Meeting the market relies on quality cattle input

For Barry Shearman, Fullerton Cove on the Hunter River north of Newcastle, this approach starts and ends with cattle that do well in his local environment while meeting market expectations, even in uncertain times.

A fifth generation on this low country property, where mangroves border kikuyu paddocks, the early history involved dairy but Mr Shearman saw a future in beef from the age of 15.

He convinced his father to buy into Poll Herefords to put over Friesian cows but the big framed black baldy offspring wouldn't sell as he wanted.

A sojourn into Square Meaters, at the behest of his second cousin, lasted a little while but again the Hunter market wouldn't look twice, so they sold to a Braidwood butcher.

"They were good and heavy but no one wanted them," he explained.

Speckle Park followed and looked the money, but were difficult in the yards.

"There were a fair few Angus about at the time and I could see the potential," he said. "The Angus society has done a good job with marketing."

Mr Shearman started with Sugarloaf heifers in calf, paying $4000 for the three year old females in 2017 and cattlemen at the saleyards said he was mad. They blamed him for pushing up the price of cattle in the district.

Correei Angus females from Dungog followed and more recently Boambee Angus, Seaham, with those bulls delivering deep and long calves - the lead of them weighing 380kg at 10 months.

"I'm a strong believer in spending the money to get quality," he said.

"And temperament is a big thing for me.

"It is important to source local genetics that are suited to the coast. It's no good bringing cattle in from the west."

Three day sickness has come and gone this summer - nothing unusual for the North Coast. Heavy rain will wash nutrients out of standing feed, supplements are required. Floods will set the country back - and the 2007 deluge that washed Pasha Bulker onto Nobbys Beach is still fresh in his mind. In fact dry weather suits this landscape and the kikuyu will grow through winter.

Such is the protein of this tropical grass that calves look great in a year with patchy rain - such as this one - and eight year old cows with calves at foot, and in calf again, look fat and shiny.

"My agent says I produce a good run of calves and that I should breed on, but I still buy in heifers," he says.

"I like to wait to get them in calf until they are two years old, to give birth at three years. There's less trouble calving and then get it in calf again.

"Once young ones have a calf, they gain no height after they calve, they won't grow any more. Here, cows need to carry weight and their calf on grass.