We put a lot of pressure on our cows to get in calf in a short time frame, and get back in calf.
"Fertility is a key profit driver for us. We calve heifers at two-years-old and anything that fails to get in calf or needs assistance to calve, is culled."
This methodology enables them to turn off steers that are alike, without too much variation in weights.
"The Knewleave herd is a progeny test herd in Team Te Mania. We get access to Te Mania lease bulls and semen at subsidised-cost.
"Te Mania pays for our heifers and steers to be scanned for EMA, rib fat, IMF at 400 days. All that data goes into Breedplan and is linked to sires and dams.
"When those steers go to feedlots and slaughter, their weight gain and carcase data comes back to us, Breedplan and Te Mania Angus stud."
Steers are sold to Rangers Valley feedlot at Glen Innes in NSW and Stockyard Group's Kerwee feedlot near Toowoomba, Qld.
"Feedlots in this sector want to know the genetic merit of the animals they're buying.
"Feedlots will pay a premium for cattle they know will marble, using a long feed regime."
Steers are sold at 400-500kg, after their second spring. More than 20 years ago, the couple moved from autumn to spring calving to take advantage of grass growth and to increase stocking rate.
"In poor seasons, we sell steers earlier, as backgrounders, to the same feedlot."
The average age of the breeding herd is 3.5 years old. Older breeding females are sold PTIC in the Te Mania female sale.
A high rate of heifer retention and the sale of older cows maximises Knewleave herd's rate of genetic gain.
"During joining, I check the mobs every day to make sure the bull is working.
"Because we do a lot of data record-keeping, we've made a lot of progress with our breeding. Our youngest cattle are the best in our herd, in terms of improvement in fertility and marbling.
"Which means we have a lot of heifers coming into the herd each year, and we're able to sell our cows still young, with a breeding track record and proven performance abilities."
Jeanette Severs
I research and write articles across a broad range of topics for an agricultural and rural readership. My hours of work are part-time - generally Monday, Tuesday and Friday.
I research and write articles across a broad range of topics for an agricultural and rural readership. My hours of work are part-time - generally Monday, Tuesday and Friday.
