2021 Autumn Angus Bulletin by Angus Australia

Angus BULLETIN

Distributed by the Angus Society of Australia

Angus Australia launches Angus verified · Most Widely used sires in last two years · Angus – the breed to trust for the great herd rebuild · Flexibility Drives McIntyre Ag · Collaborative Angus Research & Development Update

Autumn 2021

BULL SALE TUESDAY 3RD AUGUST 2021 1PM, Bald Blair Guyra NSW

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Semen Available!

PER STRAW

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KILLAIN MADAME PRIDE 3 M9

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A Glimpse

of what’s to come in 2021

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‘KILLAIN’ 13553 NEW ENGLAND HIGHWAY - TAMWORTH NSW 2340 RICHARD: 0408 471 603 | RDUDDY@BIGPOND.COM | WWW.KILLAINANGUS.COM.AU The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

contents

Autumn 2021 | Volume 43

2 Contents

52 34 Angus marketability in any season suits all Henwood operations

Angus Snapshots

President’s Report

37 Focus on soil health in Tasmanian Angus feeder steer operation

2020 – The year in review

38 Angus cattle can handle a climb at Talmalmo

Report from Angus Australia Board Meeting conducted on 5th March 2021

40 Female focus is key to breeding success

Life membership awarded to Ron Cowley

12 Most Widely Used Sires in Last Two Years 14 Angus Australia launches Angus Verified 16 Angus – the breed to trust for ‘The Great Herd Rebuild’

42 Around the Saleyards 43 Next generation sparks a grazing expansion 44 High demand for quality Angus weaners 45 Weaner Focus: Angus bulls paying dividends for The Lily 45 Weaner Focus: Wheel Turns For Ferris Fortunes

18 Join us at Beef Australia 2021 – ‘The Angus Influence – From performance to Profit’

46 Around the Weaner Sales

19 Celebrate all things Angus at Beef Australia 2021

47 Spectacular Angus Performance

21 Who are the Beef Australia Scholarship Recipients?

48 Beef Spectacular Feedback Trial first time entrants achieve best MSA score

22 Flexibility drives McIntyre Ag

49 Feedback trial reserve champion pen goes to Palmer family

24 Around the Beef Weeks

49 Beef Spectacular Feedback Trial success for Coolie Angus 50 Barfold’s triumph

25 Cooking with Verified Black Angus Beef 27 NVDs – Accepted Breed Descriptions

51 Member Services Statistics

28 Performance and marketability

52 Member Services Matters

Publisher: Angus Australia Locked Bag 11 Armidale NSW 2350 P: 02 6773 4600 | F: 02 6772 3095 E: office@angusaustralia.com.au W: www.angusaustralia.com.au Editor: Diana Wood Layout: Ebonie Sadler-Small Printer: printcentre.net.au. TACE Angus.Tech ASBP Breed Development Commerical Supply Chain General Genomics Northern Development Member Services Youth

19 54 Understanding Angus Australia’s DNA Services

Angus Education Marketing Beef Australia

72 Angus Producer Marketing Crash Course 74 Behind the Beef – Who we are and what we do

56 Have You Checked Your Exclusions Report? 57 +4kg for Birth weight, but what’s the actual weight

58 Out and About

59 Animal Searches Just Got Bigger

60 ASBP Cohort 8 – Sire Wrap-Up 63 Have you Considered Micromanaging your Heifer AI Program to Optimise Productivity? 65 Nominate a bull - Be part of cutting edge R&D

91 Angus Australia Staff Directory

Advertisers Indexes 10 ABS

Killain Angus

35 ACM

Knowla Livestock

68 Achmea

70 Neogen

36 Agri-Gene Pty Ltd

BC Outwest Angus

IFC Bald Blair Angus

39 Pentire Angus

IBC Beefgen

77 Queensland Machinery Agency

64 Brooklana Angus 62 DSK Angus IFC Eastern Plains Angus

66 Collaborative Angus R&D Update

50 Eastern Spreaders PTY LTD 56 Farmers Breeding Supplies 20 Genetics Australia

69 Where are they now?

41 Genetic Choice 5

71 End of an era for the Central Victorian Angus Regional Group 71 Around the Shows

57 Reiland Angus 65 Semex 8

Sugarloaf Angus

66 Vetoquinol 33 Virbac 59 Wallawong Premium Beef

Glengowan Angus

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Editor or of the Board of Angus Australia. Neither the Editor nor Angus Australia takes any responsibility for the accuracy of the information contained within this publication, nor for the outcome (including consequential loss) of any action taken by readers or others based on information contained therein. The publishers reserve the right to refuse or cancel without notice any advertisement in a publication issued by them.

Use Angus SELECT to find Angus animals and tap into the unlimited potential of Angus genetics

Northern Focus Angus Australia has a number of support resources if you are utilising Angus genetics in the northern most areas of Australia. These resources have been created as part of the Northern development program, with the aim to increase utilisation of Angus infused cattle to improve productivity and profitability in the beef supply chain of northern Australia.

The Angus SELECT suite of selection tools assists Angus breeders to improve the profitability of Angus genetics within the beef supply chain by assisting with the identification of Angus genetics that are most aligned with their breeding goals and objectives.

Breeding Better Breeders March 2021 Sire RBVs Now Available Updated Research Breeding Values for Mature Cow Body Condition and Mature Cow Height for sires are now available, following the release of the March 2021 TransTasman Angus Cattle Evaluation.

Are you selling bulls at auction or on farm? Did you know you might be missing out on reaching potential clients if you aren’t utilising Angus Australia’s sale catalogue services?

For more information visit www.angusaustralia.com.au

Angus HeiferSELECT Angus HeiferSELECT is a genomic selection tool to help inform the selection of Angus replacement females (87.5% Angus content or greater) in a commercial beef breeding operation.

Angus HeiferSELECT provides: · Genetic predictions for nine (9) important maternal, growth and carcase traits · Genetic prediction and star rating for total breeding value · Sire assignment*

With significant growth in searches across AngusSELECT, members selling bulls and females privately or whom have semen or embryos for sale are encouraged to include those listings on AngusSELECT. The Angus Australia website and AngusSELECT is online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, meaning that your bulls, females, semen and embryos for sale, can be searched for and seen at any time. Head to www.angusaustralia.com.au for more information.

@Angus Australia

@angusaustralia

Angus Australia

@angusaustralia

Angus Australia

Don’t forgetytoour tag us across ls! social channe

Do we have your 2021 bull sale date? If you have not already sent us your bull sale information for 2021 or beyond, please contact marketing@angusaustralia.com.au with your bull sale name, date, time, location and contact details. See upcoming events here!

President’s Report

Sam White, President and Board Chairperson Bull sales across the country, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Southern New South Wales are strong, with great prices being received by our members. Congratulations to all, and good luck to all those with sales coming up. The market at this point is massive with great prices being received by our commercial producers and members, the fundamental driver being supply and demand as we rebuild our herds with plenty of grass around; restocker demand aplenty. A stark difference to the situation 2019 and early 2020. I acknowledge that not everyone is out of woods with respect to seasonal recovery, however great prices mean there are great markets for stock. On Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th February, I had the pleasure of visiting a few stud sales in South Australia. I had the honour of presenting a Life Membership to Ron Cowley, Roseleigh Angus, at their family’s annual sale. A clear recognition of his efforts over decades, with contributions to SA Angus, and time on the Angus Australia Board and his support of Angus Youth in SA. I also visited Allastair Day and his family at the Allendale Angus bull Sale, and Stuart and Natalie Hann at Nampara Pastoral Bull Sale all on that same day. The next day I had the pleasure of catching up with Ben Glatz at his Bull Sale at the Woonalee Sale Complex at Furner, which was a great success. Ben and Sam have suffered considerably in the most recent Bushfires in SA as have other members as well. We acknowledge the difficulties faced by your family as you rebuild your herd. I would like to publicly acknowledge Brad Lucas, Chair of SA Angus for taking the time to get me around everywhere in such a short space of time and introducing me to members. In December 2020, the Board of Angus Australia reversed a decision on the implementation of Indexes calculated using Breed Object Version 6. I would like to acknowledge the many people who contacted the board members on this issue, both positive and negative.

As a result of that decision, we have resolved to set up a strategy for the implementation of the BreedObject Version 6 indexes, which includes greater consultation and review with respect to your opinions. Your views are important, both those not supporting the new indexes and those supporting them. We would like to hear from you. I would like to acknowledge the work of all members of staff at Angus Australia for carrying on and continuing to deliver services to our members throughout this time. Thank you to Peter Parnell and his team for all that you do to deliver services to our members. The Board’s Audit & Finance Committee has met since the start of the year to review the End Of Year position and audit report for 2020. The Strategy & Risk Committee has met twice, and the Breed Development & Extension Committee has met to review and set strategies going forward. I would like to acknowledge my fellow directors for their time and contribution over the last few months, giving up time to assist and continue to develop Angus Australia.

Glengowan Angus BULL & FEMALE SALE

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YEARS STRONG Established 1957

Richard & Sandra Retallack - 0458 523 337 or Steve Mooney 0428 683 152

www.glengowan.com.au

Mr Ron Cowley being presented with Life Membership of Angus Australia by Angus Australia President Sam White. Image: Stock Journal

The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

2020 – The year in review Peter Parnell, Chief Executive Officer

After several very challenging years for many members dealing with prolonged drought, suppressed markets and devastating bushfires, 2020 was a much more positive year for most. Drought breaking rains across much of Australia, and very strong prices received for Angus cattle, particularly breeding females, improved the situation for many members. Sadly, this improvement was not necessarily across the board, with members in some areas still challenged by unseasonably dry conditions. Angus Australia was able to maintain services to members during 2020 despite the changed circumstances resulting from the COVID-19 imposed restrictions. The biggest impact was the reduced face-to-face member engagement and the need to cancel many planned events throughout the year. Nevertheless, the ongoing R&D programs, software development projects and online education and extension initiatives progressed as planned, with good outcomes achieved across all areas. Some of the highlights for the year are summarized below.

Governance

Following the AGM in May 2020, there were no changes to the Angus Australia Board with six state-elected Directors, including Mr Brad Gilmour (Vic, President), Mr Perry Gunner (SA), Mrs Erica Halliday (NSW), Mr Brett Piraner (Qld), Mr Jock Hughes (Tas), and Mr Andrew Kuss (WA); and, three national elected Directors including Mr Sam White (NSW, Vice-President), Dr Laurie Denholm (NSW), and Mr Hamish McFarlane (Vic). Due to increased work commitments associated with the NSW government’s COVID-19 pandemic response, Dr Denholm took leave of absence from the Board from the 27th July 2020 for the remainder of the year. The Board conducted videoconference meetings in March, May, August, and December. A face-to-face meeting interfaced with videoconference was conducted in November. Various Board Committees met numerous times during the year by video conference to develop policy and strategy positions for consideration by the Board. In addition, various consultative committees met by videoconference during the year to provide valuable input to the Board on specific areas - including the Genetic Evaluation Consultative Committee, the Angus Sire Benchmarking Program Consultative Committee, the Angus Youth Consultative Committee, the Northern Development Consultative Committee, and the World Angus Forum Organising Committee. The efforts and generous investment of time from members participating in these various Committees is gratefully acknowledged. A ballot among members was conducted in SeptemberOctober to consider several changes to the Angus Australia Constitution. Each of the proposed changes were approved by the required proportion of members participating in the ballot. Among other items, these changes included provision to offer services to overseas members and the establishment of Affiliated Angus Breeder Groups to replace the State Committees. Each of the state-based Affiliated Angus Breeder Groups met on at least one occasion during 2020 by videoconference. 6

Finance

The Angus Society of Australia Ltd and its controlled entities including the Angus Foundation, Angus Youth Roundup, State Groups and Angus Australasia Pty Ltd, achieved a surplus in 2020 of $802,186. This was achieved by a significant reduction in expenditure during the year (partly due to COVID imposed restrictions to travel, events and physical meetings) with income close to the budgeted projection.

Membership

At the end of 2020, Angus Australia had a total of 3,798 members, including 3,458 Full Members, 20 Honorary Life Members, and 320 Junior Members. During 2020, Barwidgee Pastoral Company (W Kelly, Vic.) attained 75 years of membership with Angus Australia; and Gralunga (PKB & SG Gaden, SA), Chale (Josephine Beveridge, Tas), Tibooburra Angus (M & S Kerr, Vic) and Mundoo (WG & JA Watt, NSW) all attained 50 years of membership. A further 39 members celebrated 25 years of membership.

Registrations

A total of 108,649 females were enrolled on the female inventory during 2020, representing an 8.7% decline on the previous year mainly due to the impact of prolonged drought in the preceding years. A total of 74,960 calves were registered during 2020 (4% more than 2019) including 46,007 in the Herd Book Register (HBR), 20,367 in the Angus Performance Register

(APR), 5,237 in the Angus Commercial Register (ACR) and 1,329 in the Multi Breed Register (MBR). A total of 12,216 transfers of registered animals were processed (27% more than 2019).

Breed Development

A large amount of performance data was added to the Angus Australia database in 2020 and included in the fortnightly Trans-Tasman Angus Cattle Evaluation (TACE) analyses. This included 58,953 birth weight records, 40,441 400-day weight records, 29,564 ultrasound carcase records, 15,063 scrotal size records, 9,165 mature cow weight records, 22,599 docility scores and 7,927 structural scores. There was an increase of approx. 2% in the total amount of performance data submitted in 2020 compared to 2019. DNA testing of animals to obtain genomic profiles increased significantly during 2020, with 40,011 new profiles added to the Angus Australia database, contributing to an overall total of 112,938 genotypes included in the mid-December 2020 TACE analysis. Genetic condition tests were conducted for 44,678 animals. Trends in TACE Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) showed a continued increase in genetic potential for growth performance (e.g. 200-Day Wt, 400-Day Wt), whilst average Birth Wt EBVs were maintained at similar levels to the 1990s. Mature Cow Wt EBVs have continued to increase in proportion to trends in average 200-Day Wt and 400-Day Wt EBVs. The trends in EBVs for growth traits were accompanied by positive changes in EBVs for Carcase Weight, Eye Muscle Area (EMA) and Intra-Muscular Fat (IMF%).

Members also continued to achieve genetic improvement in fertility traits and calving ease, with desirable trends in EBVs for Scrotal Size, Days to Calving and Calving Ease. Resulting from Angus Australia’s collaborative research initiatives with CSIRO and the University of New England, Research Breeding Values were published for ImmuneDEX, Mature Cow Height and Body Composition, and Coat Type. Also, during 2020, new Foot Score EBVs were developed with Angus Genetics Inc, including phenotypes, pedigrees and genomic relationships from animals recorded in Australia, USA and Canada. The desirable trends in EBVs for economically important traits resulted in continued positive trends in selection index values. The average increase in Angus Breeding Index Value among calves born over the over the past 3 years was +$3.84 per annum.

Education and Extension

During 2020, the partnership project with the MLA Donor Company to increase technology adoption across the Angus genetic improvement pipeline proceeded with several new initiatives to further enhance the delivery of education and extension messages. The online format of Angus CONNECT events attracted strong interest, with almost 2,000 views. New educational resources and case studies were developed on the value of genetic improvement, and a tagline campaign used to deliver key messages and draw breeders to these resources. The Angus Education Centre was expanded with the addition of further modules to what has become a leading hub of educational material relating to genetic improvement.

Strategic Projects

The Angus Sire Benchmarking Project (ASBP) progressed on schedule during 2020. All data collection on progeny of the sires included in first 8 cohorts is completed, including comprehensive evaluation of progeny performance for calving, growth, feed efficiency, feedlot gain, carcase yield, meat quality daughter fertility, feet and leg structure and immune competence. Data collection of cohort 9 progeny continued as planned during 2020, and recording of cohort 10 calving data was completed. The cohort 11 joining included 2,112 cows joined to 33 bulls across 5 herds. Accumulated data collected on ASBP progeny has been incorporated into fortnightly TACE analyses to update the EBVs and accuracies of all animals. Importantly, the ASBP data provides the required genomic reference population information to enable effective use of genomics data in TACE. Further progress was made during 2020 in the development of genomics-based selection tools targeted at commercial breeders of Angus cattle. Together with CSIRO, the existing HeiferSELECT tool was improved, and a new SteerSELECT tool developed for validation and implementation in 2021. The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

During 2020, Angus Australia participated in a research project with NSW Department of Primary Industries to collect retail beef yield data on steers from the ASBP. This data will be used to refine and contribute to the calculation of EBVs for RBY% in future TACE analyses. Despite the COVID-19 imposed travel restrictions, the Northern Development Program progressed in 2020 to support the use of Angus genetics in northern Australia. This included completion of the Beef Breeding Insights Report (available on the Angus Australia website) and commencement of a collaborative research project with the University of Queensland on the genetics associated with heat tolerance traits in Angus.

Export certification

Marketing, Communications

Commercial Supply Chain

A total of 174 auction sales were reported to Angus Australia in 2020, with 8,695 Angus bulls sold for an average of $8,106 (up 31% compared to 2019). The top priced bull was Dunoon Prime Minister P758, sold for $140,000. A total of 270 sale catalogues were produced by Angus Australia, including 12,153 lots (up 34% compared to 2019). Angus eNews was distributed to over 6,800 email addresses each week, 4 issues of the Angus Bulletin were published, 51 structured communication plans implemented, 31 media released distributed, 96 videos released, and 5 podcasts produced. The Angus Australia website received an average of 35,844 page views per month. Interest in Angus Australia’s social media platforms continued to increase with over 18,517 followers across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (up 34% compared to 2019).

Angus Youth

In January 2020, a successful Angus Youth Roundup was conducted in Toowoomba, Qld with 136 participants from all over Australia. The various scholarships, awards and bursaries planned for 2020 were suspended due to COVID-19 imposed travel restrictions, as were scheduled events such as the GenAngus Future Leaders Workshop.

During 2020 there was continued demand from China for Angus heifers to be used for breeding, with 23,729 export certificates issued.

Information Systems

Angus Australia’s angus.tech software development project progressed during 2020 with further enhancements to Angus DATABASE SEARCH tools, a new interface for publication of TACE results, and progression of several internal database developments to improve efficiency of processing of animal registrations, animal transfers, performance data input and DNA test requests. During 2020, Angus breed verification activities were conducted for eight Black Angus beef brands including 113,276 head processed (down 12% compared to 2019). Verification of Angus products sold by McDonalds accounted for approx. 39,000 head processed. Following over 10 years of partnership, the McDonalds verification program was discontinued on the 30th September by the supply chain managers Fulton Market Group and McDonalds Australia Ltd.

Summary

Following some extremely challenging years for our members, and despite the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was a positive year for Angus Australia and most of our members. Developments across a range of areas have continued to ensure that Angus Australia is well positioned to provide the best available tools and resources for members required for ongoing enhancement and promotion of the value of Angus. The important contributions of our members, Board, State Groups, Consultative Committees, staff, and numerous R&D and commercial partners during the year are gratefully acknowledged.

SUGARLOAF ANGUS

ANNUAL BULL SALE · SAT 7TH AUGUST 1PM

50 registered, performance recorded, heavy made easy doing bulls Jim Tickle - 0439 518 113 or AH: 02 4992 1980 · On property, Sugarloaf Creek, Dungog NSW · www.sugarloafangus.com.au

Report from Angus Australia Board Meeting conducted on 5th March 2021 Peter Parnell, Chief Executive Officer

The Angus Australia Board met by video conference on the 5th March 2021. The Angus Australia Board met by video conference on the 5th March 2021. Items addressed at the meeting included the following: · Review of quarterly key performance indicators from various departments of Angus Australia. · Update from CEO on major strategic and operational issues. · Review and approval of Financial Statement and Independent Auditor’s Report for the Financial Year ended 31st December 2020. · Review of updated risk management documentation. · Modification of Regulation 17.2 as follows: 17.2 Unless specific arrangements are made, the absolute credit limit for an individual member or customer will be $100,000 for Australian members and $50,000 for overseas members. · Consideration of proposed strategy for further Angus selection index development, including planned focus group consultation with members to obtain input and feedback on index changes.

· Decision to proceed with the implementation of an expanded range of “genomics-only” genetic evaluation services for non-registered Angus cattle via Angus HeiferSELECT and Angus SteerSELECT. · Consideration of meeting minutes and correspondence from State Affiliated Angus Breeder Groups. The next Angus Australia Board meeting is scheduled for the 27th – 28th May at Armidale, following the AGM to be conducted at 2:00pm on the 27th May. Further details about participating in the AGM will be included in the AGM Notice of Meeting to be sent to all members in mid-April. Subsequent Board meetings in 2021 are scheduled for 1213th August (Sydney), and 25-26th November (Armidale). Peter F Parnell, CEO & Company Secretary

KNOWLA LIVESTOCK 2021 SALE

Pre Sale Bull Inspection at Kia Ora Friday July 16th, 1pm Sale At Kia Ora Friday 30th July 2021, 1pm

80 Performance Recorded Bulls, 6 PTIC Stud Heifers & 100 NSM Heifers Feature Sires: LD Capitalist 316, Knowla Monty M186, Yon Full Force C398, Knowla Novatel N131, Dulverton New Approach N208, Lawsons Momentous M518, Millah Murrah Lock Up L133, Bowmont King K306, Knowla Lofty L175, Dunoon Kind K1354

The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

Beef Australia

Landfall New Ground N90

29AN2116

+ The ultimate powerful phenotype and EBV combination sire in the Angus breed with huge BW-600 day growth, massive, breed leading scrotal +6.3 and super +28 docility + Tremendous carcass EBVs including an 8.2 EMA, +3.2 IMF and positive fats combination + Progeny are sound, deep sided, thick topped with great length and eye appeal

Sitz Stellar 726D 29AN2025

Millah Murrah Paratrooper P15 29AN2123

Millah Murrah Quixote Q96 29AN2174

+ Blanket heifer mating option with tremendous B-muscle score

+ $160,000 Australian record priced Angus sire

+ Stellar is thick topped, deep sided with huge capacity

+ Superb carcass shape, thickness and muscle in a 6-frame package

+ Outstanding new bloodline with widespread commercial and seedstock appeal

+ A structural gem- top 1% for claw shape & foot angle US EPDs

+ Structural, phenotypic and pedigree excellence with a strong, balanced EBV set

+ Sons have been top sellers in last two Sitz sales

+ Australia’s biggest selling first year Angus of all time

Profit From Genetic Progress 10

Fletch Kelly Annie Pumpa Kim Sultana Bill Cornell

+ Chisum 255 son with awesome physical dimension, carcass composition + Flawless structure with deep maternal credentials makes Q96 the ultimate cow-maker

0419 383 341 0458 227 277 0438 418 113 0428 293 498

fletch.kelly@genusplc.com annie.pumpa@genusplc.com kim.sultana@genusplc.com bill.cornell@genusplc.com

Life membership awarded to Ron Cowley Cheyne Twist, Communications Officer

South Australian Angus breeder Ronald Cowley was in February bestowed the Angus Australia Honorary Life Membership by President and Board Chairman Sam White in recognition for his contributions to the Angus breed and Angus Australia.

Mr Ron Cowley being presented with Life Membership of Angus Australia by Angus Australia President Sam White, also pictured with son Mathew Cowley and grandson Nate Cowley. Image: Stock Journal

The presentation took place during the Roseleigh Angus Annual Bull Sale. Mr Cowley has a long history with the Angus breed spanning 65 years and a 30-year association with the Society. In 1983 Mr Cowley and his wife Judy took over Roseleigh Angus, the stud originally founded by the late Mr Charles Cowley. Roseleigh is one of the oldest Angus studs in South Australia, and made history hosting the first on-property auction for Angus cattle in the state. Mr Cowley utilised the networks provided by showing his stud as an example of his industry wide view of the Angus breed, and the strength that the breed was beginning to present in the global meat industry. In 2005 Roseleigh Angus was recognised by Angus Australia for 50 years of registered membership. Roseleigh Angus continues on, currently owned and operated by Ron, Judy, Mathew and Julie Cowley. Mr Cowley has made several commitments to Angus Australia across his life, serving as both a committee member and executive on the South Australia State Committee from 1982 to 2019, including time he served as the Vice Chairman in 1987 and the Chairman 1988 to 1989.

Catalogue services

with Angus Australia

Mr Cowley was also a director on the Angus Australia Board from 1988 to 1998. Furthermore Mr Cowley has also contributed to various other committees during his life, notably with the Royal Adelaide Show as Inspector and General Inspector, as a South Australia Federal Council Delegate, a member of the Angus National Show and Sale Committee, the Federal Classic Committee, Judging School Committee, South Eastern Committee, Financial Advisory & Chief Executive Committee, Breed Development Sub-Committee and as a South Australia Stud Beef Cattle Breeders Association Representative. Mr Cowley has also offered his knowledge to the industry working with and advocating for young Angus enthusiasts through mentoring young breeders within in the breed. In making the nomination on behalf of the South Australian State Committee, Chairman Brad Lucas noted that, “Ron has proven to be one of the most devoted and credible supporters of the Angus breed. “With over 30 years of commitment to promote the Angus breed on a State and Federal level, Ron has been a strong pillar of support during trying times.”

Do you want your bulls, females, semen or embryos for sale in front of a wide ranging audience? Angus Australia’s catalogue services are for all members with animals or genetics to sell. Members selling bulls and females privately or whom have semen or embryos for sale are encouraged to include those listings on AngusSELECT, alongside auction catalogues. To ensure you aren’t missing out, please contact us today to learn more: E: sam@angusaustralia.com.au, Ph: 02 6773 4600, or visit www.angusaustralia.com.au

The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

| 11

Most Widely Used Sires in Last Two Years Andrew Byrne, Breed Development & Extension Manager

1. Baldridge Beast Mode B074 has the most progeny born in the last two years, followed by Lawsons Momentous M518 and Landfall Keystone K132. These bulls have a combined total of 5,545 progeny born during this period. 2. Of the 20 bulls with the most progeny in the last two years, 11 have been bred in Australia, while 9 are imported sires from the United States. Of the 11 bulls bred in Australia, 5 are sons of imported sires from either the United States or New Zealand. 3. The average Angus Breeding Index of the 20 bulls with the most progeny in the last two years is +149, which is placed in the highest 7% percentile band (when compared to 2019 drop calves). Only 1 of the 20 most widely used bulls have an Angus Breeding Index that is below breed average.

4. Across individual traits, the average EBVs of the 20 bulls with the most progeny in the last two years is as follows: Trait

Sire Average

Breed Average

Calving Ease Direct

+5.3

+2.0

Calving Ease Daughters

+4.9

+2.5

Gestation Length

-5.9

-4.5

Birth Weight

+3.6

+4.2

200 Day Growth

+58

+48

400 Day Weight

+104

+87

600 Day Weight

+134

+114

Mature Cow Weight

+112

+99

Milk

+20

+17

Scrotal Size

+2.2

+2.0

Days to Calving

-4.8

-4.7

Carcase Weight

+75

+65

Eye Muscle Area

+8.9

+5.9

Rib Fat

+0.3

-0.1

Rump Fat

-0.7

-0.4

Retail Beef Yield

+0.5

IMF

+2.8

+2.0

NFI-F

+0.37

+0.17

Docility

+15

Foot Angle

+0.96

+0.98

Claw Set

+0.86

+0.85

Look for these sires and more Angus Database Search – www.angusaustralia.com.au https://angus.tech/enquiry/animal

A: Baldridge Beast Mode B074 PV, B: Lawsons Momentous M518 PV, C: Landfall Keystone K132 PV, D: Sydgen Enhance SV

The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

| 13

USA14686137 USA15452880

USA16198796

USA17082311 USA17770899

USA18219911

VTMB1 VTMZ74

VTME343

NZE14647008839 NENH213

NENK176

USA17262835 TFAL88

TFAN90

USA17666102 USA16896985

USA18467508

USA16295688 QMUG1

QMUM13

USA17354178 USA16934264

USA18217198

USA16752262 USA14407230

USA17666102

USA17366506 NORH414

NORL519

USA17501893 USA17405676

USA18170041

NORE11 TFAH807

TFAK132

USA17354145 VLYH229

VLYM518

USA16295688 USA17149410

Prog

Prog 2Yr.

2876

2400

2119

1998

904

844

1071

1136

1145

1147

792

760

562

649

1065

8115

HBR

870

519

4835

502

517

Breed Average EBVs

199

EF COMPLEMENT 8088 PV

HBR

338

540

562

BALDRIDGE COMMAND C036 PV

HBR

TE MANIA EMPEROR E343 PV

HBR

KAROO KNOCKOUT K176 SV

HBR

707

LANDFALL NEW GROUND N90 PV

HBR

MUSGRAVE 316 STUNNER PV

HBR

2638

1529

1171

1598

CLUNES CROSSING DUSTY M13

HBR

172

G A R ASHLAND PV

HBR

LD CAPITALIST 316 PV

HBR

RENNYLEA L519 PV

HBR

SYDGEN ENHANCE SV

HBR

LANDFALL KEYSTONE K132 PV

HBR

145

LAWSONS MOMENTOUS M518

HBR

Num Herd

Statistics

BALDRIDGE BEAST MODE B074

Reg.

Sire Dam

USA17960722

Name

Ident

Birth GL

200

400

600 MCW Milk SS

Growth DC

Fert CW -2.0

-0.2

90% 86% 24 42

+0.7

87% 85% 10 3

+1.5 +2.3

-2.6

87% 83% 97 94

-2.4

-1.7

88% 87% 6 82

+2.0

-0.2

98% 98% 13 42

+1.3

89% 87% 3 11

+2.5 +1.3

83% 81% 3 16

+2.4 +0.9

86% 82% 3 12

+2.5 +1.2

+2.0

+2.5

-4.5

+4.2

+48

+87

+114

+99

+17

+2.0

-4.7

+65

+5.9

+7.3 +11.6 -5.4 +2.9 +53 +98 +130 +104 +23 +1.1 -4.6 +77 +8.4 96% 83% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 98% 98% 99% 82% 97% 96% 16 1 35 19 25 18 16 40 9 85 52 12 15

-0.1

-0.4

97% 96% 18 6

+1.0 +1.8

+10.4 +10.2 -7.7 +2.6 +60 +105 +136 +104 +21 +0.3 -0.6 +74 +12.5 -2.0 -2.5 71% 50% 98% 98% 97% 97% 96% 92% 85% 95% 49% 85% 86% 87% 83% 4 2 9 15 5 7 10 39 18 97 97 18 1 94 93

+4.9 +4.9 -6.7 +5.1 +52 +96 +127 +126 +12 +2.0 -7.3 +66 +3.6 97% 92% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 92% 98% 98% 32 31 17 71 31 23 21 10 89 46 12 48 85

+2.0 +7.9 -8.0 +5.1 +49 +91 +115 +130 +9 +3.6 -5.8 +57 +7.6 72% 57% 99% 98% 97% 98% 97% 90% 82% 97% 58% 87% 88% 54 9 8 71 49 37 48 7 98 4 31 78 22

+3.1 -0.3 -6.5 +3.7 +60 +113 +144 +131 +20 +6.3 -5.6 +78 +8.2 67% 46% 98% 98% 96% 95% 95% 84% 72% 91% 52% 80% 81% 46 77 19 36 6 2 5 7 21 1 34 11 17

+2.3 +5.6 -1.4 +3.2 +57 +105 +136 +117 +18 +2.3 -1.5 +85 +6.7 69% 47% 98% 98% 96% 96% 94% 86% 80% 94% 46% 85% 85% 52 24 91 25 11 7 10 19 37 32 93 4 34

+4.2 +7.2 -8.4 +5.3 +66 +100 +122 +82 +15 +1.1 -9.3 +75 +15.4 +0.1 -2.1 71% 49% 99% 98% 97% 97% 96% 84% 73% 97% 58% 80% 85% 85% 84% 37 13 6 75 2 14 31 80 67 85 2 17 1 42 88

+3.1 +6.9 -6.3 +3.8 +71 +122 +158 +125 +16 +1.8 -2.4 +86 +13.2 -2.6 -3.6 71% 44% 99% 98% 96% 95% 92% 86% 81% 94% 47% 86% 86% 87% 82% 46 15 22 39 1 1 1 11 62 56 86 3 1 98 99

+12.6 +10.9 -4.2 +2.0 +51 +92 +114 +84 +14 +1.3 -1.6 +74 +8.8 87% 65% 99% 99% 98% 99% 99% 93% 89% 98% 55% 89% 90% 1 1 55 8 33 34 50 77 76 78 92 19 12

+6.0 +5.4 -7.9 +4.6 +55 +102 +137 +133 +23 +0.7 -6.6 +75 +7.2 77% 62% 99% 99% 98% 97% 97% 91% 83% 96% 59% 84% 86% 24 26 8 59 18 11 9 6 8 93 19 16 27

+2.2 +1.8 -3.5 +3.3 +62 +109 +144 +111 +19 +2.6 -1.7 +78 +8.7 77% 43% 99% 99% 98% 98% 96% 86% 81% 96% 44% 85% 87% 53 60 67 27 4 4 5 27 30 21 92 10 13

+6.0 +7.4 -7.7 +2.2 +57 +107 +147 +130 +16 +0.9 -6.8 +98 +6.9 86% 66% 99% 98% 98% 98% 98% 93% 88% 97% 62% 87% 88% 24 12 9 10 12 5 3 8 56 90 17 1 31

-0.4 -1.8 -5.4 +4.1 +53 +96 +122 +94 +22 +2.8 -1.2 +64 +14.3 -0.1 -1.1 78% 53% 99% 99% 98% 98% 97% 85% 74% 97% 53% 80% 86% 85% 84% 70 85 35 46 25 21 32 60 10 15 94 55 1 48 68

-1.2

88% 85% 81 87

Carcase EMA Rib

+8.2 +3.5 -3.8 +3.3 +74 +123 +156 +132 +20 +2.4 -6.2 +78 +5.7 78% 55% 99% 99% 98% 98% 98% 88% 82% 97% 57% 86% 88% 11 44 62 27 1 1 1 6 25 28 25 10 51

Dtrs

Calv-Ease Dir

+0.5

+2.0

+0.17

+2.0 +0.63 95% 95% 91% 84 47 93

-0.4

+2.5 +0.50 81% 85% 66% 3 29 87

+2.3

+2.4 +0.18 97% 97% 95% 82 32 51

-0.3

+2.1 +0.27 83% 86% 70% 64 43 63

+0.2

+3.2 +0.71 78% 80% 65% 68 13 96

+0.1

+1.6 -0.10 81% 84% 64% 95 64 18

-1.0

+2.7 +0.81 80% 84% 70% 1 24 98

+2.7

+2.8 +0.13 82% 84% 64% 1 21 44

+2.7

+2.1 +0.41 84% 88% 71% 64 43 79

+0.2

+4.5 +0.90

82% 85% 71% 99 1 99

-1.6

+2.8 -0.62

82% 86% 67% 18 21 1

+1.3

+2.2 +0.58

84% 86% 72% 72 39 91

+0.0

+4.6 +0.44

+2.7 +0.19

79% 84% 68% 50 1 82

+0.5

+1.0

83% 86% 70% 28 24 52

RBY IMF NFI-F

99% 47

94% 18

+16

99% 61

97% 4

+27

94% 3

+28

89% 9

+22

94% 94

-11

87% 48

98% 90

-9

98% 3

+29

95% 2

+30

97% 8

+23

96% 8

+22

+17

97% 16

Doc

Feed Temp

+0.98

99% 96

+1.28

95% 40

+0.94

99% 60

+1.02

89% 19

+0.84

69% 11

+0.78

90% 83

+1.14

81% 35

+0.92

94% 88

+1.18

98% 31

+0.90

96% 16

+0.82

99% 69

+1.06

90% 88

+1.18

88% 19

+0.84

94% 1

+0.48

+0.85

99% 64

+0.92

96% 42

+0.82

99% 68

+0.94

88% 51

+0.86

69% 55

+0.88

89% 78

+1.00

81% 42

+0.82

94% 99

+1.30

99% 60

+0.90

96% 3

+0.50

99% 22

+0.72

90% 29

+0.76

88% 16

+0.68

94% 14

+0.66

Claw

Structural Angle

March 2021 TransTasman Angus Cattle Evaluation Estimated Breeding Values Estimated Breeding Values

Angus Australia – Sires With Most Progeny in the Last Two Years

Angus Australia - 50 Sires with the Most Progeny in the Last Two Years

+120

+112

+127

+116

$140 $125 $145 $139

$152 $141 $165 $148

$140 $121 $157 $130

$129 $119 $140 $123

$158 $137 $181 $147

$118 $113 $114 $122

$174 $155 $194 $161

$176 $156 $199 $166

$123 $122 $124 $125

$162 $129 $195 $146

$147 $132 $164 $141

$157 $131 $175 $148

$142 $126 $169 $131

$166 $147 $187 $156

DOM GRN GRS

Selection Index

Page:

ABI

March 1, 2021

Date:

Angus Australia launches Angus Verified Cheyne Twist, Communications Officer

Angus Australia is excited to announce the launch of Angus Verified, a program developed to provide assurance and integrity to the marketplace by verifying a producers claim of ‘Angus,’ is the genuine purebred article. Angus Verified records the use of registered Angus sires, declares breeders and animals verified are purebred Angus and validates that sires, identified by their RFID, is on the right PIC at the time of joining to authenticate their purebred Angus breeding program. Angus Verified can be accessed through an App and Web Portal, developed in conjunction with Aglive Pty Ltd, allowing easy access to this program at the tips of your fingers. Angus Verified ensures that black hided Angus imposters are not sold as Angus, leading to greater integrity, confidence, and trust throughout the supply chain. Targeted to the commercial Angus producer, Angus Verified is now available to Angus Australia members. Angus Australia’s Commercial Supply Chain Manager Liz Pearson looks forward to working with commercial Angus producers through the Angus Verified program and assisting them in improving their profitability and reputation in the marketplace. “More and more we are seeing black hided imposters benefiting from the good Angus name, built from years of hard work by Angus producers. Angus Verified helps the Angus producer build better relationships based on trust and loyalty and adds integrity and credibility to their business and their reputation.” “As a buyer, you can have confidence when purchasing Angus Verified cattle as you can validate their status through the Angus Australia database with their RFIDs. Angus Verified producers will also have access to exclusive yellow Angus Verified tags as a visual identifier in the market.” “Angus Australia is thrilled and proud to be collaborating with Aglive Pty Ltd on this exciting program that we believe without a doubt will benefit Angus producers, purchasers and the entire beef supply chain.”

Aglive Pty Ltd is an industry first paddock-to-plate blockchain-based logistics platform which tracks cattle from birth through life, then tracking products from processing to the consumers plate ensuring products are shipped under the right conditions throughout the journey. Paul Ryan, Aglive Pty Ltd CEO, is pleased to be part of the collaborative effort in bringing Angus Verified to the marketplace. “Aglive Pty Ltd is excited to be part of this innovative project and to support the iconic Angus brand. The Aglive App records Angus Verified animals, and it can also record weight gains, treatments, and other important livestock management information. The new eNVD is built into the Aglive App providing access to shipments and NLIS transfers at the touch of a button making compliance and integrity a breeze.” To join Angus Verified, become a member of Angus Australia, subscribe to the program, download the free Aglive App and set up your account. Once this is complete you can do everything in the App, or if you prefer, login to the Aglive Web Portal with a QR code on your App and do bulk data entries with a csv upload. “We encourage those with purebred commercial Angus herds to join Angus Verified and get rewarded for your quality Angus cattle by displaying the Angus Verified endorsement in the marketplace,” said Ms Pearson. For further information about Angus Verified, including the what, the how, and the why please download the brochure or contact Angus Australia’s Commercial Supply Chain Manager Liz Pearson liz.pearson@angusaustralia.com.au. Scan this QR code to find out more information

Black hided cattle are NOT always Angus Angus Verified stops Angus imposters from eroding your profits and your breed

Get rewarded for your quality Angus cattle by displaying the Angus Verified endorsement in the marketplace. It records the use of registered Angus sires, declares breeders and animals are purebred Angus and validates that the RFIDs of your sires are on your PIC at the time of joining to authenticate your purebred Angus breeding program.

What’s recorded? Angus Sire Records · PIC Number

· Angus Sire ID

· Builds integrity, confidence, and trust · Leverages a competitive advantage

· RFID or NLIS ID

Angus Verified Animal Records · Mob Name · Sex

· RFID or NLIS ID

· Birth Year

· Breeder PIC

Why would I join? · Secures market premiums

· Rewarded the use of registered Angus sires · Adds credibility to your business reputation · All Angus Verified RFIDs are recorded in the Angus Australia database

· Sire ID or Sire Group

· Identify your cattle with exclusive Angus Verified tags

· Birth Range by Month

· Improves your profitability

What does it cost?

· Angus Verified Subscription - $110/year · Verify Animals - $1/head Digital Animal Records uploaded by Angus Australia charged at $2.00/head. Manual Animal Records uploaded by Angus Australia charged at $66.00/hr. All prices GST inclusive.

Where do I sign up? 1. Become a member of Angus Australia and join Angus Verified 2. Download the Aglive App 3. Set up your account... and you’re good to go!

www.angusaustralia.com.au

Download the Aglive App – Free – includes access to eNVDs, data transfers and livestock management tools

The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

| 15

Angus – the breed to trust for ‘The Great Herd Rebuild’ Diana Wood, Marketing & Communications Manager

Ever since significant areas across the country received drought breaking rains throughout 2020, we have been hearing about the herd rebuild and how cattle producers were going to reap the benefits. This phenomenon has certainly been realised across the beef industry, particularly in the last 6 months. The prices that have been reached have been astronomical and Angus producers have been the biggest winners. Record prices for commercial Angus females have continued to fall, as beef producers focus their herd rebuild on the breed they can trust. This demand for Angus females has been apparent right across the country. Western Australia kicked off the record-breaking year for Angus cattle at the Nutrien Livestock Mated Beef Female sale in Boyanup on January 7th. GW & J Oliver, Kirup and the Harris Family, Treeton Lake both reached a new joint National Record for PTIC Angus heifers with their offerings making $4,100. The Harris Family’s 7 heifers, PTIC to Cherylton and Black Market genetics were purchased by G & K Nicolaou & Son, Manjimup, while the Oliver’s 6 heifers PTIC to Millah Murrah genetics, were purchased by ND & BJ Holdsworth, Bridgetown. The Oliver family also recorded the second top price of the sale, when another pen of 7 of their PTIC Angus heifers reached $4000 when purchased by Whild Avos Pty Ltd, Manjimup. Overall this sale saw Angus heifers dominate the numbers making up 72% of the catalogue and proving to be the breed of choice with all bar one line of the 326 heifers selling at auction to the top sale average at $3,053. Nutrien Livestock’s, Paul Mahony said that it has been a fantastic cattle selling season and the quality has been excellent in Western Australia, with prices being driven up by demand from across the country. ‘I think the diversity of the market demand has driven these prices, whether it’s live export, restockers, feeders, eastern

C 16

states enquiry and across the board the competition,’ he said. ‘AuctionsPlus has worked well for us with getting cattle across the border.’ The focus moved back to the eastern states with the Gloucester Female Sale, NSW, hosted by Gooch Agencies, hitting a record high for commercial Angus cows with calves at $4,800 on February 12th. The 24 Angus cows with first and second calves were offered by the Denyer family, Denell Partnership, Belbora, NSW and purchased by Peter Madden, Malacco Farm, Mondrook, NSW. This record was equaled at the Reiland Premier Angus Breeder Sale at Gundagai on March 12th, when $4,800 was paid for a pen of 10 Angus heifers, 505kg and PTIC for a spring joining, with spring drop calves averaging 215kg, caught the attention of top price buyers Peter and Narelle Clout, Coolac.

A: The $4,800 record set for commercial Angus cows with calves, for 24 Angus cows and calves at Gloucester NSW. Image: The Land, B: Narelle and Peter Clout, Coolac, with Reiland co-principal Mark Lucas after the sale of Reiland’s PTIC spring calving heifers and their calves for an equal Australian record of $4800. Image: Outcross Media, C: Equal $4,100 national record top price PTIC commercial Angus heifers, with vendors Peta-Jane (left) and Mark Harris, buyer George Nicolaou and Brett Chatley, Nutrien Livestock Manjimup. Image: Farm Weekly, D: Equal $4,100 Australian record top price for PTIC commercial Angus heifers with buyer Noel Holdsworth (left), with, vendor Graeme Oliver and Dean Taaffe, Nutrien Livestock, Donnybrook. Image: Farm Weekly

A B The sale which featured Reiland genetics saw 664 head yarded and the sale interfaced with AuctionsPlus. In the sale break down, weaned heifers averaged $1679 and topped at $1910, PTIC autumn calving heifers averaged $3,053 and topped at $3,300, cows and calves averaged $3,447 and topped at $3,600, PTIC heifers and calves averaged $3,948 and topped at $4,800, and PTIC spring calving heifers averaged $2,623 and topped at $3600. The entire yarding averaged $2715 and grossed $1.8 million. Rob Stubbs, Elders Tumut, said restockers from the local districts and the Monaro were strong on the autumn and spring calving heifers. “It was right up on the money where we thought it would be with a magnificent yarding of cattle,” he said.

“

People are still rebuilding and willing to pay the right money for the right genetics

“A lot of people like to see the security of that calf alongside the cows, and that’s where they paid the premium. “People are still rebuilding and willing to pay the right money for the right genetics.” On the 5th of March Kerin Agriculture sold 1344 PTIC Angus heifers on AuctionsPlus to an average of $2,827. The heifers formed Australia’s largest offering of AI joined PTIC Angus heifers, all joined to Millah Murrah Angus genetics. A top price of $3,050 was paid for 2 lots of 41 heifers and the sale grossed $3,798,900 with a 100% clearance. Another significant sale for commercial Angus females was the Team Te Mania online commercial female sale on March 5th, deemed its most successful sale, averaging $2562 for 1001 Te Mania bloodline females. The sale, held online topped at $4,300 for a pen of five cows with calves at foot, sold by vendor Fiona Conroy, Knewleave, Drysdale, Victoria.

D The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

| 17

Beef Australia

Join us at Beef Australia 2021 –

‘The Angus Influence – From performance to Profit’ Cheyne Twist, Communications Officer Angus Australia is heading up to Beef Australia 2021, and this year will be hosting a seminar for beef producers, “The Angus Influence – from Performance to Profit”, taking place on Tuesday May 4.

The Angus Influence

TUES 4 MAY, 1PM - 2.30PM

– from Performance to Profit

BEEF AUSTRALIA SEMINAR The seminar will focus on producer profitability, the opportunities for Angus use in the north and features the experience of two producers implementing Angus genetics in their operations. Taking part in the event will be speakers Ian McLean, Bush AgriBusiness, Sam Crowther, Harrow Grazing and Robert MacKenzie, Mackas Pastoral and Mackas Australian Black Angus Beef, with Angus Australia President Sam White presiding over as master of ceremonies. The seminar will traverse the supply chain, investigating profit drivers in beef cattle enterprises, production on-farm and performance in market. Angus Australia Northern Development Officer Jen Peart looks forward to the event and its informative discussion of the influence of Angus genetics throughout the supply chain. “The seminar will be an excellent session for producers looking to identify and maximise profit drivers in their business and are looking to utilise Angus genetics to do so. The seminar showcases the experiences of producers who already using Angus genetics in their operations and how they are maximising profitability within their business,” said Ms Peart. “We encourage all beef producers to attend the seminar, which will be host to insight from fellow producers immersed in the industry.” More information visit www.angusaustralia.com.au.

Seminar Details: Seminar: The Angus Influence – from Performance to Profit Date: Tuesday May 4 Where: The Lawson Room - The Lawson and the Paterson rooms are located at the Rockhampton State High School at 1 Campbell Street. To purchase tickets Time: 1.00pm – 2.30pm 18

Speaker Bios: Ian McLean, Director, Bush AgriBusiness: Ian Mclean is senior consultant and director of Bush AgriBusiness, a professional service firm providing independent analysis and trusted insights to pastoral businesses across northern and extensive Australia. Ian is a co-author of the Australian Beef Report and lead deliverer of the Business EDGE workshop. Sam Crowther, Principal, Harrow Grazing: Sam Crowther is principal of ‘Harrow Grazing’, a family beef cattle operation based in Central Queensland. The Crowther’s run a breeding enterprise, joining Angus and Santa Gertrudis cross cattle, and lot fed finishing enterprise, supplying both the short fed and domestic trade markets. Robert Mackenzie, Founder and Owner, Mackas Pastoral & Mackas Australian Black Angus Beef: Robert Mackenzie is the fourth generation of the family owned Mackas Pastoral, a commercial Angus beef operation based in the NSW Hunter Valley. Recently, the family has taken their beef to the world, exporting Mackas Australian Black Angus Beef, a Verified Black Angus Beef brand. Their key markets are China and the Middle East, supplying a true Paddock to Plate story. Master of Ceremonies: Sam White, President, Angus Australia: Sam White is the president of Angus Australia and principal of his family-owned Bald Blair Angus seedstock and commercial Angus cattle operation, based near Guyra, NSW. The White family has run Angus cattle on their properties for well over 100 years, with Sam representing the third generation. The Bald Blair herd was first recorded in 1908, with Angus cattle part of the family’s business since the late 1880’s.

Celebrate all things Angus at Beef Australia 2021 Diana Wood, Marketing & Communications Manager

Angus Australia are proud supporters of Beef Australia 2021, taking place in Rockhampton, Queensland from May 2nd to 8th 2021. Beef Australia is a celebration of all facets of the Australian beef industry and Angus Australia will be involved during this world class event across a number of areas.

lunch time on Monday May 3rd, product from Verified Black Angus Beef Brand, Angus Reserve (produced by NH Foods) will feature.

Trade Stand

NH Foods Australia brand Ambassador, ‘Fast Ed’ Halmagyi from New South Wales will join Analiese Gregory from Tasmania and Duncan Welgemoed from South Australia to take attendees through the culinary delights.

Angus Australia will have a trade stand in the Durack Pavilion across sites 1-3. Angus Australia staff will be available on the stand for consultation. So if you are looking to utilise the unlimited potential of Angus genetics in your herd or wish to speak with Angus Australia staff about the products and services that are offered by the Society, then please pay us a visit.

For more information on the Beef Australia program, visit www.beefaustralia.com.au or www.angusaustralia.com.au

Seminar ‘The Angus Influence – From performance to Profit’ Tuesday May 4 , 1 – 1.30pm, The Lawson Room - located at the Rockhampton State High School at 1 Campbell Street. The seminar will traverse the supply chain, investigating profit drivers in beef cattle enterprises, production onfarm and performance in market. The seminar will focus on producer profitability, the opportunities for Angus use in the north and feature the experience of two producers implementing Angus genetics in their operations. See page 18 for further information

Beef Symposium

Angus Australia are proud sponsors of the Beef Industry Symposium lunch taking place on Monday May 3rd and Macka’s Australian Black Angus Beef, a Verified Angus Beef brand.

Angus Cattle Judging

The Judging of Angus stud cattle will take place on Tuesday May 4th from 8am with almost 100 head of Angus Cattle entered, this is sure to be a spectacle for the Angus breed.

Celebrity Chef Program

The Celebrity Chef Restaurant pairs some of Australia’s best beef producers with chefs from across the country and at Top Image: Emily H Photography

Fast Ed The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

| 19

Beef Australia

NEW ANGUS SIRES in 2021 Dunoon Quiet Achiever Q829

CE Dir CE Dtr GL BW 200D 400D 600D MCW Milk DTC SS Doc

+5.6 +5.5 -2.7 +3.6 +48 +96 +122 +111 +21 -6.6 +1.3 +13

CWT EMA Rib P8 RBY IMF Angle Claw ABI Dom GRN GRS

+69 +11.1 +0.3 +0.9 -0.2 +4.3 .78 .82 $163 $136 $196 $146

CARCASE IMPROVER EXCELLENT FEET & LEGS GREAT DOCILITY

GROWTH CARCASE

+6.3 +4.4 -8.8 +2.0 +63 +117 +141 +114 +22 -0.5 +2.3 -

CWT EMA Rib P8 RBY IMF Angle Claw ABI Dom GRN GRS

+81 +14.0 +1.2 -2.7 +2.1 +3.7 1.24 .96 $163 $152 $188 $153

GAR Ashland x GAR Momentum Reg: USA19266637

Nigel Semmens – Beef Product Sales Manager P: 0439 417 941 E: nsemmens@genaust.com.au 20 www.genaust.com.au

MUSCLE

+2 +2.6 +61 +114 +.28 +.3 +1.37 .50 .43 +13.1 +2 +35

Milk MW MH $EN CW Marb REA Fat $M $W $B $C

+20 +105 +.6 -37 +44 +.18 +.69 -.018 +43 +47 +129 +210

SAV Recharge x SAF 598 Bando 5175 Reg: USA18579297

Myers Fair-N-Square M39

HIGH DEMAND

CE Dir CE Dtr GL BW 200D 400D 600D MCW Milk DTC SS Doc

PHENOTYPE PERFORMAN

CED BW WW YW RADG YH SC Claw Angle HP CEM Doc

Rennylea L519 x Moogenilla J51 Reg: BHRQ829

GAR Kansas

SAV Supercharger 6813

OUTCROSS

EXCELLENT FE

ET PERFORMANCE

CE Dir CE Dtr GL BW 200D 400D 600D MCW Milk DTC SS Doc

+0.4 +3.9 -10.2 +4.8 +73 +134 +166 +132 +17 -3.0 +1.5 -

CWT EMA Rib P8 RBY IMF Angle Claw ABI Dom GRN GRS

+93 +9.9 -1.9 -2.7 +2.5 +1.4 .66 .74 $165 $154 $176 $161

Genetics Australia Co-operative Limited PO Box 195 BACCHUS MARSH VIC 3340 AUSTRALIA

Woodhill Blueprint x Connealy Thunder Reg: USA19418329

Who are the Beef Australia Scholarship Recipients? Cheyne Twist, Communications Officer

The Angus Australia Foundation is pleased to announce the awarding of three scholarships to attend Beef Australia to Angus Australia members Georgia Laurie, Damien Thomson and Jock McGregor. Beef Australia is held every three years in Rockhampton, Queensland and is a world class event that showcases more than 4,000 cattle along with hosting numerous seminars, property tours and conferences. Beef Australia will take place May 2nd to 8th.

“I am particularly interested in the genetics and breeding side of Angus cattle. I am heavily involved in the breeding and performance data management for my family stud, Shacorrahdalu Angus, and see a long-term future in this area.”

Georgia Laurie:

“I am also looking to build my knowledge around eating quality of meat, how it is graded and how we can breed better eating beef. I also believe carbon neutrality is an important consideration for the future. I would like to learn more about how smaller scale farmers can viably reduce their net emissions and help achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.”

Miss Laurie grew up on her family farm at Knowla Angus, Moppy, New South Wales and has a history with the breed dating back to her youth, having competed in her first Angus Youth Roundup at the age of eight. Since her first, Miss Laurie has competed in 10 Roundups, as well as assisting in several as a member of the organising committee. Miss Laurie and her brother Jack started their own stud JRGV Angus in 2016, where they became more heavily involved in breeding and genetic selection of their herd, actively sourcing outcross genetics, purchasing a part share in a heifer located in Canada along with purchasing females they believe will be industry leaders. Miss Laurie is currently studying a Bachelor of Rural Science at the University of New England and when studies permit, is employed by Knowla Livestock, involved with day-to-day farm management along with AI programs and genetic selection. Miss Laurie looks forward to attending Beef Australia for the various learning experiences available through the event. “The agricultural industry is becoming a highly technical and specialised field where producers must be innovative and abreast of the latest technologies to compete. Animal nutrition is an area that is of high interest to me. I want to be able to help producers obtain higher fertility rates in their females by ensuring that they are in optimal condition and enhance the success rates of reproductive technologies such as embryo transfers and Artificial Insemination, through the use of supplements”. “Beef Australia provides opportunities for entrepreneurs to display and market new and innovative technologies to producers. I believe that producers must continually adapt their methodologies to move with market trends, and I hope to gain a better understanding on technologies that can be integrated into our programs.”

Damien Thomson:

Damien Thomson, Berremangra, NSW, is part of his family’s commercial and seedstock Angus operations, where he is involved within the management of the herds. Mr Thomson has studied a Bachelor of Agricultural and Resource Economics. Mr Thomson has been involved with the Angus Youth program for a number of years, having been awarded a ARCBA Young Breed Leaders Workshop Scholarship and selected for the 2020 GenAngus Future Leaders Program. Mr Thomson looks forward to the various opportunities afforded during Beef Australia, which he believes will be an excellent stepping stone in his career. From left: Georgia Laurie, Damien Thomson, Jock McGregor

Jock McGregor:

Jock McGregor comes from a mixed livestock and cropping property near Young, NSW where he is involved in the business operations of his family’s enterprise. Mr McGregor purchased a small herd of Angus cattle in 2016. Mr McGregor currently works for Rabobank in the Major Agri Clients team, which has exposed him to many different agricultural enterprises of which livestock and Angus cattle in particular have proved to be a key business function of many clients. Mr McGregor looks to further his personal development and his understanding of the breeding and nutrition aspect of growing and marketing Angus cattle to benefit his self-replacing Angus herd and looks forward to the development opportunities available at Beef. “I want to attend Beef Australia as it will give me a great opportunity to increase my knowledge of the beef industry and the Angus breed. The abundance of learning opportunities available throughout the week would greatly benefit me. “I am eager to learn and expose myself to many knowledgeable and expert people that will be on show at Beef Australia. Having exposure to different agricultural production systems will allow me to interpret and analyse different systems of which I will be able to then apply to my own personal farming enterprise and allow me to give insight to customers in my daily work. “I am eager to meet new people within the industry and hopefully gain some connections at the event that I will be able to stay in touch with throughout my career.”

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Northern Focus

Flexibility drives McIntyre Ag Jen Peart, Northern Development Officer

Based in south west Queensland, Hamish and Mary McIntyre run a breeding, backgrounding and lot feeding finishing enterprise, alongside mixed farming and cotton operations.

McIntyre Ag Location “Mooramanna” – St George “Moolabah” – St George “Cavillon” – Dirranbandi “Redbank” – Dirranbandi “Strathmere” – Surat “Beardie” – Surat “Canaway Downs” – Quilpie “Bulgroo” – Quilpie “Gammon Downs” – Quilpie Area managed 160,000 ha

Target market 100 day grainfed market

Annual Rainfall Western QLD 300mm pa, Southern QLD 400mm pa Their cattle enterprise, spread over nine properties in the St George and Quilpie districts, accounts for some 160,000 hectares. Having bought their first property near Dirranbandi in 1999, the McIntyre’s most recently acquired the Quilpie aggregation of “Canaway Downs”, “Bulgroo” and “Gammon Downs” in 2019, which forms the basis of their breeding operation, joining a total of 7,000 females per year across all properties. Hamish estimates that 70% of the herd is straight Angus and 30% cross bred which were included in property acquisitions. All are joined to pure-bred Angus bulls, except for 12-month-old maiden Angus heifers, which are joined to Wagyu bulls to produce a terminal F1 cross which are supplied to AA Co’s Aronui feedlot program as feeders weighing approximately 450-500kg. “We breed Angus because of the premium provided by the market and the suitability to the climate and to our operation. There is no doubt from a carcase point of view that their traits are more regularly repeatable. We find it easier getting the carcass quality we want out of Angus compared to some of the other breeds. In our operation 22

we’ve found that there is 50c/kg difference in carcase value between our Angus cattle and the composite cattle we are turning off,” says Hamish. Joining commences on the 1st of December (as seasonal conditions permit) and bulls are pulled out at weaning (May/ June), keeping mustering to two rounds each year. Of the 7,000 head joined, approximately 6,200 head are calved out, with any pregnancy tested empty females, those that present dry at branding, older cows and other ‘off types’ that they want to cull, drafted out and sold. The breeding herd is self-replacing and aside for some culling on temperament and smaller frame size, the majority of weaner heifers are kept as replacements in order to continue to grow the herd size. “Everything is pregnancy tested and so if they aren’t in calf at any stage they move on, we have a very strict regime, there are no second chances. That has helped fertility over time and we are seeing calving percentages, from pregnancy test through to weaning, averaging 83-84%” says Hamish. The focus on fertility is the key consideration when selecting bulls. “The biggest thing when buying bulls for our operation is fertility, we have been selecting for low birth weight, high

Calves from “Canaway Downs” are weaned to St George and educated. The steers are backgrounded on forage crops and pasture until they enter the “Mooramanna” feedlot at 400kg, while the heifers are joined to Wagyus and calved out before being trucked back to “Canaway” for their second joining. Having purchased “Mooramanna” in 2015 to establish a feedlot enterprise and value add to the fodder and grain being produced on other properties, the McIntyre’s grain feed all steer progeny and cull females through their 3,200 SCU licenced feedlot. “We feed our own cattle, value adding the grain, cotton seed and hay we produce. We aren’t trying to compete with the bigger feedlots, it’s really a facility through which we can finish our own cattle,” explains Hamish. “We take a very flexible approach to what we plant, we always have something ready to plant based on our needs and plans get thrown out on the basis of not enough rain, or too much (rarely). When water arrives, we do a gross margin per megalitre and decide what fits. All of our decisions are flexible and cash driven,” he says.

“

The biggest thing when buying bulls for our operation is fertility, we have been selecting for low birth weight, high growth rate and larger scrotal circumference for a long time

“

growth rate and larger scrotal circumference for a long time. Our next consideration is carcase trait EBVs” states Hamish.

Approximately 4,000 steers (along with 3,000 cull females) are finished in the feedlot each year, with most being fed between 100 and 120 days to a carcase weight of 380kg and are then consigned to processing plants in South East Queensland and Northern NSW between 20 and 24 months of age. Each cohort are marketed to the best gross margin scenario, with the operation being entirely flexible to capture the best returns. This includes the use of Hormone Growth Promotants (HGPs). “Historically the straight Angus don’t receive a HGP. However, with the grids the way they are at the moment (March 2021) – around 740c/kg cwt with a HGP – there isn’t an incentive for Angus without a pill,” says Hamish. The emphasis on selection for carcase traits has seen the McIntyre’s cattle consistently perform in the annual RNA Paddock to Palate competition. The 2020 competition saw Beef Central describe the performance of Hamish and Mary’s Angus and Angus cross entries as ‘one of the most remarkable performances by an individual exhibitor’, with places in all four classes (100-day export class, 70 day trade class, non-HGP 120 day class and the Wagyu challenge) and strong performance all three facets of the competition – weight gain, carcase performance and eating quality. Hamish credits these results as the culmination of a longterm breeding program coming together. “The bulls we have purchased are obviously doing the job because we aren’t setting cattle aside for competitions, we are just selecting steers out of our commercial cattle that fit the criteria. The consistent results have been satisfying because it means that those traits are flowing through your female herd” he states.

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Around the Beef Weeks A: Nanni DiGiorgio, Sterita Park with Brad Lucas, Glentanner Angus. Image: Stock Journal, B: Allendale Angus stud principal Alastair Day, with Elders Naracoorte branch manager Tom Dennis. Image: Stock Journal, C: Ruth Corrigan, Rennylea Angus with Steve Sambell and Emma Bolding. Image: Stock & Land, D: B, Phil McLauchlan, Lochie McLauchlan, PJ Cattle Co with Annie Pumpa, ABS and Wendy Roberston. Image: Stock & Land, E: Brenton Sessions, Bellaspur Angus. Image: Stock & Land, F: Boonarkm Angus: Rod Walker and Wes Hurrell, with Annie and Jordan Palmer. Image: Stock Journal 24

Cooking with Verified Black Angus Beef Herb-crusted Angus Reserve Striploin, Maple-glazed Carrots, Blue Cheese Emulsion, Mixed Seed Kibble Serves

Prep (Mins)

INGREDIENTS. 4 x 220g Angus Reserve striploin steaks 2 bunches baby carrots, peeled ¼ cup maple syrup 50g unsalted butter 1 tsp smoked paprika sea salt flakes freshly-ground black pepper 2 cups chicken stock 1 cup dry white wine 75g gorgonzola cheese 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 bunch thyme, finely chopped 1 bunch tarragon, finely chopped toasted mixed seeds, to serve

Cook (Mins)

Difficulty

MEDIUM

METHOD. 1. Preheat oven to 200ºC. Steam the carrots until tender. Heat the maple syrup, butter and smoked paprika in a large pan then fry the carrots for 5 minutes until glazed, then season with salt and pepper. 2. Boil the chicken stock and wine in a medium saucepan over a high heat until reduced by half, then whisk in the cheese until smooth. Season the steaks with salt and pepper, then drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil. Cook on a hot barbecue grill for 8 minutes, turning several times, until medium-rare. Set aside to rest for 3 minutes. 3. Top with the herbs, then carve and serve with carrots, emulsion and seeds.

For more great recipes visit https://www.angusreserve.com.au/recipes/

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? How do you really know it’s angus

ANGUS BRAND VERIFICATION The Angus Society of Australia Limited 26

NVDs – Accepted Breed Descriptions Liz Pearson, Commercial Supply Chain Manager

The National Vendor Declaration (NVD) is a key control point for the verification of any black Angus programs by Angus Australia. For cattle to be eligible and meet market requirements of beef supplied into any Verified Black Angus Beef program, their breed description and physical attributes must comply with all requirements of the Black Angus Cattle Assessment Guidelines.

BLACK ANGUS CATTLE ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES NVD Breed Description options Angus x Angus · AA x AA

Compliance with all below standards required Straight black and representing Angus phenotype Small amount of white underline (underline defined as no white visible from the front of the animal) No white legs and feet · No horns Scurs are acceptable, however they must not be fixed to the skull No bos indicus or dairy characteristics such as loose sheath, bos indicus ears or hump

Angus x Angus AA x AA

Example of ACCEPTABLE Breed Description

These brands are included in the Verified Black Angus Beef program and more information can be found on the Angus Australia website.

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Commercial Supply Chain

Performance and marketability Jodie Rintoul, Farm Weekly

With a passion for breeding a quality Angus animal for close to 20 years, the cattle bred at the Wishart family’s property at Bremer Bay stand out from the rest. But it’s not only the breeding behind the cattle which makes them outstanding, it is also the family’s management practices of their herd that helps to continue to deliver results. Phil and Cathy Wishart, along with daughter Laura, are focused on breeding a top Angus product in a sustainable way to ensure the long term prosperity of their farming operation and it is why their Angus herd ranks as one of the standouts along the South Coast. The Wishart family’s passion for producing a quality Angus product that is in demand from buyers is evident when you speak to them and their path to doing this is quite unique with neither Phil nor Cathy coming from a rural background. Phil and Cathy both grew up in Perth and Cathy trained as a veterinarian when leaving school. Phil knew from an early age he wanted to be a farmer as he used to spend time as a child during the holidays at his father’s second cousin’s farm at the South Stirlings. When he left school Phil went to Muresk and after that he managed properties for Griffin Coal before he and Cathy purchased their first farm at Porongurup, which was a small block and everything has developed from that initial purchase. They now farm at Bremer Bay with daughter Laura, who came back to the farm two years ago and spends time between Bremer Bay and their vineyard, Shepherd’s Hut, at Porongurup. Originally Laura set out doing a law degree before deciding it wasn’t really for her and her heart and passion was in agriculture. After making that decision Laura went to Marcus Oldham College at Geelong, Victoria and did its four year farm management course (Bachelor of business majoring in agriculture). As part of the course she did a 12 month work placement at JBS Australia at its Brooklyn, Victoria, operation where she worked in its Great Southern Farm Assurance program. Like her parents Laura is passionate about cattle and is keen to implement new ideas to take the business forward.

A 28

Today the family operates their cattle, sheep and grain operation over 4452 hectares (3926ha arable) at Bremer Bay across four properties which are all within 15 kilometres of each other after buying their first land in the area 18 years ago. They also still have 142ha at Porongurup, where they run an 18ha vineyard. When they started at Porongurup sheep were their main focus but they did run a few Friesian cows and bought in calves, whatever breed they could get. They would put three or four calves on each cow and that is how they started their beef herd. Along with retaining the heifer calves, they gradually purchased a few breeders and this is when their connection with the Angus breed started, as the females were joined to Angus bulls. Phil said they had pretty well always used Angus bulls. “We have always really liked the Angus breed because of its performance and marketability,” Phil said. “They are easy-doing cattle and have the ability to handle a hard year really well. “When you have a tough year they handle it and get back into calf easily.” The Wisharts also know what the breed’s performance is like in a feedlot situation against other breeds as they feed 1400 to 1500 calves a year, a percentage of which are purchased in. “The Angus calves perform really well in the feedlot,” Laura said. “Their growth rates are always up there with the top cattle. “The other thing is they have good marketability and the buyers like them. “At the end of the day they are a good all round animal.” Presently the Wisharts are running 1000 Angus breeders, which have been bred from WA Angus studs, along with semen from proven AI sires. The Wisharts aim is to breed a low maintenance Angus female.

A: The Wisharts run 1000 Angus breeders over 4452 hectares (3926ha arable) at Bremer Bay across four properties and they like the Angus breed for its performance and market-ability, B: Laura Wishart came back to the farm two years and is passionate about cattle. She is keen to implement new ideas to take the business forward, C: The Wisharts usually select out between 150 to 180 heifers each year for replacements and all are artificially inseminated.

“We want them to be easy-doing and fertile with good growth and good temperaments,” Phil said. “We also want to breed a calf that will grow and perform in the feedlot.” As a result of these breeding goals when it comes to bull selection Phil said they look for bulls with good growth rates, depth and thickness. “We want powerful sires with depth and thickness and they have to have Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) which are above breed average,” Phil said. “We look at the figures and if there is nothing that really worries us, we then look at the bull itself as it is the most important thing to us. “It has to have a good structure and good feet, because at the end of the day it needs to be able to do a job in the paddock and figures aren’t going to be able to do that. The Wisharts are also paying more attention to selecting different bulls for their cow and heifer matings.

Phil said visually they have to have the right shape and a nice conformation. “We just want a really nice shaped, feminine heifer.” The heifers get one round of AI, around the end of June and use veterinarian Richard Hall for the process. Phil said when it comes to semen sires, “it is mainly proven sires that are good heifer bulls which don’t have to have lower birthweight,” Phil said. After the one round of AI the heifers are backed up with bulls two to three weeks later for their next cycle and on average the Wisharts usually get 55 per cent in calf from the AI. Their cows are then joined six to eight weeks later starting in late August for 10 weeks for a calving which starts at the beginning of June. Bulls are used at a ratio of one bull to 40 or 50 cows in the Wisharts joining program and it depends on mob size if they single sire mate or run two bulls in the mob. Generally in their bigger mobs the Wisharts use one older bull and one younger bull so they don’t fight as much and if they single sire mate they will rotate bulls through in case one has a problem. The cows and heifers are then pregnancy tested usually in January after they have finished harvest, which is usually about 50 days after the bulls come out of the cows. Any heifers not in calf at pregnancy testing are sold as a grassfed product to Woolworths and any dry cows or cows which don’t have a successful calving are sold to Harvey Beef. But when it comes to their heifers the Wisharts will give them a second chance if they don’t have a successful calving and lose their calf if they think it is not the heifer’s fault, for example if the calf is breech. The Wisharts’ haven’t always had a winter calving, they changed to a winter calving three years ago which Phil said was for a number of reasons but the main one was to better match up the feed demands of the calf when the most feed is available. The other major reason was to do with labour, as the operation’s calving is very intensive.

“We have paid closer attention to this in recent years but we certainly don’t chase low birthweight bulls for our heifers,” Phil said. “I think if you go down that line of using low birthweight bulls, you get in a cycle of breeding smaller and smaller cows. “I have always thought calving issues have a lot more to do with management. “It is about the management of the cow particularly in the last three months of pregnancy and not just the bulls you use.” When it comes to their joining program the Wisharts AI all their replacement heifers and they do this as they know the best genetics are in their younger cows. They usually select out 150 to 180 heifers each year to AI and they are usually selected in March/April when they have a bit of size about them. When they select their replacement breeders the Wisharts make use of all the information they have on hand in their records like who the heifer’s mother is and what mob it came from before they assess it visually.

Their calving is intensive firstly because the Wisharts tag every calf within a few days of calving with a tag that carries

C B

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Commercial Supply Chain its mother’s identification so they can track its performance and also because they have a spring joining they tend to have a lot of cows having twins, which they like to walk in and lock up in a small area so the mother doesn’t walk off and leave one calf behind. As a result of these management procedures they check the cows every day and the heifers three times a day, which would be very hard to do if they were calving in April/May when they were seeding. “The later calving also benefits our feedlot operation and has reduced the amount of hay we are feeding out.” In terms of the advantage to their feedlot operation Laura said it works well because they can put their own calves into the feedlot in February/March, when it gets harder to buy calves and they become more expensive. “We can buy plenty of calves for the feedlot from November through to January and the calves are good but then the numbers start to dry up and the quality drops off,” Laura said. “So being a later calving it means our calves are ready for the feedlot when numbers are starting to drop off.” The later calving has also meant the Wisharts don’t feed out anywhere near as much hay to their cows as they used to when they started calving in April. Phil said a cow without a calf on it is pretty easy to carry through the autumn and you can run them a lot harder, but once it has a calf on it, its feed demands go up. Weaning for the Wisharts depends on the season, generally they try to leave the calves on their mothers for as long as possible given they are doing okay. Phil said everything is really seasonally dependent for them but as a guide they aim to wean in January after harvest. “How and when we wean the calves can change depending on the season,” he said. “For instance on our southern block we grow millet and we have a couple of good stands, so we might wean a couple of mobs early on to it as they do well. “But if we have a dry summer or dry winter and we haven’t planted millet they will come back to the home farm and go in the holding paddocks which we have established in recent years. “For years we used to rely on the stubbles to wean the calves onto and work on the rule of carrying one calf per hectare and they would do well but the headers are too good now, they don’t throw anything out the back, so the stubbles are pretty well useless.

D In the holding paddocks the calves are mainly fed silage in combination with a small amount of grain to get their energy up and they grow really well. “It’s a ration so you have to get the energy and protein right,” Laura said. “The bulk of it is silage with a little bit of barley or wheat and some lupins to lift the protein. “They don’t get a lot of grain, they are limit fed, depending on their size they might get 8kg a day.” The Wishart’s calves stay in the holding paddocks either until they go into the feedlot or until after the season breaks. “We gradually pull them out of there and put them in the feedlot based on weight,” Laura said. “Some of them might only be in there for a short time, because by January they may be heavy enough to enter the feedlot. “They might just be weaned in there and have time to get used to their group and grain before going to the feedlot.” But the Wisharts didn’t just set up the holding paddocks to solely wean into, they also use them for two other purposes. The first is to hold and background any cattle they buy, as they don’t want them out on the farm anymore, not only due to biosecurity reasons but more so because they don’t want to increase their stocking rates. Phil said when you put the purchased calves out in the paddocks you suddenly increase the stocking rate and eat into your feed reserves and in turn the breeders suffer later on. “Because we usually don’t wean until January the holding paddocks are normally empty when we are buying in the early calves which works well,” Phil said.

“We have realised, when we wean the calves there is no point of putting them out in the paddock and forgetting about them because they go backwards, so we now wean the majority of them in holding paddocks.” Currently the Wisharts have six holding paddocks, which are about six to seven hectares in size on their home property right next to their feed shed that they have built over the past 18 months, but they have an aim of setting up more on another block this year. At weaning steers and heifers are separated and everything is weighed and recorded and from there they are weaned into the holding paddocks according to sex and weight groups. 30

D: The Wisharts aim is to breed a low maintenance Angus female. They want their females to be easy-doing and fertile with good growth and good temperaments

“It means they go into the holding paddocks and get a bit of silage and grain to keep them ticking along before we start feeding them.” The Wisharts also use the holding paddocks as part of a deferred grazing program at the break of the season to let the feed get away. “We are happy to lock the cows up in them before calving at the break to let the feed get away and we are even prepared to calve down in them if we get a late break like this year,” Phil said. When it comes to their feedlot operation the Wisharts have a contract with Woolworths and aim to feed 1400 to 1500 calves a year and have fed up to 1800 head. When the Wisharts are putting their optimum numbers through the feedlot, half the calves they feed are their own, while the other half are bought in. All their calves that go into the feedlot early are steers, as they leave their heifers until later and any that aren’t selected as replacements go into the feedlot. Laura said their preference was to buy in good Angus calves if they can afford them. “We want Angus and Angus cross calves because at the end of the day they perform,” Laura said. “We prefer to buy direct from producers on-farm, we don’t like buying out of the saleyards. “We also gave our suppliers feedback and we were happy to do that as we believe it helps them with their herds going forward. “We are certainly prepared to pay a bit more for calves which we know are going to perform as it is better for us at the other end.”

The Wisharts usually start feeding in the feedlot from the mid to end of November and the first calves to go in are what they have purchased. In the feedlot they feed a ration which is a mix of silage, straw, lupins, mineral mix combined with wheat to start with, then barley later on. Laura said when the calves first enter the feedlot they start on a ration which has a high roughage and a low grain content and from there it gradually reverses around. “By the end the ration comprises 74 per cent grain,” she said. Everything in the ration, except the minerals, is produced on the farm and all the grain used in the ration is tempered. “We wet all the grain for 20 hours and take it up to 22pc moisture and roll it after that,” Phil said. “We believe doing this makes a big difference in terms of conversion efficiency. “Our conversion is six to seven per cent better doing it this way.” Laura said the growth rates you get in a feedlot have a lot to do with the cattle you are feeding. “That is why we believe it is so important to develop relationships with suppliers, because you know the calves you are getting will perform. “If you can get those types of calves, why would you want to go and pick a wildcard out of the saleyards which you have no idea about.” The Wisharts aim to turn the calves out of the feedlot at between 500-600kg so they dress out at an average of 275-280kg to make sure they fit within Woolworths’ grid specifications. Any of the Wisharts own calves that are too light for the feedlot, are grown out on grass and sold as grassfed yearlings to Woolworths. Along with their sizable Angus cattle herd the Wisharts crop 1200 to 1500ha a year depending on the season and run 1800 Merino ewes mated to White Suffolks. They plant canola, barley, wheat, lupins and Faba beans and keep a portion for the feedlot. What is not needed is sold. Phil said because they continuously crop some paddocks they need a good legume in the mix and that is why they sow lupins and faba beans. With the paddocks that aren’t continuously cropped when they come out of crop they are resown with clovers to maintain the pasture base on the property. There is a good interconnection between the Wisharts feedlot and their cropping program. Not only are all their feed stocks for the feedlot grown on farm, they spread the manure from the feedlot back on to the cropping paddocks. When it comes to the silage they produce it is a mix of oats and Italian rye grass. Phil said they have been ramping up more and more the amount of silage they do over the past few years. “We did 100ha this year but I think it will probably be more in future years,” he said. Not only did they do their largest acreage of silage compared to past years in 2020, the Wisharts also did pit silage for the first time this year. The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

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Commercial Supply Chain

Wishart’s supply Farm Weekly and WA Angus - WIN 10 Angus Heifers Competition

Producing a quality Angus product is not the only thing the Wisharts are passionate about when it comes to their farming operation, they are also very focused on maintaining and improving the natural environment of their property and having biodiversity in the system. As a result they are fencing out wetlands, revegetating vulnerable land with native flora and working on adding corridors with native bush linking up the wetlands and the natural vegetation. They also try to not use fungicides or insecticides and only as a last resort, after seeing what the natural predators do first. “As a family we are passionate about the environment,” Phil said. “We want to farm in a responsible way which will protect and maintain the environment.” Having worked hard to get such a large land holding, they believe there is no point in over working and destroying it. “We realise we have the land and we need to use it and be productive with it but we also recognise we need to do it in a responsible manner,” Laura said. “We want to be environmentally responsible and manage the land in a good way so it will be there for the future. “We also believe there are also production benefits in farming this way.” In addition to their substantial beef and grain operation at Bremer Bay they also produce their own label wine ‘Shepherd’s Hut’ from their vineyard at Porongurup. On the 142ha they have 18ha planted to shiraz, riesling, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and pinot noir varieties and Laura said they are best known for their riesling and pinot noir. Phil and Cathy planted their first vines in 1996 and harvested their first vintage in 1999/2000 and since then the vineyard has grown. Laura, who spends the majority of her time currently at the vineyard, said they only keep a small tonnage of their grapes for their own label and the rest of the grapes are sold to another label. 32

The Wishart’s were asked to supply the Angus heifers to the most Farm Weekly-WA Angus Breeders WIN 10 Angus Heifers and Coerco FF1500TT Firefighting Unit Competition, Farm Weekly general manager Trevor Emery said the WIN 10 Angus Heifers Competition was Farm Weekly’s longestrunning competition, now spanning 14 years and Farm Weekly was pleased to again be partnering with WA Angus breeders to bring the competition to its readers. “The competition has always been about offering some of the best commercial Angus genetics from within the State and we think we have achieved this over the years, which is a credit to the breed and WA’s Angus breeders,” he said. The lucky winner, Adrian Shipcott from Chittering got to take home 10 of the Wishart family’s 2020-drop purebred, unjoined Angus heifers affectionately known as the ‘Southern Starlets’, valued at $19,800 (inc GST) and thanks to Coerco Agriculture and Farm Weekly, a Coerco FF15000TT (1500 litre) firefighting unit valued at $11,200 (inc GST). WA Angus Society chairperson Liz Sudlow said the competition over the past 13 years had been a huge success and it seems to grow each year. “The WA Angus committee is once again happy to be involved in the competition and partner with Farm Weekly and Coerco for this year’s competition as we believe it is a win-win for all involved,” Ms Sudlow said. “We are very proud of the fact it has been running for 14 years as it has been a great promotional tool for the breed over this period. “It is also very pleasing to have 36 Angus businesses involved, who were more than happy to contribute and help sponsor the competition, no doubt due to their pride in the Angus breed and the benefits the competition brings to promoting the breed. “The committee would also like to thank Phil, Cathy and Laura Wishart for their willingness to be involved in the competition this year. “Having visited their property in August it is obvious the Wishart family are passionate cattle breeders who run a very professional operation and the lucky winner of the competition will receive a top line of heifers.”

E: The Angus Farm Weekly-WA Angus Breeders WIN 10 Angus Heifers and Coerco FF1500TT Firefighting Unit Competition were supported by, PM & CJ Wishart Family Trust. With some of the Wishart family’s Angus cows and calves were Phil Wishart (left) his daughter Laura and WA Angus Society committee member Craig Davis.

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Commercial Supply Chain

Angus marketability in any season suits all Henwood operations Hannah Powe, The Land

Across tens of thousands of hectares the Henwood family run three simple yet efficient large scale Angus operations throughout the south of New South Wales. Brothers Philip and Roger Henwood run the grazing operation, TJ Henwood Family Trust, on Howlong Station at Carrathool, while Philip and his cousin James Henwood are continuing on the Stan Henwood Trust at Coolamon, on behalf of their grandfather who passed away in 2016. James himself is also involved in a family farm, Yammatree Station at Bethungra, that includes his dad Raymond, brothers and brother-in-law. While they all manage their own shows, the family focus across the different enterprises means they don’t have many outside staff and communicate with one another regularly. The systems are all run very similarly and look for moderate cattle with high fats and easier doing types, that allow them to hit market specifications and ride out the tougher seasons. Philip who also owns a farm with his wife Michelle, Panorama Park at Coleambally, said some bigger cows take a lot to feed, especially at Carrathool, so they lean towards more moderation. Collectively the different Henwood enterprises run over 5000 Angus breeding females and find the marketability of the cattle in any season suits all the Henwood operations with feedlots the target market. “No two years are the same... the season dictates how we market out stock,” Philip said. “We have no real turn-off age preferences, but aim for structurally correct cattle and high growth rates at a

young age, to try to get them to the feedlot market at a younger age. “Preferably we like to sell straight to feedlots (after yard weaning for a minimum of 10 days) but the way the seasons have been the last few years we have sold through AuctionsPlus.” The Henwoods found AuctionsPlus a good way to market their stock. “You present the stock to a larger audience and every now and again you might put a load of one description of stock up, which leads to selling more in the future,” he said.

Red Meat Powerhouses

Together the Henwood operations are a red meat powerhouse but their success has also come through the adaptations they have made to their on-farm infrastructure and management practices. Philip and Roger Henwood’s TJ Henwood Family Trust spans the 40,469 hectare Howlong Station at Carrathool, and incorporates 3000 Merino ewes and a self-replacing Angus herd of around 3000 breeders that are set-stocked in paddocks ranging in size from 607ha up to around 4856ha. In the last few years, Howlong Station’s water system has been transformed. “Almost half of the property was watered by the Wah Wah Scheme, that was set up to get rid of drainage water around Griffith,” Philip said

Philip Henwood of TJ Henwood Family Trust, on his home farm, Panorama Park at Coleambally, that he owns with his wife Michelle. Photo: supplied

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“We used to get dams filled out there twice a year, nearly 70 farmers were on that, and it covered nearly one million acres all the way out to Booligal. “The last two to three years we have converted to tanks, troughs and pipelines. For the Henwoods that meant installing about 120 tanks and troughs and 120 kilometres of pipe. Howlong Station has two calvings, but would like to try and get back to one. “Over the last three to four years of drought, we left the bulls in all year round,” Phillip said. “They graze natural pastures and we have a fairly good idea of the stocking rates paddocks can run in different seasons, and we shift accordingly.” During the drought the Henwoods chose to reduce numbers slightly and feed the rest. “The last three years we used a lot of straw and hay, and cotton seed for protein,” he said. “Being at Carrathool it is handy to have the (cotton) gin there... it is a good, easy safe product to use.” Their self-replacing flock of ewes are joined back to Merinos and target a 19 to 22 micron wool. The Stan Henwood Trust is based on 1500ha at Coolamon, and runs 400 Angus cows. James Henwood has his 5261ha property Yammatree Station which runs a self-replacing Angus herd of around 2000 breeders.

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Commercial Supply Chain

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Focus on soil health in Tasmanian Angus feeder steer operation Ruth Schwager, The Land

Bredding black Angus cattle allows Tasmanian producer Peter Sattler to sell to a range of markets, including feedlots which target Angus cattle.

About 250 Angus breeders are run alongside Red Angus (110 breeders) and Hereford (85 breeders) herds at Malmani, Bridport in the state’s north east. Mr Sattler runs the breeds separately, with only minimal crossbreeding. Mr Sattler been running black Angus cattle for about 13 years, to allow for more flexibility with markets. With only one feedlot in Tasmania, which targets Angus cattle, it makes sense to run black Angus, Mr Sattler said. “In some ways I was fortunate because there was drought in other areas of the state, so we were able to pick up some very well bred cattle as the nucleus of the Angus herd,” he said. The Angus calves are generally backgrounded for the feedlot, reaching about 400 kilograms between 12 and 14 months of age. The heifers are sold to a range of markets, with export being a good option for all three breeds last year. Most of the Angus genetics come from one Angus stud, but Mr Sattler has also used other genetics in a widespread artificial insemination program, with the aim to increase genetic diversity. Temperament is the biggest priority, along with structure, when selecting bulls. “I like a strong head, length and depth with a good hindquarter, and I’m looking to breed cows with longevity,” he said. “I tend to believe a cow is starting to make good profits when she’s still calving at 10 years. On the objective side, he’s looking for strong estimated breeding values for growth, focusing on 200 and 400-day weight, as well calving ease. “I’m not that frightened of slightly heavier calves as long as they can be delivered,” he said. “We used bulls with short gestation in our AI program, and we haven’t had many issues with calving, but we also usually cull the heifers that have calving problems.”

Mr Sattler’s country ranges from rich river flats to higher sandy banks, and as a former landscaper and nurseryman, his focus is on soil health. The cattle are run mainly on improved clover and rye pastures and rotated regularly based on pasture levels. “Because we grow processing potatoes, we’re redoing our pastures every six to seven years,” he said. “We’ve set up a special weaning paddock so we don’t have to be holding them in the yards too long, and they’re straight onto improved pastures. “Once they’re weaned they’re on a fodder crop, brassica undersown with grass, before they’re sold.” He grows the potatoes with help from his son Luke and produces small lucerne squares for horse hay, with help from his son Pat. The family has undertaken many environmental projects, all aimed at improving biodiversity and managing soils. “The soil is the engine room of the farm, and farm management is about looking after the soil, to grow the grass, to feed the cattle,” Mr Sattler said. “My son Luke says I’m trying to landscape the whole farm, because I have a big focus on saving remnant vegetation. “About 10 per cent of the farm has been fenced off with a wildlife corridor across the farm about 5km long, and we fence off creeks and streams, to make sure the water quality is good.” The cattle work well with the environmental efforts. “Our rotational grazing and pasture management is about trying to always leave grass behind so we don’t have exposed soil, because we can get wind erosion in coastal country,” Mr Sattler said. “And in order to protect our river flats, which can be quite wet in winter, we feed our breeders a ration of grass, maize and lucerne silage, all made on farm, on the higher sandy banks to limit any damage to the flat country.”

Market Opporunities: Peter Sattler’s Angus cattle at Malmani, Bridport, are targeted at the feedlot market

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Commercial Supply Chain

Angus cattle can handle a climb at Talmalmo Julia Wythes, The Land

Grazing in the high country can be hard work. But Stuart Greenhill knows his Angus cattle are up to the challenge. Mr Greenhill and his wife Ange, with the help of their sons Jack, 11, and Eddie, 10, Basin Creek, Talmalmo NSW, run a primarily Angus herd. And the one thing their cattle are very used to is a range of terrain, grazing from the banks of the mighty Murray River right up to the steeper country on their family property. The Greenhills ran a Hereford herd on their property until 16 years ago, when they decided to switch to Angus. Today their herd is primarily Angus with some Black Baldy in the mix. Mr Greenhill said making the switch to Angus just made sense. “The Angus just gave us a broader market for our product, and we can get a more even line,” he said. “We run them on our hill country, and we can run them a bit hard, but they can handle it.” “We’ve found the Angus are easier to manage,” Mrs Greenhill said. The switch to Angus has also brought a change to the Greenhills’ breeding program. They now join once a year, for eight weeks from late October. This year the Greenhills have 280 heifers joined to bulls through artificial insemination (AI). Their AI program is carried out by Shane Thompson and the Holbrook Vet Centre. Longevity in bulls is an important factor in their selection. The main mob is set to start calving at the start of August, with the heifers to start a week earlier. Mr Greenhill said the cows calve in the steep country, and often they have a fair walk to reach water.

“The Angus cows calve quite easily,” he said. “We seem to have less calving problems than we used to.” Their calves are weaned at about seven to eight months old. The Greenhills wean their calves in the yards, with access to hay or silage for six days until they are settled. It is also a good time to educate the weaners. The Greenhills walk the weaners through the yards several times before they are turned out into the paddock to get them accustomed to people and the process. “It just really quietens them down,” Mr Greenhill said. Steers are generally fattened on rye grass and usually sold just before Christmas, when they are about 17 to 18 months old and weigh in the region of 460 kilograms. They are either sold to feedlots or sold over the hooks to JBS Australia and Teys Australia in Wagga.

A: The Angus herd at Basin Creek can handle the steeper country on the Greenhill’s family property, B: Stuart Greenhill, with the help of wife Ange

A The Greenhills also keep the tops of the heifers, which are joined at 13 to 14 months old. And they are very particular about the kind of breeders they keep. “Anything that does not have a calf the first time around is culled - there are no second chances,” Mr Greenhill said. Cows are usually culled when they reach eight years old. “It is easier to get a heifer through tough times, while an old cow is harder to pull through,” he said.

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Commercial Supply Chain

Female focus is key to breeding success Kylie Nicholls, The Land

An emphasis on quiet, easy calving and productive Angus cows is paying dividends for Staplecross Farms in central Victoria, with their quality lines of heavy steers in strong demand from processors. Owned by the Barnes family, Neville Goulding has been managing Staplecross Farms for the past 14 years, with their Angus operation and farm size more than doubling during this time. This season, they will calve down 339 cows and 122 heifers across a spread of properties at Narbethong, Rubicon and Alexandra, totalling 840 hectares of owned and leased land. Staplecross Farms have been running Angus cattle for more than 20 years, making the change from a crossbred herd due to increased marketing opportunities. Mr Goulding said they aim to breed structurally sound, fertile, easy-doing, functional cows which will produce steers achieving target live weights of more than 600 kilograms by 22 to 24 months of age. The program is also focused on producing quality replacement females for both their own herd and other farmers. “We have been keeping a high proportion of our heifers each year as replacements and that is how we have expanded, we don’t buy in any females,” Mr Goulding said. “Our goal is to build our numbers up to 500 breeders and sell any excess females as pregnancy-tested-in-calf (PTIC) cows and heifers.” Mr Goulding prefers not to keep any bulls on the property so has taken the unusual approach of leasing young sires for the joining period. “The bulls are only used for two months of the year, so economically it is much cheaper and easier to manage, I don’t have to work around them,” he said. “This past joining season we rented 15 bulls.” Mr Goulding uses a combination of visual appraisal and estimated breeding values (EBVs) for his bull selection. “The bulls need to have good body length, width and a good frame size, and temperament is also very important,” he said. “As far as the figures go, as long as I have got a low birth weight bull to join our heifers, I also focus on carcase attributes and growth rates. “As we are breeding all our own replacements, we want to produce a quality line of heifers with an emphasis on fertility and milk.” Originally calving in spring, Mr Goulding has made the change to autumn to better manage cow weight in the lead-up to calving. The herd is now joined in mid-May for eight weeks to start calving in the following February.

“

As we are breeding all our own replacements, we want to produce a quality line of heifers with an emphasis on fertility and milk

“

“We are in a high rainfall area and it is easier to manage their weight when they are calving in autumn, the cows just need some supplementary hay, shade and good quality, fresh water,” Mr Goulding said. “The weather is also more settled at that time of year which makes for better calving conditions for both us and the cows.” Mr Goulding aims to maintain cow condition score at around three throughout the year. Prior to joining the cows receive a drench and a trace element pour on treatment as the area is naturally deficient in selenium which can affect conception rates. All the heifers are pregnancy tested and any empties will be re-joined and sold in August as a spring-calving breeder. “Because the heifers are so well-bred, I’d rather valueadd them as future breeders than send them to be processed with the steers, it’s a waste of their genetics,” Mr Goulding said. Overall conception rates average about 95 per cent, while out of this year’s draft of 136 heifers joined, 122 are pregnant. Calf mortality rates are also below the national average of four pc. Mr Goulding tries to avoid overfeeding in the lead-up to calving, but after about four to five weeks of calving, the cows will be supplemented with good quality silage. Staplecross Farms produces about 2500 to 3000 rolls of silage each year and will cut some hay as well, depending on their on-farm fodder reserves. “The cows are working hard and the silage helps with their milk production and the calves just seem to do well too,” he said. “Once the calves are one month-old we will be feeding out silage three times a week.

“I’m also a big believer in rotating them through paddocks, we keep them in a maximum mob size of 40 cows and calves and move them onto fresh pasture every seven days.” All the calves are weaned in the following January at about 10 to 11 months of age, giving the cows about eight weeks recovery time before calving begins again. The calves are yard-weaned for up to five days and supplementary fed silage before being split into their sexes and moved into separate day paddocks to ensure they have settled down properly.

The heifer calves are kept at Narbethong while the steer portion is moved to the Alexandra block to be finished. They will be supplemented with silage through the summer if required. “Even though Alexandra is only half an hour up the road, it is a warmer climate with less rainfall, and we just find the steers do better,” Mr Goulding said. “The steers will achieve up to one kg per day weight gain on good silage. “Generally when we run out of good green fodder we’ll start pumping the silage into them until they go on to the truck. “We usually start feeding out silage in about January but this year it will be later, we have grass up to their ears.” Steer weights are monitored and as soon as they hit the 600kg plus live weight target, Mr Goulding will look at marketing them with the majority going over the hooks to JBS Australia’s processing plant at Brooklyn. During the past few years their efforts have been recognised, winning a Meat Standards Australia Top 100 Producers Excellence in Eating Quality national award in 2014-2015 and 2019. “The export market suits our grass-fed operation really well,” he said. “With the amount of fodder we produce and the hard work of calving them down, I’d rather carry them through and see the rewards at the end of it.” “We’ve been really pleased with our results and the positive feedback from JBS.” Mr Goulding believes one of the keys to their success is their extensive pasture renovation program which has improved cattle nutrition and health. “We aim to keep quality pasture growing all the time. “Summer crops such as broadleaf rape are sown to clean up the paddocks and then we’ll sow them down to permanent pasture, generally Italian ryegrass species.”

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www.geneticchoice.com.au The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

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F G

Around the Saleyards A: Sandra Brunet and Terry DeLacy, Eden Creek via Kyogle sold Angus & Angus Influenced heifers 220kg for 596c/kg or $1325 at the Casino Weaner & Store Sale NSW, 19/03/21. Image: The Land, B: CR and FJ Mars, Sardine Crk, Injune, sold Angus cross steers to 710c, reaching $1642 to average $1465. The Angus cross heifers sold to 608c, topping at $1530 to average $1308, Roma QLD 9/02/21. Image: Queensland Country Life, C: Rob Lee and Lyall Woods, Lambing Creek, Hargraves, with Mark Sheehan, PT Lord, Dakin and Associates, Dubbo. Mr Woods sold 10- to 11-month-old Angus weaner steers for $1870/head, Dunedoo NSW 29/01/21. Image: The Land, D: $2,396/head or 463.5/kg for 70 Angus steers, 517kg, offered by JMH Smith, Tasmania. AuctionsPlus 5/3/21, E: Miller Whan & John’s Scott Miller sold 20 Angus heifers with 20 calves from The Dale to $3800, Mount Gambier combined agents female sale, SA 15/2/21, F: Graham and Lilian Auld, Penola, sold 102 Angus cows to a $3000 high and averaging $2661. Pictured with their livestock carrier Andrew Hutchesson and PPHS agent Ashley Braun. Naracoorte combined agents’ annual breeder sale SA 14/01/21. Image: Stock Journal, G: $4,720 for 9 Angus cows and calves offered by D Smith, Exeter NSW, AuctionsPlus 26/2/21. Image: AuctionsPlus 42

Next generation sparks a grazing expansion Mel Williams, Stock Journal

A plan to downsize and semi-retire was quickly reversed three years ago when Dale and Heather Perkins’ daughter Elizabeth and her partner Sam Chapman decided to take up roles in the cattle business they had built-up since 1970. The younger couple had been working on Herron Island on the Great Barrier Reef but wanted a ‘tree change’ and returned to the family’s property south east of Mt Gambier, in South Australia, to help expand the predominantly Angus-based grass-fed beef enterprise. We have four children and thought none of them wanted to come home to the farm, so we started to consider scaling down,” Mrs Perkins said. “Instead, in collaboration with Elizabeth and Sam, we have now expanded our leased and owned land to just over 1250 hectares - all within a 45 kilometre radius.” The family runs 480 breeding cows, of which 80 per cent are pure Angus and the remainder are Hereford-Angus cross calves. Most of their females are mated to Angus bulls and the Perkins, are firmly focused on improving their female breeders. The Perkins also have 2000-head of ewes for prime lamb production and crop a small area of lupins. The family’s livestock operation is now in a growth phase, with pasture renovation strategies being implemented to boost carrying capacity by about 30 per cent in the next eight to 10 years. Cattle are grass-fed, so the pasture base is a key driver of productivity and profits and there is a strong emphasis on making pasture and soil improvements. Mr Perkins said 10-20 per cent of grazing area was renovated each year with new plantings of annual and perennial varieties that were specifically targeted for their suitability to the variable soil types across the local landscape. Some pasture mixes are used for hay or silage. We also have pivots covering about 200ha that have been established since the 1990s, and which we have sown to perennial forage crops, such as sorghum.” The pivot areas are used to finish bullocks and lambs from November to April and ensure the Perkins can continuously grass feed their stock year-round. “We are in a typical Mediterranean climate, where we have a wet winter and hot dry summer - so the irrigation is a valuable resource to get us through the summer months,” Mr Perkins said. The Perkins join their cattle in June for an eight-week period to ensure a tight calving in late February and early March. They provide supplementary hay to the herd during the autumn and winter periods - with the length of feeding dependent on the timing of the autumn break, but often continuing right through to August. Cows and calves are then ideally placed to capitalise on the peak of pasture production in spring, when progeny growth rates average about 2 kilograms per head per day and cows can recover in preparation for the next joining.

The Perkins retain their steers to market as 2-2.5-yearold bullocks for the long-fed market, turning these off to processors or local saleyards at liveweights of 700-900kg. Mr Perkins said retaining the steers for a longer period could add about $1000/head to returns, with minimal extra work required, when prices were conducive. He said recent sales included a line of 20-month-old Angus steers that weighed an average of 660kg (live) and returned $2500/head. “The season in 2020 was very good to the cattle, with solid spring rainfall leading into summer, and the market is exceptionally strong,” he said. The Perkins said when carrying stock through for an extra year, it was vital to have robust infrastructure. “We have built new yards and replaced our cattle crushes this year to ensure animal and worker welfare, health and safety,” Mr Perkins said. He said making continual genetic improvements to the cattle herd was a key goal for the family to keep expanding and growing their business. They focus selection on female traits for moderate birthweight, calving ease and 600-day weight. “We find this mix gives us big, good ‘doing’ female breeders - and we look for a good temperament to ensure ease of management,” Mr Perkins said. “We undertake pregnancy scanning and primarily base our culling on pregnancy results and temperament. “We cull at least 70 per cent of our female calves at oneyear-old, so our herd is really of high quality and we are strengthening the genetic base of our females every year. “That keeps our productivity trending upwards, because the breeders are obviously the engine of the herd. “Then we only source the best bulls to put over our females to get the best overall business results.”

Heather and Dale Perkins, their daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law Sam Chapman, run 480 mostly Angus breeding cows

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Commercial Supply Chain

High demand for quality Angus weaners Summer Angus

Angus cattle led the red hot southern weaner sales that kicked off the 2021 cattle market In January, with exceptional results for purebred and Angus-cross calves.

Both steers and heifers achieved high prices, with the strong market continuing through the two-week rush of sales in January. At Mortlake, Angus heifers topped the market at $1800 a head and steers reached $1880 for a pen of heavy weaners from Bob Haworth and Vicki Jones, Correlup, Mortlake. The next best price was $1860 for Angus steers from the Dumesny family, Port Fairy. At the first weaner sale at Hamilton, Coffey Partnership topped the sale at $2143 with Angus steers, with another highlight being $2035 for Angus steers from Camp Creek. Mount View also sold Angus steers, for $2010. The Yea, Vic, special weaner sale on January 5 topped at $1900 for Angus steers from Geoff and Tom Oliver, Homegood, and the Olivers also had the top heifers, which made $1750. At the first of four days of weaner sales at Wodonga, two pens of steers made the top price of $1980, starting with 469kg Angus steers from the Caponecchia family, Bobinawarrah, Vic, which were followed by AM Wallace’s Angus steers from Porepunkah, Vic. Angus steers from Killara topped the sale at Casterton on January 5, making $1936, Angus steers from Willbrook Five sold for $1910 and Forest View sold 392kg Angus steers. Day two of the Hamilton sales on January 5 reached $2020 for 46 Angus steers from Sandy Camp and Angus steers, from Harton Hills, sold for $1940. The Wodonga market backed up for strong prices on day two of selling on January 6, with steers topping at $2070 for Angus steers from JC and JM Maddock, Staghorn Flat, Vic. Angus calves also topped the heifer portion, with a run of 29 Angus heifers, from Narracalca Partnership making $1880. Another pen of Angus steers, bred by WJ Dickson and Co, Balmoral, Indigo Valley, Vic, sold for $2015. At Wangaratta on January 6, heavy Angus steers from Steve Clarke, Tallarook, topped at $2250, with another pen of Mr Clarke’s cattle making $2060. Angus steers from the Kemp family topped the market at Colac on January 7, with their weaners selling for $2000, and a second pen making $1930. 44

In a small yarding at Hamilton on January 7, Angus heifers from Heatherbrae South made $1786, Sandy Camp’s Angus heifers sold for $1722, and a line of Angus heifers from Harton Hills sold at $1687. Prices rivalled those in the western districts when Pakenham held its feature weaner sale on January 7, where Mayneline Angus, Whittlesea, sold steers to a top of $2010. Records tumbled at Naracoorte, SA, on January 7, with the 4000-head yarding achieving a high of $2141 for 450kg Angus steers, Sheraco-blood, from Lachie and Peter Seears, Boonderoo Pastoral Company, Conmurra, which would usually be sold to direct to feedlots. Other highlights include a line of Angus-cross steers from Kanangra Props, Furner, which made $2139; $2040 for Angus steers from Clovelly Pastoral, Naracoorte; and LS Johnson and Sons’ Angus steers that sold for $2010. At Strathalbyn on January 8, highlights included $1880 for Angus steers from R Palma and Sons, Balhannah, and $1860 for Angus steers from R and G Johnson Inv, Ashbourne. The market reached $1941 at the Casterton sale on January 8, for 369kg Angus heifers, from West Ridge. Baroona sold Angus heifers for $1831, and Angus heifers from Nangana reached $1830. Angus steers also topped at Yea, with a pen of steers from Box Hill Pastoral, Yea, selling for $2240. The top heifers were Angus calves from S and K Bradford, Mickleham, selling for $1900. Hamilton’s all breeds weaner sale on January 8 was topped by Angus heifers from Michael and Jacinta Coffey, Port Fairy, with their best pen making $2102. Naracoorte’s second sale on the same day reached a high of $1823 for Angus influenced heifers from Kanangra Props, Furner. Glendoon Pastoral Co, Binnum, sold 20 Angus heifers for $1810, and Boonderoo Pastoral Company, Conmurra, sold Angus heifers, with the best pen making $1803. The market remained strong at Wodonga, when three different vendors achieved the sale high of $1970. Two of the three top pens were Angus-cross cattle, offered by BM and BM Campbell, Hilltop, Koetong, and B and J McFarland, Bethanga.

Image: Top steer price at Wangaratta January 6th - $2250 for 459kg Angus steers from Steve Clarke, Tallarook

Weaner Focus: Angus bulls paying dividends for The Lily Catherine Miller, Stock Journal

Yea weaner sales regular, John Drysale, The Lily, Yarck Victoria, enjoys a loyal local and South Gippsland following. Mr Drysdale put up 220 steers and around 60-80 heifers at the annual Elders Blue Ribbon Weaner sale on January 8. “I suppose, after a few years, you do get a bit of a following,” he said. “We’ve been there forever, even from the old yards. “The sale is at a similar time of year, so we have just followed through and kept with that main Elders sale.” In 2020, the Drysdales sold 216 Angus steers, 285-395 kilograms, between $1020 and $1300 a head or 329-357 cents a kilogram. The Drysdales run a 2283-hectare property at Yarck, north of Yea, with the farm being in the family for more than a century. A four way partnership was created at The Lily in 2019, to include son Leigh and daughter Renee. When Mr Drysdale started at the property, it was a Merino wether operation, before switching to Herefords, Black Baldys and then Angus. The property joined 600 cows to Angus bulls and was run conservatively due to the seasons. Mr Drysdale said the family would be looking to turn off cattle around 360-370kg, keeping as many heifers as they could for a self-replacing herd. It was hard to say how things would go at next year’s sales, but Mr Drysdale said the good season left him feeling very optimistic.

While many buyers were from the local area, South Gippsland fatteners were also usually active on The Lily weaners. “Pretty much most of our cattle go to buyers who have been coming to the sales for many years, we don’t get many out of the blue,” he said. “They are mostly finishers, the females go to local people.”

Results Highlights:

The Lily Pastoral, Yarck, sold a pen of 22 February and March-drop steers, 433kg, which made $2100 or 487c/kg, and another 21, 419kg, which made also sold for $2100 or 503c/kg. They also sold 16 heifers, 380kg, for $1770 or 465c/kg. Yea Elders Blue Ribbon Weaner Sale, 8/01/21.

Weaner Focus: Wheel Turns For Ferris Fortunes Catherine Miller, Stock Journal

Less than two weeks before Ferris Partners’ annual draft of weaners were due to be sold in January 2020, the Keilira bushfire (South Australia) ripped through their property and while the cattle escaped the blaze, it was a hectic period. By December, the Angus herd had bounced back well, especially with a sensational spring, with the 2020 drop of calves even heavier than the 2019-drops. The Ferris family and sharefarmers Anthony and Heidi McInness offerered 180 European Union-accredited steers in Naracoorte on January 7, with heifers later in the month.

Mr McInness said the mid February-May drops were 350400 kilograms. “This spring was been phenomenal and they were on lucerne which we didn’t have enough of last year,” he said. The herd is based on Angus bloodlines with a strong emphasis on 400-600 day weight in bull selection to ensure the progeny grow out well to bullocks for their weaner buyers.

Results:

Ferris Partners, sold 180 March-April 2020-drop, EU Angus for a $1833 average, topping at $1923 for a pen of 404kg steers. Naracoorte Weaner Sale SA, 7/01/21. They also sold 97 Angus heifers to $1664, averaging $1598.

The pens ranged from $4.60/kg on the heavy end to $4.94/ kg. Naracoorte Heifer Weaner Sale SA, 22/01/21

A: Renee Drysdale and Leigh Drysdale, The Lily Pastoral, Yarck VIC, B: Thomas DeGaris & Clarkson’s Jamie Gray with Ferris Partners’ Tamara Robertson and Anthony and Heidi McInness, Keilira, and their weaners.

The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

| 45

Around the Weaner Sales A: Sandra Brunet and Terry DeLacy, Eden Creek via Kyogle sold Angus & Angus Influenced heifers 220kg for 596c/kg or $1325, Casino Weaner & Store Sale NSW, 19/03/21. Image: The Land, B: 15 Angus steers, 391kg, offered Alan Fehlberg and family, “Shene” Pontville, TAS, made $2020 a head while a second pen of 16 Angus steers, 340kg, made $1900. Powranna TAS 11/03/21. Image: Beef Central, C: Murray River Farms, Waroona WA, sold 177 Angus steers to a top of 500c/kg and $1766, WALSA Weaner Cattle Sale, Boyanup WA 3/2/21. Pictured; Ralph Mosca (left), Nutrien Livestock, with Daryl Robinson, Andy Robertson, Craig Judd and Steve Smart, Murray River Farms. Image: Farm Weekly, D: Helen Bennett, sold 13 Angus steers and was awarded best presented pen that sold for $2015, Kyneton Weaner Sale, Vic 13/01/21. Image: Stock & Land, E: Champion pen of Angus steers, 411kg from Michael and Jessica Smith, Woodenbong, NSW sold for 538c/kg to return $2212 at the Stanthorpe Blue Ribbon Weaner Sale, Qld 11/03/21. Pictured is Auctioneer Matthew Grayson, George and Fuhrmann, and Michael Smith. Image: The Land, F: Frank and Dawn Boulton, Gelantipy, sold 400 Angus cattle including steers to a top of $1950, Omeo Mountain Calf Sale, VIC 2/3/21. Image: Stock & Land 46

Spectacular Angus Performance Angus cattle have once again come to the forefront in the 2021 Beef Spectacular Feedback Trial, with a commanding performance from the Angus breed.

Like most events from the past 12 months, the awards night was handled a little differently for 2021 and moved from a function in Wagga Wagga NSW, to a virtual presentation via The Land’s social media channels. This competition based on real life commercial settings saw 48 exhibitors enter 84 teams and 420 steers into the competition. Highlights from this years’ results include the fact that each of the 10 Eating Quality Awards handed out went to teams of Angus steers, with Baringa Pastoral Company Pty Ltd, taking out first place reaching a MSA Index of 65.56; Kyeamba Downs Partnership won Reserve Champion for Feedlot Performance and overall Reserve Champion Team and Barfold Beef won Champion Carcase. Angus Australia’s Marketing and Communications Manager, Diana Wood said that, ‘The Angus breed is renowned for carcase performance and eating quality and with such a consistent performance by Angus teams across the board in this feedback trial, it is no wonder that Angus remains the breed of choice for commercial cattle breeders.’

ANGUS RESULTS: EATING QUALITY GOLD MEDALS 1st: Angus K44 - Baringa Pastoral Company Pty Ltd, MSA Index 65.56 2nd: Angus K53 – Kingslea Partnership, MSA Index 65.35

7th: Angus K37 - Tait Pastoral Company, MSA Index 64.58 8th: Angus K75 - Tait Pastoral Company, MSA Index 64.42 9th: Angus K02 - Anderson Angus, MSA Index 64.38 10th: Angus K80 - Waverley Run, MSA Index 64.35 FEEDLOT PERFROMANCE Reserve Champion: Angus K54 – Kyeamba Downs Partnership, Points 255/350 CARCASE Champion: Angus K04 – Barfold Beef, Points 404/550 RIVERINE PREMIUM BEEF CHAMPION PEN Champion: Angus K39 – Coolie Angus, Whitehouse Properties Pty Ltd, Points 684.5/1000 Reserve Champion: Angus K79 – Wantabadgery Pastoral Co Pty Ltd, Points 655/1000 TEYS CERTIFIED PREMIUM BLACK ANGUS CHAMPION PEN Champion: Angus K54 – Kyeamba Downs Partnership, Points 740/1000 Reserve Champion: Angus K04 – Barfold Beef, Points 731.5/1000 OVERALL RESULTS Reserve Champion: Angus K54 – Kyeamba Downs Partnership, Points 740/1000 3rd: Angus K04 - Barfold Beef, Points 731.5/1000

3rd: Angus K79 – Wantabadgery Pastoral Co Pty Ltd, MSA Index 65.16

5th: Angus K39 – Coolie Angus, Whitehouse Properties Pty Ltd, Points 684.5/1000

4th: Angus K09 – JG & V bond, MSA Index 65.06

7th: Angus K01 – RG Allen & Sons, Points 682/1000

5th: Angus K25 – Melon Pastoral, MSA Index 65.03

9th: Angus K05 – Barfold Beef, Points 663.5/1000

6th: Angus K04 – Barfold Beef, MSA Index 64.68

10th: Angus K14 – CP & PG Stonestreet, Points 656/1000

A: Barfold Beef EMA, B: Barfold Beef Steer, C: Kyemaba Downs EMA, D: Baringa Pastoral Pty Ltd Steer, E: Coolie Angus EMA, F: Coolie Angus Steer. Images: The Land

The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

| 47

Beef Spectacular Feedback Trial first time entrants achieve best MSA score Lucy Kinbacher, The Land First time entrants Mitch and Susie Crawford of Baringa at Walcha NSW entered the feedlot trial as something to look forward to post-drought. They thought it was time to start thinking about production, rather than survival, and were content to receive some benchmarking data. But the EU self-replacing Angus operation walked away with much more when they were awarded the MSA eating quality medal with a team average score of 65.56. Their lowest individual score was 62.09, while their highest was 69.55. What made the win even more special was the fact it relates directly to the markets they target on a regular basis; turning off 12 to 16-month-old cattle at 450kg to feedlots and MSA grass-fed markets. “The MSA grading we are quite interested in especially with no HGP for the trial this year; we would hope that our cattle would perform and those traits the Angus breed is known for,” Mitch said. “We would hope our young cattle would average well over 60 but first it’s just meeting the requirements of that program. “Most of our cattle go into a longer fed program, so it was interesting to see how they perform on a shorter feed situation.” Their team had an average induction weight of 438kg and during the 70 days on feed averaged 1.74kg/day. On the hook they dressed at 53.38 per cent on average and had eye muscle areas from 75 to 94, P8 fats from 11 to 20mm and rib fat depths of 10 to 19mm. The Crawfords run a breeder herd and also run trade cattle and weaners. Two teams were selected for the competition from their mob of weaners and were around yearling age when they entered. 48

The calves were born in drought conditions back in August 2019 and weaned averaging 130kg in January, half the normal weight. It wasn’t until a few weeks after that rain finally came, just before they would have been forced to destock further and only hold onto their weaners. In 2020 they received 1080mm, more then than the previous two years combined. Things turned around in a big way and where normally they would run 1.3 weaners per acre on crop, they were instead up to 1.7 weaners/acre through winter on rye grass. They were able to get their heifers to well above joining weight and are now fully stocked with females and 80pc of their trade/weaner cattle. “We wean onto and grow out onto an annual crop through winter and if they need to be finished they are on improved perennial pastures through spring, summer and autumn,” Mitch said. “That’s the main way we get them up to speed. We are normally turning steers off at 12 months of age and hopefully they all go by 16 but of course season plays a big part. “This year we are actually growing some out to the heavy kill weight because of the extra grass and price of weaners.

A: Susie and Mitch Crawford of Baringa at Walcha, B: Baringa Pastoral Pty Ltd EMA

Feedback trial reserve champion pen goes to Palmer family Hannah Powe, The Land Wagga’s Stephen and Sarah Palmer from Kyeamba Downs Partnership have consistently been at the top of the feedlot competition and have again taken out the reserve grand champion pen. The pair received the same accolade in 2018 but this year boosted their results, with reserve champion feedlot performance pen (255 points) and the Teys Certified Premium Black Angus champion pen. The Palmers sold all their steers through AuctionsPlus in February last year, only keeping the five entered in the trial. “We selected (them) on length and muscle of the steers at the time,” Mr Palmer said. Single sire joining their cows allowed them to know who the steers were by, and they use the competition to see how the sires being used are influencing their progeny. Overall placing second in the trial, the Palmers scored 740 points total for their Angus team that had induction weights that ranged from 416 kilograms to 478 kilograms. They were also fourth in the carcase component on 389 points, with their top carcase receiving a score of 89 out of 110. On average the steers had a hot standard carcase weight of 371.7 kilograms, a dressing percentage of 55.2 per cent, a lean meat yield of 54.54pc and an MSA Index of 63.56. Three steers were marble score two. The teams profitability was $1367.40 which sat them second overall.

The steers were dual entered in the 2021 ANZ National Beef Carcase Competition hosted by Beef Australia, with winners of this competition announced on May 4. Kyeamba Downs Partnership first entered the trial in 2013, and have put in two to three teams annually that have consistently placed in the top 20 in recent years. In 2019 they were the reserve champion Riverine Premium Beef pen and last year they came fourth in the eating quality section, but Mr Palmer said he hasn’t really focused on selecting for it. “Using BREEDPLAN figures we focus on carcase weight and eye muscle... We are paid cents per kilogram so we want the heaviest weight and highest carcase weights,” he said. Depending on the market, the Palmers sell their steers straight to feedlots or on AuctionsPlus where feedlots or backgrounders operate on them.

Beef Spectacular Feedback Trial success for Coolie Angus Lucy Kinbacher, The Land Coolie Angus stud at Merriwa NSW has entered the Feedback Trial on and off for many years but 2021 proved to be one of their best results. Their team of Angus steers finished on a score of 684.5 points, which secured them fifth place. They were also named the Riverine Premium Beef champion pen, ahead of the reserve champion pen from Wantabadgery Pastoral Co Pty, Ltd, Wantabadgery. Eating quality has been a focus at Coolie Angus, with the program aimed at lifting marbling while not compensating phenotype. Four of the five steers in the top team scored Aus-Meat figures of two while the remaining steer reached a three. Manager Jamie Edmonds had a group of steers in mind to pick from for the competition but the terrific season meant many exceeded the weight specifications. Their top team of steers had an average daily gain of 1.94kg/ day and an average dressing percentage of 52.66 per cent. Their MSA indexes were also high, averaging 64.05 and peaking at 67.39. Winning the Riverine Premium Beef award was highly valued by the stud.

“At the end of the day we all want to produce beef that’s of a high quality and to win the Riverine Premium is probably the ultimate in terms of the meat that we are providing,” Mr Edmonds said. “We were really happy with the consistency. They were fifth in the feedlot and seventh in the carcase and won the eating side of it, which from our point of view, that consistency is what we all try and aim towards. “While we are a stud, we have a big commercial operation and it’s quite rewarding. It’s one thing to tell people we have got good bulls, but hopefully it’s another way of proving it.”

Top Image: Sarah and Stephen Palmer of Kyeamba Downs Partnership, Wagga Wagga NSW. Photo: Brett Tindal The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021 Bottom Image: Coolie Angus Steer. Image: The Land

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Barfold’s triumph Hannah Powe, The Land Victorian weaner producers, the Shea family from Barfold Beef, Barfold, have again excelled in the NSW Beef Spectacular Feedback Trial taking out carcase champion pen as well as third and ninth place overall. Running a self-replacing Angus cow/calf operation of about 400 to 450 breeders, Matt Shea along with his mother Margaret, wife Karly and three sons Jasper, Charlie and Riley, have fine-tuned their operation resulting in remarkable gains. “Over the last six years, we have been doing AI (artificial insemination) to continue to improve the genetic pool of our herd, as well as using bulls.” Entering the trial for six years now, the 2021 trial marked the fourth-consecutive year that Barfold Beef has been in the top 10. “We look for the middle of the run cattle now, a true representation of what our herd is so it is reflective of what we are producing and marketing,” he said. Their third-placed Angus team scored 731.5 points, also reigning supreme across the board taking out champion carcase pen (404 points) and reserve champion Teys Certified Premium Black Angus pen. This pen placed sixth overall in the eating quality medals with a 64.68 MSA Index. In the feedlot performance category, they were fourth on 245 points, with an average daily gain of 2.02 kilograms per head per day. Carcase wise, their steers had on average a carcase weight of 380.1 kilograms with a dressing percentage of 53.84 per cent and a lean meat yield of 53.04pc. Four out of the five scored an Aus-Meat marble score three. Their team profit was $909.35, which ranked them third overall for profitability. No strangers to success in the trial, in 2020 Barfold Beef placed seventh overall and were the reserve champion Teys

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On 663.5 points, Barfold’s ninth-ranking Angus team was also third in the carcase section (397.5 points), and had a profitability of $594.13. Their third team received 18th overall (619 points), and 14th in the carcase category. Mr Shea said it is nice to have all the feedback that they can pass on to clients and buyers, to ensure they can have confidence going forward that the Barfold cattle will perform for them. “With this information and their own experiences, to see clients come back and buy our cattle is pleasing.” The Shea family has been able to hold onto their calves for six to eight weeks longer this year due to the better season. They look forward to selling them at the end of March on AuctionsPlus.

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Certified Black Angus pen. In 2019 they received equal fifth with both their teams. With three teams in the top 20 this year, the Shea family said it is rewarding to see the consistency in the cattle. “The best you can do is try and get cattle at the highest end of the entry weight specs, so you have a better chance of hitting the target carcase weights,” he said. Barfold’s steers ranged in weight from 442 to 506 kilograms at induction, and averaged 468kg per head across the 15 steers.

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Image: Matt Shea from Barfold Beef, Barfold Vic, and sons Jasper, Charlie and Riley with a steer and carcase (insets) from their carcase champion team. Credit: The Land

Member Services Statistics

2020 Membership Members: 3,488

2020 Registrations

Life: 21

Junior: 325

Female: 35,705

Total Members: 3,834

DNA Genomic Profiles Base panel PV Genetic Conditions

72,940 12,216 500,421 23,729

69,909 9,599 489,056 45,081

+ 4.3% + 27.2% + 2.3% -47.4%

Jan-Dec ‘20 Jan-Dec ‘19 Variance 40,011 6,145 44,678

26,404 6,923 21,257

Male: 33,094

Total Registrations: 72,940

Jan-Dec ‘20 Jan-Dec ‘19 Variance Calf Registrations Transfers Processed Performance Records Submitted Export Animal Verification (Animals)

Steers: 4,141

+51.1% -11.3% + 110.2%

Year

HBR

APR

ACR

MBR

Total

2019

44,354

20,112

3,669

1,772

69,907

2020

46,007

20,367

5,237

1,329

72,940

Change

3.7

1.3

42.7

-25.0

4.3

Having trouble with Angus.TECH? Make a time with Adam for a tutorial, he’d be very happy to help!

Remember to record NLIS tag numbers for every animal with Angus Australia before they turn 12months of age!

Angus Merchandise Shop online at www.angusaustralia.com.au

· Angus Hats

· Re-usable JOCO glass cups

· Show Vests

· Angus ties

· Much more

www.angusaustralia.com.au The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

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Member Services

Member Services Matters Scott Wright, Member Services Manager

The Angus Australia Member Services staff are responsible for enabling Members to conduct all transactions with Angus Australia in a manner that is as streamlined and as efficient as possible. From the Member Services team it has been a pleasure to have very positive conversations with members over the last few months. With both commercial and seedstock cattle prices at record levels, combined with favourable weather conditions for most members – it is great to hear the optimism in the voice of members we deal with daily. As a team we have had great staffing consistency for the last two years. That is important because the more experienced our staff become the better service our team can provide to you the members. More experience essentially means more knowledge and quicker turnaround times. I have been very proud of the fact that Member Services has really turned a corner and functions as an extremely functional and united team. Higher volumes of work have been able to be done in a shorter turnaround time with jobs seldom taking more than a day or so unless there are complications. This issue, I thought it was timely to walk you through the team staff. Each has a certain specialisation which may be helpful for members to be aware of and yet all the team has a broad knowledge of the entire Member Services department and wider organisation. It is a great privilege to work with everyone on the team and each person has unique skills that makes my life much easier as manager. Nicky Wallace is our Senior Member Services Officer. Nicky is very experienced in almost every aspect of Member Services however her primary day to day role is overseeing our DNA system. Nicky is largely responsible for submitting DNA requests and samples, processing results from DNA laboratories, running parent verifications amongst a host of other DNA and TACE responsibilities. Nicky helps run the team and maintains a ferocious work pace often keeping many balls in the air as the volume of DNA simply can be very challenging. If you need to know anything about DNA – Nicky is it!

If you have ever called the Member Services team, there is a good chance that you have spoken to Robyn Kelly. Robyn again is very experienced and is an “unofficial team leader” of the registration section. Each morning she comes in early off her own bat and organises the work for the team that is submitted to the regos@angusaustralia.com.au email so that the team can get straight to work when they arrive. Robyn primarily deals with registrations, inventory and transfers but really is a great trouble shooter, “calls a spade a spade”, has a great overview of the whole organisation and yet gets a lot of work done in a day. Heather Rocks is the next most experienced staff member, previously working for ABRI. Heather assists in all aspects of the Member Services department however she primarily is responsible for loading Performance Records for TACE and liaising with members. If you submit trait data, then you will have worked with Heather. Quietly, without fuss, Heather just goes about her work every day – a great and super reliable member of the team. Tammy McLeod has more experience in Member Services than all of us. An excellent all-rounder, if you have had a difficult issue it is likely that Tammy has fixed the problem. Tammy processes DNA results daily working closely with Nicky, deals with overseas registrations as well as her other regular Member Services responsibilities. Tammy has a reputation for almost never losing her cool and is a great example of longevity and experience which we are very fortunate to have. Adam Allingham is another “Bomb Proof” member of the team with quite an interest in software. After listening to feedback from members this year we have dedicated Adams’s time to helping members with angus.TECH and Angus Verified software. If you have any issue with using our systems, please do not hesitate to contact Adam.

From left: Scott Wright, Nicky Wallace, Henry Newell-Hutton, Heather Rocks, Sarah Scott, Robyn Kelly, Adam Allingham, Lou Wood, Tammy McLeod

He is very patient and has become quite experienced in all matters of technology. He would be very happy for you to book a time and work through any issues. Lou Wood is probably the first person you will have dealt with at Angus Australia when you joined as a member. Lou is our very helpful and thorough membership coordinator while helping with registration work when required. She walks new members through the joining process, maintains the brand register, allocates prefixes and Herd ID’s, gives really helpful early-stage advice for new members and is always happy to answer those questions that may not be obvious. Sarah Scott is a great member of our team having completed Rural Science at UNE two years ago. Sarah does all aspects of work in member services and more recently has been trained in our export certification work. Sarah is very patient and is very capable in assisting members across the broad range of registration work – a great point of contact if you are unsure of any transactions with our department. Henry Newell-Hutton is a very helpful team member in Member Services. Again, Henry is a great patient all-rounder with a great ability to walk members through difficult or hard to understand concepts. Henry assists quite often in the DNA space and has a good understanding of DNA requirements for registrations. If you need a patient tutor of Angus registrations and inventory, then Henry is your man.

Autumn & Spring Inventory

Thanks to all the members who completed their Autumn Fates on time. The Autumn billing will have occurred on the 24th of March, just a reminder that members have 60 days to pay the inventory so that registrations can occur. The Spring Inventory forms will be run on the 17th May and will be sent to members in the week following by email.

Calving Books

This year no Calving Books were sent to members due to Inventory Forms being sent by email. If members require Calving Books, please email regos@angusaustralia.com.au including your Herd ID and number of Calving Books that you require and one of our Member Services Officers will post them out straight away.

Angus Verified

Angus Australia recently was very proud to release our new Angus Verified program. The big question that I have been asked by seedstock producers is “How does the new Angus Verified program affect what I have to do selling bulls?” The good news for seedstock producers is that the answer is very little. Angus Verified requires members to validate they are using Registered Angus Sires by having these sires on their PIC during the joining period of their cows. Angus Verified will simply increase the demand for both HBR and APR bulls. To make the process more streamlined for you and your clients, we recommend you transfer the ownership of bulls sold on the Angus Australia database and that you record an NLIS number with Angus Australia. This would

be a great value add to your clients when they are chasing this information. This will also be of great assistance for export certification.

Genomic and DNA Services

We include this section each time: Angus Australia provides a range of Genomic products available to both seedstock and commercial producers. In addition, Angus Australia offers a comprehensive range of DNA Parentage and Genetic Condition tests. If any members are seeking any guidance with regards to which test or service is required, please do not hesitate to contact the Member Services team. To make sure the process is as smooth as possible there’s a couple of helpful things to be aware of: · Firstly, before sending DNA samples please make sure the animal is registered – even if it is just pending. If we don’t have an animal ID, we can’t submit a sample for testing; and · Secondly, please use the correct Order Form and complete the form to the best of your ability - if you’re unsure please call. You can find the form on our website or call and ask an MSO to email or post it to you. If there is no Order Form, we can’t process the DNA test.

Contact

If you have an issue regarding anything affecting your Membership, Registrations, Transfers, Performance Recording, DNA or any other Member Services matter please call and speak to one of our Member Service Officers or myself. If you have any particularly difficult matters or grievances please don’t hesitate to contact me directly, either by email of phone 02 6773 4636. Scott Wright, Member Services Manager Would you like any aspect of Member Services covered in more detail in future bulletins? Please email scott.wright@angustralia.com.au. The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

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Genomics

Understanding Angus Australia’s DNA Services Angus Australia, in collaboration with our partners, Neogen Australasia and Zoetis Animal Genetics, offer members a comprehensive range of DNA services for utilisation within their Angus breeding enterprise. The provision of DNA services is part of Angus Australia’s commitment to ensure members and their commercial customers have access to world leading genetic evaluation technologies, and associated tools for genetic improvement, which will ultimately enhance the value and profitability of Angus genetics throughout the beef supply chain. The DNA services that are available have a wide range of applications, such as the verification of parentage information, the identification of carriers for recessive genetic conditions, improved accuracy of Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) for Angus seedstock animals, and more accurate

selection of replacement Angus females in commercial breeding programs. Developing a strategy for utilising the DNA services that are available within your breeding program can be daunting, but a number of staff at Angus Australia are available to provide assistance, along with staff at Neogen and Zoetis. Contact staff at Angus Australia today on (02) 6773 4600 to discuss your DNA service requirements. Information is also available by contacting staff at Zoetis on 1300 768 400, or Neogen on (07) 3736 2134.

Angus Australia – DNA Services - Zoetis Animal Genetics

Genomic Tests

Genetic Conditions

Zoetis HD50K for Angus

$51.45

Arthrogryposis Multiplex (AM)

$25.85

Add Parentage Verification

Included

Contractural Arachnodactyly (CA)

$25.85

Add Core Genetic Test Panel

$24.75

Developmental Duplications (DD)

$25.85

Add Full Genetic Test Panel

$41.25

Dwarfism (DW)

$25.85

Add Arthrogryposis Multiplex (AM)

$8.25

Alpha-Mannosidosis (MA)

$25.85

Add Contractural Arachnodactyly (CA)

$8.25

Add Developmental Duplications (DD)

$8.25

Neuropathic Hydrocephalus (NH)

$25.85

Add Neuropathic Hydrocephalus (NH)

$8.25

Oculocutaneous Hypopigmentation (OH)

$25.85

Add Coat Colour (RG)

$8.25

Osteopetrosis (OS)

$25.85

Add BVDV (PI)2

$9.90

¹ Includes AM, CA, DD & NH 2 Includes AM, CA, DD, NH, DW, OH, OS, MA, HH, RG, and Myostatin (NT821) 3 TSU samples only

Angus HeiferSELECTTM

$42.65

Add BVDV (PI)

$9.90

Genetic Traits Coat Colour (RG)

$25.85

Myostatin (NT821)

$25.85

DNA Sample Types

TSU samples only

Hair

No charge

Parentage Verification

Semen

No charge

$29.15

Tissue

No charge

Included

Tissue (TSU)

No charge

Base Panel (280 SNPs) Add Parentage Verification

Use AngusSELECT to find Angus animals and tap into the unlimited potential of Angus genetics 54

All fees and charges are GST inclusive. Transactions for overseas members will be charged in $AU, with GST deducted.

Angus Australia – DNA Services – Neogen Australasia

Genomic Tests

Genetic Conditions

Angus GSTM

$48.15

Arthrogryposis Multiplex (AM)

$25.85

Add Parentage Verification

Included

Contractural Arachnodactyly (CA)

$25.85

Add Core Genetic Test Panel 1

$24.75

Developmental Duplications (DD)

$25.85

Add Full Genetic Test Panel 2

$41.25

Dwarfism (DW)

$25.85

Add Developmental Duplications (DD)

$8.25

Horns (HH)

$25.85

Add Coat Colour (RG)

$11.00

Alpha-Mannosidosis (MA)

$25.85

Add BVDV (PI)

$9.90

Neuropathic Hydrocephalus (NH)

$25.85

Oculocutaneous Hypopigmentation (OH)

$25.85

Osteopetrosis (OS)

$25.85

Includes AM, CA, DD & NH 2 Includes AM, CA, DD, NH, DW, OH, OS, MA, HH, RG, and Myostatin (NT821 only) 1

Angus HeiferSELECTTM

$40.45

Genetic Traits

Add BVDV (PI)

$9.90

Coat Colour (RG) Myostatin (6 variants) 5

Parentage Verification Base Panel (543 SNPs)

$30.25

Add Parentage Verification

Included

Build SNP Profile 4 4

$220.00

Involves building an animal’s SNP profile from the genotypes of their progeny. Requires availability of genotypes for a minimum of 10 progeny, plus genotypes of the progeny’s other parent/s.

$25.85 $25.85

Includes NT821, C313Y, E226X, F94L, NT419 and Q204X variants

DNA Sample Types Hair

$3.30

Semen

$11.00

Tissue

$11.00

Tissue (TSU)

No charge

Angus Australia – DNA Services – Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous Fees Angus Australia DNA Hair Collectors (10 pack)

$12.00

Angus Australia DNA Hair Collectors (100 pack)

$120.00

Transfer DNA profile to another DNA lab

$5.50

Parentage Discovery

$66.00 p/hr

Base Animal Surcharge

Incorrect Hair Collector Kit Surcharge 1 2

$27.50

1 2

$2.20

Surcharge covers access to the Angus Australian genomic reference population in th TransTasman Angus Cattle Evaluation Applied to hair samples not provided in an Angus Australia Zoetis hair collector kit

• View & search individual catalogues • Search across multiple catalogues • View upcoming sales • Find suppliers of Angus genetics • See how Angus Australia can help you To access AngusSELECT visit the Angus Australia website: www.angusaustralia.com.au The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

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TACE

Have You Checked Your Exclusions Report? Matt Reynolds, Breed Development Officer

The Exclusions Report is one of 4 reports produced for each member as part of the fortnightly TransTasman Angus Cattle Evaluation. The Exclusions Report replaces the previously produced ‘Outliers report’ and importantly, also includes a summary of any genotype exclusions. As part of the ongoing verification of the performance information that is submitted for inclusion in the TransTasman Angus Cattle Evaluation, the variation in performance records between animals within each contemporary group is checked. While a certain degree of variation is expected within each group, when the difference between a performance record for an animal and the average of all animals in that contemporary group is greater than expected, the record for the animal is flagged as an “outlier”. Each time an “outlier” is identified, an outlier report is produced and included as part of the member’s Exclusions Report. This report gives the breeder the opportunity to correct or verify the performance for the “outlier” animal. If Angus Australia receives no response to the outlier report, the outlier records are excluded from all future TACE analyses. Similarly, the Exclusions Report also contains any genotypes which have been excluded from the analysis. It is important to review the content of the Exclusions Report

as some issues with testing may be able to be resolved or equire re-testing. Exclusions Reports can be downloaded from the “Download Files” area in Angus ONLINE and is a great place to start when looking to understand why animals may not be displaying either a trait or genomics under their traits observed. For further information contact staff at Angus Australia on (02) 6773 4600 or office@angusaustralia.com.au

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+4kg for Birth weight, but what’s the actual weight Matt Reynolds, Breed Development Officer

Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) describe the genetic merit of an animal for a trait and are expressed as the difference between an individual animal’s genetic merit and the genetics of a historic benchmark group of animals, reported in the units of measurement for the trait. In this manner, EBVs describe expected differences between the average performance of progeny between animals, which often raises the question, “What weight does that EBV benchmark actually relate to”. To answer this, we need to explore the genetics of the historic benchmark group of animals in more detail. This benchmark represents the average genetic merit of the historic group of animals, for the respective trait, rather than a phenotypic number and does not represent any particular weight or other measure used when assessing the trait. In explaining this further, EBVs describe the genetic merit of an animal by removing the contribution of any non-genetic factors which effect the performance of an individual, and the same is done for the historic benchmark group of animals. By removing non-genetic factors, EBVs are able to fairly compare individuals that were raised in different operations. This enables a huge range of factors, which affect the physical performance of an animal to be accounted for, otherwise the EBV would simply represent the animals that were raised in the most favourable conditions.

This feature also means that the historic benchmark group of animals represents animals that were raised in different operations after the non-genetic factors are removed. EBVs work because they enable us to describe differences between the genetics of animals, by describing expected differences in the average performance of the progeny, rather than absolutes. By doing so, we can assume regardless of the potential animal selected for use within a breeding program, the non-genetic factors will be constant. That is to say, if I chose to use Bull A over my group of heifers, the non-genetic effects will be the same as if I was to choose Bull B. EBVs provide breeders with a powerful tool to assist them with making breeding and selection decisions. Utilising EBVs to their strength in describing differences is the key to maximising their value to a breeding program. For further information contact staff at Angus Australia on (02) 6773 4600 or office@angusaustralia.com.au

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The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

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Out and About

A: An Angus cross steer on Lord Howe Island, B: Peter Collins, Merridale Angus and Jill Franc, Francs Angus, were at the annual Ballarat Stock and Station Agents Association feature male grown and weaner cattle sale 19/02/21. Image: Stock & Land, C: WA Angus Society vice-chairperson Mark Muir (left), Coerco key account manager Micah Jackson, WA Angus Society chairperson Liz Sudlow, and committee member Mark Hattingh, with Farm Weekly sales and business development manager Wendy Gould, at the Farm Weekly for the annual draw of the Win 10 Angus Heifers Competition. The winner was Adrian Shipcott from Chittering whom also received a Coerco firefighting unit, D: Jim and Pam McGregor (centre), Ardcairnie Stud, Kojonup WA, were the recipients of the Strathtay Trophy for 2020. They were presented with the trophy at the Angus Western Australia Annual General Meeting by former Strathtay principal John Young (left), and committee chairperson Liz Sudlow, Kapari Angus stud, Northampton WA. Image: Farm Weekly, E: Angus Youth Consultative Committee Member, Ruby Canning was named the Champion Junior Judge at the 2021 Royal Canberra Beef Cattle Show, pictured with overjudge Renae Keith. Image: Showcase by Branded Ag. 58

Animal Searches Just Got Bigger Matt Reynolds, Breed Development Officer

Angus.Tech is buzzing at the moment, with the Autumn bull selling season in full swing. Updates and enhancements are constantly being made to Angus.Tech and a recent change may have gone unnoticed.

To further support users who undertake larger searches within Angus Database Search, the previous cap on the number of individual Animal IDs which can be included in a single search has been removed. The removal of the previous cap of 20, means users can now include larger groups of animals within Angus Database Search. Importantly this also means larger groups of animals can be saved, using the save search function, and quickly brought up when required. This may include a list of donor females or bulls used in a particular year’s joining.

To include multiple Animal IDs in a single search, simply add a comma between the Animal Idents (e.g. MSOR1, MSOR2, MSOR3). Further detail on how to search for multiple animals or utilise any of the features of Angus.Tech visit the Angus Education Centre, available on the Angus Australia website. For further information contact staff at Angus Australia on (02) 6773 4600 or office@angusaustralia.com.au

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The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

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Sire Benchmarking

ASBP Cohort 8 – Sire Wrap-Up Christian Duff, Strategic Projects Manager

The collection and analysis of the full suite of performance data from Cohort 8 of the Angus Sire Benchmarking Program (ASBP) has been completed. This most recently included abattoir carcase grading outcomes for the steer progeny, and fertility information for the heifer progeny. Cohort 8 included 1,112 AI bred progeny from 35 Angus sires nominated for the ASBP. Of the sires, 33 are Australian bred, while 1 is from the US and 1 from New Zealand. Some progeny from Australian bred back-up sires (to the AI program) are also included as part of the associated related retail beef yield phenotyping project undertaken in collaboration with NSW DPI. A summary of the phenotypes and genotypes (i.e. genomic profiles) collected and analysed in Cohort 8 in TACE and/or ASBP progeny performance reports are reported in Table 1. The full analysis results are available from the Sire Benchmarking section on the Angus Australia website by way of updated Progeny Performance reports This report, available for each ASBP Cohort, includes BREEDPLAN EBVs, progeny averages and sire rankings. Alternatively, you are also able to access, search and sort through the data available on the ASBP sires via the ASBP online catalogue (https://angus.tech/catalogue/asbp) or ASBPSELECT online facility (https://angus.tech/enquiry/animal/asbp) A summary of the top performing sires from Cohort 8 are listed in Table 2. This table lists the top 10 sires for the Angus Breeding Index (ABI) and a range of progeny average values from birth to slaughter based on their progeny within the ASBP. For further information on interpreting the values in the table refer to the introductory notes in the ASBP Progeny Performance reports available from the Sire Benchmarking section of Angus Australia website (www. angusaustralia.com.au). Additionally, the ImmuneDEX Research Breeding Value (RBV) for the “top 10” Cohort 8 sires are listed in Table 3. The ImmuneDEX RBV provides an estimate of genetic differences between animals for overall immune competence, a key component of resilience. Higher ImmuneDEX RBVs indicate an animal is expected to produce progeny with an enhanced ability to resist disease challenges and therefore have lower disease incidence. Lower ImmuneDEX RBVs indicate an animal is expected to produce progeny with a higher incidence of disease and associated production losses. For further information on this RBV please refer to the Research section on the Angus Australia website. The ASBP is a major initiative of Angus Australia with support from Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) and industry partners such as Vetoquinol, Rangers Valley Feedlot, John Dee Abattoir and the genotyping laboratories of Neogen and Zoeties.

The objective of the ASBP is to:

“Grow the phenotype and genotype reference population with contemporary Australian Angus animals, particularly on hard to measure traits, for enhanced genetic evaluation, collaborative research and innovative development.” 60

To meet the project objectives Angus Australia aims to join an average of 40 sires a year to approximately 2,000 Angus cows to achieve a minimum of 25 progeny (50:50 steers and heifers) per sire using the fixed time AI program supported by Vetoquinol and using the Cue-Mate devices. The Angus cows are located across several commercial focussed co-operator herds spanning Northern to Southern New South Wales and Victoria. The Angus sires that enter the ASBP are nominated by Angus Australia or New Zealand Angus members. A list of all bulls that have entered the ASBP can be viewed in the catalogues listing page on the Angus Australia website. Their progeny are comprehensively performance recorded for calving ease, growth, temperament, heifer reproduction, structure, feed efficiency, abattoir carcase and beef quality attributes. For all ASBP related questions contact Christian Duff, Angus Australia Strategic Projects Manager M: 0457 457 141 or email: christian@angusaustralia.com.au.

Table 1 – Summary of data (phenotypes and genotypes) collected and analysed on progeny of ASBP Cohort 8 Sires Trait

Comment

Genotypes – Sire

Genotypes - Progeny

1295

Calving Difficulty Score

1295

Birth Weight

1295

Gestation Length

1112

200 Day Weight

1253

Immune Competence

667

Docility Score

1253

400 Day Weight

1094

600 Day Weight

702

Ultrasound EMA, IMF, Rib and Rump fat

994

Feet and Leg Structure (x5)

994

Coat Score

994

Pregnancy Test and Days to Calving

253

Heifers Only

Feed Intake

660

Mostly Steers

Direct Carcase Weight

679

Mostly Steers

Direct Carcase EMA

679

Mostly Steers

Laboratory measured IMF

653

Mostly Steers

Direct Carcase Rump Fat

679

Mostly Steers

Direct Retail Beef Yield

288

Mostly Steers

MSA Ossification

679

Mostly Steers

MSA Marbling Score

679

Mostly Steers

MSA Index

679

Mostly Steers

The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

| 61

+138

Birth Wt (kg) Sire

32.8

34.1

NURM204

NURM208

DBLL292

SMPM558

NFSM6

VTML64

WKHL43

NFSM6

VLYL483

NHZK416

NZE13300013007

VTML64

GTNM3

VTMK52

CXBL77

NXOL172

VLYL488

Rank Sire

BSCL16

Av. (35 Cohort 8 Sires)

NXTL096

34.9

33.8

33.7

33.6

33.4

33.3

33.0

+157

+159

+163

+166

+176

+177

NZE13300013007

NURM208

SFNL21

NXOL172

CXBL77

NFWM049

VTML27

NXTL096

VTML64

BONK065

NHZK416

VTML27

NFSM6

NWPM34

NURM208

THCL61

VLYL488

NORL683

VLYL483

NWPM51

279.2

278.4

278.2

277.7

277.3

277.2

277.1

276.7

276.5

275.8

275.0

GL (days)

400.7

408.9

409.1

411.1

411.7

412.6

413

415.2

423.3

425

427.7

NZE13300013007

VTMK138

VTML27

BONK065

SMPM558

NURM204

NGML173

NORM27

SFNL21

DBLL292

Sire

188.5

192.2

192.8

193.5

195.2

195.3

195.9

197.0

197.5

198.8

199.4

SMPM558

BSCL16

DBLL292

THCL61

VLYL488

SFNL21

VLYL483

NXTL096

VTML27

NWPM51

585.2

590

590.5

591.5

592.1

593.5

593.8

612.9

613

616

626.7

(kg)

600 day wt

(kg)

200 day wt

11.4

11.6

11.7

11.8

12.2

12.4

13.1

13.5

14.2

14.6

10.6

90.0

SMPM558

GTNM3

NZE13300013007

NXTL096

VLYL488

VTML64

USA16981588

VTMK52

WKHL43

NURM204

VTMK138

(%)

Carcase IMF

87.2

90.0

91.6

91.8

92.0

92.7

93.1

93.5

94.0

94.5

95.7

Carcase EMA Sire (cm )

DBLL292

VLYL483

NFSM6

NWPM34

THCL61

USA16981588

NURM204

NURM208

BSCL16

NORM27

Carcase Wt Sire (kg)

CSWK428

VTMK52

WKHL43

VLYL483

THCL61

AMQL39

NFSM6

VTML64

NXTL096

VTMK138

Sire

CXBL77

NORM27

USA16981588

NZE13300013007

NFSM6

NXTL096

VTMK138

VTML64

WKHL43

NURM204

Sire

302.1

298.6

298.2

297.2

296.2

295.9

295.6

295.4

292.6

292.1

290.9

DTC (days)

497.0

516.3

517.5

525.5

529.2

532.3

544.9

573.9

576.9

595.2

634.7

VLYL483

SFNL21

NWPM51

VTML64

VTML27

NXTL096

BONK065

GTNM3

NXOL172

DKKM56

NFWM049

Sire

VLYL483

BSCL16

VLYL488

NZE13300013007

DGJL94

NXTL096

VTMK138

NFWM049

VTML64

NURM204

WKHL43

MSA Marbling Sire Score

-2.0

-2.4

-2.5

-2.6

-2.8

-2.9

NFI-f (kg/day)

64.5

64.8

64.9

65.1

65.2

65.3

65.6

65.7

67.0

MSA Index

*Angus Breeding Index - March 2021 TACE analysis. For further information on interpreting the values in the table refer to the introductory notes in the ASBP Progeny Performance reports available from the Sire Benchmarking section of Angus Australia website (www.angusaustralia.com.au)

Av. (34 Cohort 6 Sires)

+150

NXTL096

+180

VTMK52

NXTL096

+185

VTMK138

Sire

ABI* ($)

Rank Sire

Table 2. Angus Sire Benchmarking Program (ASBP) – Cohort 8 Top 10 Performing Sires

Sire Benchmarking

Table 3 – ImmuneDEX RBVs for “Top 10” (i.e. Higher Immune Competence) Cohort 8 ASBP Sires

Name

ImmuneDEX RBV

Acc

NZE13300013007

KAKAHU BOND 13007

+50

56%

DKKM56

HARDHAT RES MICHELIN J536 M56

+43

61%

BSCL16

WAITARA 292 LIBERATOR L16

+41

58%

NGML173

BOOROOMOOKA LEROY L173

+41

58%

VLYL488

LAWSONS LEO L488

+40

62%

NORL683

RENNYLEA L683

+39

60%

USA16981588

PA FULL POWER 1208

+38

64%

AMQL39

BROOKLANA INFINITY L39

+37

65%

NFSM6

FARRER M6

+37

64%

NXTL096

TWYNAM L096

+35

57%

SFNL21

NAMPARA LIBERTY L21

+35

61%

Average*

+31

Average ImmuneDEX RBV for the 35 Cohort 8 sires.

D E

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Have you Considered Micromanaging Your Heifer AI Program to Optimise Productivity? Vetoquinol Australia

Advances in assisted reproductive technologies combined with the stars aligning in terms of strong cattle market conditions and season conditions, has many stakeholders realising the benefits of fine-tuning their Artificial Insemination (AI) programs; particularly in heifers.

Introduction

The degree of success (or otherwise) of an AI program is highly correlated to the size of the follicle at the time of AI. The follicle being a fluid filled sac present on the ovary that houses the ovum (egg) prior to ovulation. At ovulation, the ovum is released into the reproductive tract ready to be fertilised. The follicle is easily viewed, assessed and measured by a competent technician using ultrasound. Ideally, at the time of AI, we need the synchronisation program to produce a single dominant follicle greater than 10mm in diameter (13mm is optimal) in as many females as possible. If there are no dominant follicles at the time of AI, a number of possibilities should be considered e.g. the heifer may not have responded to the synchrony medications, treatments may not have been administered on time or she may have just ovulated. At this stage, you may decide not to AI the heifer or use less expensive bull semen instead. As in all of these scenarios, the likelihood of conception is reduced. On the other hand, some heifers may have two dominant follicles on their ovaries at the time of AI. If both these follicles ovulate, the chance of twinning is very high. If the follicles are on separate ovaries, AI can be undertaken in the horn on the same side as the largest dominant follicle. If however the follicles are on the same ovary, you may elect not to AI. If you do choose to AI in these circumstances, it is worthwhile conducting an early pregnancy diagnosis by ultrasound to identify potential twin pregnancy. Fourteen days after the AI program, bulls go into cover the heifers that return.

Micromanagement

At 11 weeks from AI (i.e. at pregnancy testing), ultrasound is being used increasingly to check: · the foetus is alive (beating heart) · for twinning; and · the sex of the foetus (foetal sexing). The foetal age at this pregnancy test will be 11 weeks, or approximately 8 weeks and 5 weeks if she has gone in calf to cover bulls. The future of a heifer that has not conceived to AI or two subsequent rounds of natural service would now be in question.

No beating heart

All too often, vets and AI technicians come across foetuses with either no heart beat or symptoms that something isn’t right e.g. flocculent material in the amniotic fluid; the foetus is out of shape or may have collapsed eyeballs. Generally these foetuses will be aborted naturally and it

then becomes a management decision to try and re-join them and sell them as preg-tested in calf (PTIC) or empty. Vibrio is a common, and easily preventable culprit of high foetal losses.

Twins

During pregnancy testing, it is important to refer to the AI notes and examine both ovaries for the presence of a Corpus luteum (CL). Two CL’s can mean two foetuses given identical twins from a single ovulation are uncommon. Once identified, the heifers carrying twins can be calved as a separate mob and one of the calves hand reared or fostered to another cow.

Foetal Sexing

Foetal sexing with ultrasound can be performed between 8 weeks and 12 weeks gestation. At this stage the foetus is still able to be easily reached and the genital tubercle has migrated into a suitable position to determine foetal sex. When the foetuses are of mixed sex and both in the same uterine horn the female is almost always infertile (Freemartinism).

Summary

The techniques described above require the use of a good quality ultrasound machine and detailed training in ovarian function and foetal sexing. Given the additional work required, ultrasound will slow down the rate of insemination and pregnancy testing and will therefore not suit all management systems. It will however give detailed information on the effectiveness of your synchrony program, selective use of expensive semen or sexed-semen on heifers with better follicles, reduce the twinning rate and enable less fertile heifers to be culled earlier. For more information on maximising the results from your AI program, see the Repro360 Checklist at repro360.com. au/AI_Checklist or call Julie Pocock on 0423 828 050 with any questions. The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

| 63

TACE

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Nominate a bull - Be part of cutting edge R&D Christian Duff, Strategic Projects Manager

It’s time to nominate bulls for the next round of the Angus Sire Benchmarking program (ASBP) to produce the Cohort 12 progeny. The joining program will commence in late August 2021, and will involve over 2,000 Angus cows across five cooperator herds. The benefits of bulls entering the ASBP include: · Close genetic linkage to the Angus Australia genomics reference population ensures research outcomes will be highly relevant to your herd. · Be involved in world leading research in areas such as development of genomic tools, new meat quality traits such as fatty acid profiles and testing for immune competence. · Receive high accuracy EBVs, particularly for hard to measure traits such as abattoir carcase data and female reproduction. · Receive progeny average values and sire rankings from within the ASBP, including traits such as MSA Index and MSA Marbling Score. · Involvement in Australia’s most comprehensive beef cattle progeny test program including large contemporary groups.

ELEVATION BEEF AD MAR21 A5.indd 1

30 to 40 bulls will be selected for the 2021 joining program with the aim to join each bull to at least 50 cows by fixed time AI. The bull selection criteria will be based on genetic diversity, breeding values, selection indexes and their relationship to sires already used in the ASBP. Bull nominations are required before Monday August 2nd, 2021. For further details on the ASBP and to nominate bulls for Cohort 12 visit the Angus Australia website www. angusaustralia.com.au For all questions in relation to the nomination process or the ASBP in general please contact Christian Duff, Angus Australia Strategic Projects Manager M: 0457 457 141 or email: christian@angusaustralia.com.au

1/3/21 11:38 am

The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

| 65

Breed Development

Collaborative Angus R&D Update Angus Australia members will continue to benefit from collaborative R&D, particularly in the area of cattle breeding and genetics.

View paper one

An example is the recent work with CSIRO (Australia’s national science agency) in the field of breeding Angus animals for enhanced immune competence, or the ability for broad spectrum disease resilience. Christian Duff, Angus Australia’s Strategic Projects Manager, said “collaborative R&D is vital to the future of innovative Angus breeding methods and overall gains for the Australian beef supply chain. Angus Australia and our members are honoured to collaborate with many leading research organisations, including the CSIRO.” Christian Duff adds “We are also very proud when collaborative research is accepted and highlighted by prestigious scientific publications, such as the Journal of Animal science.” This occurred recently when a paper developed by CSIRO and titled “ImmuneDEX – A strategy for the genetic improvement of immune competence in Australian Angus cattle” was selected from numerous peer reviewed studies to be promoted as an infographic, see page 67. For those more scientifically minded, the full paper reference is: Antonio Reverter, Brad C Hine, Laercio Porto-Neto, Yutao Li, Christian J Duff, Sonja Dominik, Aaron B Ingham, ImmuneDEX: a strategy for the genetic improvement of immune competence in Australian Angus cattle, Journal of Animal Science, Volume 99, Issue 3, March 2021, skaa384, https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaa384

View paper two

A related paper, led by Dr Brad Hine, was also recently published in the Journal of Animals science titled “Associations between immune competence phenotype and feedlot health and productivity in Angus cattle”. The key finding from this paper importantly suggest that selection for immune competence has the potential to reduce mortalities during feedlot finishing and, as a consequence, improve the health and welfare of cattle in the feedlot production environment and reduce health-associated costs incurred by feedlot operators. For those wanting more detail, the full paper reference is: Brad C Hine, Amy M Bell, Dominic D O Niemeyer, Christian J Duff, Nick M Butcher, Sonja Dominik, Laercio R Porto-Neto, Yutao Li, Antonio Reverter, Aaron B Ingham, Ian G Colditz, Associations between immune competence phenotype and feedlot health and productivity in Angus cattle, Journal of Animal Science, Volume 99, Issue 2, February 2021, skab016, https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skab016 “Further collaborative R&D relevant to Angus breeding will be abundant at the upcoming 24th conference of the Association for Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics, taking place during November 2021 in Adelaide. We look forward to communicating the applied research outcomes from this conference later in the year” Christian Duff concludes.

repro360.com.au

REPRO360 RESOURCES Online resources designed to help you multiply your outcomes in your FTAI and ET programs: • Webinar recordings • How-to videos • Case studies • FAQs repro360.com.au | vetoquinol.com.au

Infographic supplied by of the Journal of Animal Science

The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

| 67

Sire Benchmarking

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Where are they now? Cheyne Twist, Communications Officer

Featured in this edition of “Where are they Now” is Dee George.

Dee George What is your earliest memory participating in Angus Youth activities? My earliest memory is my first Angus Youth Roundup at Gunnedah in 2005. My next-door neighbour Steve Chase introduced myself and younger sister Rebecca to cattle showing and Angus Youth. What activity/event stands out to you the most (eg Roundup, scholarships etc)? I think all of the Youth events and scholarships that Angus Australia have are standouts, but if I had to pick one I’d say Roundup is my favourite, both as a competitor and now as someone who has been involved in the committees. I think it’s such a great event as it brings together the practical skills for both stud and commercial parts of owning cattle, as well as the showing side of stud cattle. It also allows the Youth members the opportunity to apply for some great scholarships.

Above: Kate Fairlie, Rachael Wheeler and Dee George at Beef 2012. Below: Dee & Becca George at the 2020 Angus Youth National Roundup dinner. Image: Emily H Photography

In terms of opportunities that you received for being part of Angus Youth, how did your involvement positively influence your development in the beef cattle industry? The opportunities I have received as a part of Angus Youth have helped me develop many of the professional skills that I use in my job daily. The scholarships and programs also allowed me to attend events and engage with people I may not have had the opportunity to otherwise and gave me further insight and understanding into an industry I am very passionate about. What were the key learnings you developed as a member of Angus Youth, through the program and then the additional scholarship experiences that you had? These programs and scholarships allowed me to learn more about commercial Angus operations, genetics and how other breeders run their programs. How are you involved in the beef cattle industry now/ where are you now? I am currently working for Elders in Nyngan, NSW, as a Rural Products Sales Manager. I have been with Elders for 6 years and in that time have been able to maintain my involvement in the beef industry.

get branded

I have also recently made the move closer to home after being based in the western districts of Victoria, which allows me to also be at home on the farm with my parents and sister and become involved again with our commercial beef operation. Why would you encourage others to become involved in the Angus Youth Program? The Angus Youth Program gives you so many opportunities, through scholarships and Roundup, to develop lifelong skills (both personal and professional). You make lifelong friends and contacts and the experiences you gain from the scholarship opportunities are amazing.

with

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Contact: design@angusaustralia.com.au | 02 6773 4600 | www.angusaustralia.com.au The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

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Angus Youth

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End of an era for the Central Victorian Angus Regional Group Diana Wood, Marketing & Communications Manager

After almost 30 years of activity on Sunday October 11th, 2020 at “High Spa”, Daylesford Victoria a difficult decision was reached to cease the formal operation of The Central Victorian Angus Region. Initially set up in September 1994 with 13 initial members as a fellowship group for Angus members, the primary purpose of the group was for Angus breeders, in what was quite a wide spanning region, to get together and partake in activities up to four times a year with like-minded breeders that shared a passion for Angus cattle, including promoting the breed at the Elmore field days. Gwen and Phill Collins were the original founders and by the end of 1995 the group was up to 35 members a testament to the enthusiasm of the Collins family. Over the years the region was very active with many members and well attended meetings and activities. According to long standing committee member, Theresa Mobbs, one of the record attendances was a Christmas breakup meeting in 1998 at “The Highlands” in Romsey with 67 people in attendance. Over the years members visited worm farms, piggeries, historic homesteads, vegetable seed nurseries, mixed animal farms and various cross breeding cattle operations as well as to many Angus studs and commercial Angus operations. Mrs Mobbs has fond memories of the group activities. ‘Some highlights over the years have been the group greeting overseas visitors at Milloo Hall when The World Angus Forum was in Australia, a “road-trip” to Cargill in NSW to see the feedlot and operation, successful Angus Feature Shows in Bendigo and Daylesford and a popular Angus Judging School held at “Merridale” Milloo in 1999’, she said.

The group also recognized the dedication of a number of members over the years awarding them group Life Membership. This began with Phill and Gwen Collins, stalwarts of the group whom initiated many events and activities over the years. Others to follow were John Gibbs, Vebe Richards, Brian and Theresa Mobbs, Noel and Lyn Mitchell and Neville and Trish Moss. Neville was one of the original 13 members and was also the last active chairman (his wife Trish the last active secretary) Theresa Mobbs was the longest serving Secretary, maintaining the role over 18 years (Brian Mobbs same period as Treasurer).

Final group meeting with (back) Hew Richards, Theresa Mobbs, Judith Fawcett, Mac Fawcett, Diana Richards, (front) Brian Mobbs and Trish Moss. (Neville Moss took the photo)

Around the Shows

A: Jason Sutherland Memorial Champion of Champions & Supreme Champion Beef Breed Bull and Senior & Grand Champion Angus Bull and Supreme Angus Exhibit - Hillview Quigley Q18 #, Danny Hill, Hillview Angus, B: Senior & Grand Champion Angus Female - Tattykeel Diamond Essence P39 SV, Christie Fuller, Diamond Angus. Images: Showcase by Branded Ag Marketing

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Marketing

Angus Producer Marketing Crash Course Part 4: Publishing your videos Kate Reynolds, Graphics & Multi Media Officer In the last three crash course guides, we explained how to create high-quality marketing videos to promote your business. Once you’ve filmed your video, edited it, added some music, maybe a voice-over, the next question is what do you do with them once they’ve been created? The answer is to display them online in such a way that they get the maximum amount of exposure, which means publishing them in a mixture of places for best efficiency.

Youtube:

When you think about online videos, most people first think of Youtube. There’s a good reason for that. Youtube is the second most commonly used search engine online after Google. Youtube is great for allowing unlimited free video hosting that is quick and easy to share to your website and also offers insights for you to see how much traction your video is getting online – not just in terms of the number of views, but who is viewing your content, how they found it and what is and isn’t working, right down to a timeline that shows what’s keeping people interested and where they might be dropping off. But given that Youtube is such a massive platform, don’t rely on it as the only place for your videos.

Your Website:

Google loves websites that are updated regularly and will prioritise search results to show websites that keep their content fresh. If you’re guilty of setting up your website and forgetting about it or only occasionally updating it, adding videos and fresh content regularly can help you get more traffic and therefore more attention to your business. Ok so do I upload the videos straight to my website? Most videos tend to be large files that can slow down the loading time of your entire site. This is where the video you just made and uploaded to Youtube will come in handy – simply embed your video to the page you want it on your website and kill two birds with one stone. Your website is updated with content and your content now has a higher chance of being picked up in searches, plus any views will be picked up by Youtube so you know exactly how many times it’s been watched.

Facebook:

The next step is to add your video to social media. Unlike embedding the Youtube video straight into your website, for this part, you will need to upload your video directly to the platform. While Google owns Youtube and therefore prioritises videos hosted there, the problem with sharing your YouTube video to Facebook is that Facebook doesn’t play nice. It will not show your video in a playable format. It will only show a preview image with the title and description and anyone who wants to view it will be taken away from Facebook back to Youtube, which means people are less likely to click on it. On top of that, there is the issue of the organic reach (i.e. who will see your video), which will be dramatically 72

reduced. Although no one knows exactly how the Facebook algorithm (the code that decides what you see on Facebook) works, we do know from experience it doesn’t favour YouTube links. A recent study by Search Engine Journal found that links to Youtube videos only reached half the audience that Facebook native videos received. It also found that Facebook videos received 477% more shares! To get around this you will need to upload your video directly to your Facebook page to get the best user experience – they will display your video as a full image in the timeline, it will autoplay as people scroll through their newsfeed, therefore making it more likely that they will stop and take in what’s showing and it will be more likely to reach more people. It means that you will have to upload your video more than once online but it will greatly maximise the benefits.

Instagram:

If you’re not familiar with Instagram, it is considered one of the most accessible platforms in terms of sharing visual content. Hootsuite recently shared some astonishing statistics that illustrate that you should be using it when promoting your business online: 1 billion+ people use Instagram every month, 81% of people use Instagram to research products and services, and 2 in 3 people say the network helps foster interactions with brands. 50% of people have visited a website to make a purchase after seeing a product or service on Instagram. There are three main ways to share videos to Instagram, each with its own specific uses depending on the sort of video you want to share:

In-feed videos: If your video is 60 seconds long or less you can upload it straight to the newsfeed. They will appear as a normal post on Instagram and are set to autoplay without sound as viewers come across them as they scroll through their feed. These videos will be kept on your profile once posted so people visiting your Instagram page will be able to see all the videos you’ve uploaded. IGTV: If it’s longer than one-minute it will need to be uploaded to IGTV – an app that is integrated with Instagram that allows users to share videos up to 60-minutes in length. Stories: If you want to share short and sweet update videos with your followers, Instagram stories is perfect for capturing attention, building brand awareness, and engaging viewers. The key is to be consistent and upload regularly. These videos don’t need to be highly polished – meaning you can shoot and upload straight from your phone. There’s a wealth of creative features that let you have fun while showing off why users should take interest in your business. Just keep in mind that stories only appear for 24 hours and then disappear they do not save to your profile so once they’re gone, they’re gone unless they’re saved as a highlight.

LinkedIn:

LinkedIn has long been recognised as the best social networking platform specifically for business professionals. With more than 660 million professionals using the platform and it is rated the second most popular form after email to receive business-related content, there’s a wide audience to reach. The beauty of uploading your content on there is that you don’t have to have heaps of connections to your profile or lots of followers to reach viewers. The reach of posts depends on engagement. Essentially, when you post on a personal profile or a company page, LinkedIn’s algorithm

looks at whether the post is receiving likes, comments, and shares. If it is, that tells the algorithm if the post is interesting and to therefore show it to more and more people. You can help this by getting your team members or business associates to respond to your content as soon as it’s posted. Also, replying immediately to any comments you get is not only an authentic way to engage but also continues to signal to LinkedIn that you’re engaged. This will result in further boosting your content and snowballing the effects. Comments are the number one way to boost organic reach by engagement, resulting in 2x more views than Likes and 8x more views than Shares. When asking your network to engage with your post, ask for a comment! The algorithm is triggered by Likes (and this includes other reactions such as Celebrate, Love, etc.) within the first two hours after a post is published. But, Likes only contribute to increased reach at half the rate of a Comment.

Remember:

When it comes to sharing your videos online, keep an eye on the analytics and insights that each platform makes available to you. This will help you gauge what’s working for you and what needs work. Don’t just set and forget. The purpose of video marketing is to engage your audience. Posting videos is just the first step. If people take the time to respond to your content, repay the favour and respond to them, whether it’s a reply to their comments or following their page and liking or sharing their content. That will help grow your business profile and your social network. Hashtags, keywords, and location tags (where applicable) need to be included when you upload your posts. Make sure to include relevant hashtags that describe your account and your target market. We regularly use the following: #AngusPremium #GrowAngus #AngusAustralia #AustraliasBreed #IUseAngusBulls #InstaAngus #AngusCattle #AngusFamily And most importantly, post consistently. Your videos don’t all need to be high-quality production affairs every time. Keep your followers up to date by checking in regularly and showing them what you’re doing, what’s new, and what’s going on. It all helps to retain engagement and build brand awareness. The benefits to your business are definitely worth giving video marketing a go.

For more marketing tips head to

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Behind the Beef – Who we are and what we do Cheyne Twist, Communications Officer

In December 2020, the Angus Australia staff sat down for a question-and-answer session with Angus Australia President and Board Chair Sam White.

The purpose of the session was to hear an on-property perspective of the interconnection between society and breeder when it comes to the work done in the office each day to assist in the day-to-day operations of our members. The interview broke down what Angus Australia does in assisting seed stock producers and the industry in general in terms of promoting and enhancing the value of Angus. The interview also gives a little background into Mr White, his family’s long history with the breed and what his role as President means to him. Sam White was raised on Bald Blair, a cattle and sheep property at Guyra on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales. Following a brief stint in the Royal Australian Navy Mr White worked in the fitness industry in Adelaide. Mr White returned home to the family farm in 1990 and worked alongside his father Richard White. He and his wife Kirsty, along with their sons Abbott and Arthur, are building on the hard work of previous generations of the White family with a continually improving and profitable livestock operation and a sustainable resource base. In 2019 Bald Blair Angus is celebrated 100 years of membership to the Australian Angus Society and over 110 years of Angus cattle selection.

First and foremost, can you tell us a little bit about who you are and provide a background to the operation at Bald Blair? Firstly, I’d like to recognise the work of previous generations because I’m just one of a small number of family members who’ve made a contribution to the property Bald Blair and other surrounding properties, and also a contribution to the society and to the Angus breed. While our tenure has been long, we are subject to the normal implications of running a family business and are just lucky that we’ve been able to be around for as long as we have and keep the things going the way that we have. As a young bloke when I left home at 17 I knew more than I know now. And of course, I came back as a 30-year-old and I’d forgotten everything and had to relearn it. I’m very fortunate to have a very supportive wife and two gorgeous little boys. When we talk about our family’s contribution, you talk about heritage. When I returned home in 1990 one of the first 74

things that Don Nichol ever said to me was “Sam, heritage means nothing. It won’t keep you in business”. And as you can imagine, it was a bit of a slap in the face with a wet fish, but it was extremely honest. And so, the consequence of that, of course, is when I returned home as a 30-year-old, I had to relearn and had to re-educate. I returned home with a completed accounting degree and post graduate ag economics studies and gave my father an opportunity to see if we could really evolve our business and continue the development of our business. And as it turned out, he was ready to hand over and I was ready to have a crack. So, I was very lucky to be in that position at that that particular time. I had to get involved with a number of different people within the industry to relearn and we continue to evolve our business with new systems accordingly.

You’re talking about heritage there, and I’m sure heritage plays a little bit into the answer of this, but first and foremost, why do you breed Angus cattle and why do you think your family has persisted with Angus for so long, given they were once upon a time considered the poor man’s breed? The first thing is I have a passion for agriculture. I think anybody who’s lucky to be in this profession and supporting it, is amazing. Agriculture is pretty tight in terms of dealing with the pressures of cost price squeeze and while that’s inevitable in any business, it’s more in particular in agriculture. That means our costs of production continue to rise and hopefully we’re going to get an income to continually rise, which doesn’t always happen, particularly when we reflect back on 2019.

A: Kirsty and Sam White with Jasmin Ramage at the 2017 World Angus Forum in Scotland, B: Steers at Bald Blair, C: Sam and Kirsty White with

give it a crack. That generation that comes in has got to be prepared; first of all, they need to have the passion, want to be in agriculture and then add business acumen to it.

C So why Angus? My forebears, my grandfather and great grandfather, chose Angus because they are best suited to this area (the New England), as Angus was suited to the temperate environment at the time. Now, Angus have evolved from small little dumpy cattle to really big range cattle back to moderate cattle. And our family have been a part of all of that. Essentially the reason that we chose Angus, there was obviously an issue of differentiation that my forebears decided to start with and we were the only specks of black cattle on our road. Now, every other breed is the speck. Our Angus breed of cattle have sustained us through lots of family issues, generational variation, business separation in terms of brothers separating and it still evolves. The Angus cattle have been very good to us with the profitability of the breed in this particular environment and Angus breeders probably chased carcase traits more than any other breed and earlier than any other breed. And as a consequence of all the members that are in the breed, there’s a level of competition that makes every one of us a little bit better. For us to be able to do that, we actually need input with respect to improvements in management and improvement in genetics. There’s a lot of contributions that come into that business and they’re all available in the Angus breed. So, we’re pretty lucky to be in the breed that we are. The position now of having as many members as we have means that every member is in a position where they’ve got to continue to get better, to remain relevant. As businesses evolve, you might find one generation might get a little tired and the next generation comes in, has to

When you look at some of the activities that we do as staff in Angus Australia, across the various departments that we do have, how does that work affect your day to day and what are you using that’s provided by Angus Australia? I want to touch on how is it that our business has survived for as long as it has. I believe it’s because our business has been adaptable. Every subsequent generation has been prepared to be adaptable, and they’ve prepared to bring in changes and advancements in management, in both on farm management systems and in genetics in our businesses. I think it is of absolute importance that I put that out there, because that is the contribution that the breed society makes in terms of not only just keeping the pedigree, but adding to pedigree, which I think is an extremely important thing for us going forward. When I look at the contributions of the breed society, there are a number of things right at the moment. I probably have a lot to do with DNA through parent verification work, which I think has been an absolute revelation in the industry. Also, we work with the registration team, and the marketing team with catalogues as more and more is involved each year as we look to streamline our business. And in addition to that, each and every staff member contributes to the decisions we make for our cattle. In terms of the seed stock operation, one of the things I’m going to come back to is that I was asked why do we need all this information we submit and what is it? If I can reflect on from 1990 to 2020, when I returned home we were selling steers at 20 to 22 months of age and now (bar 2019) we are selling steers from 14 to 16 months. That’s taken 30 years to get genetic progress, which occurs at a fairly slow rate. Management improvements can change what is perceived as genetic improvement by some, but the reality is it’s a management improvement. You can get management improvements on animals of the order of 50 to 60 per cent in one year, but genetic gain occurs at less than 10 percent annualised. The role of the breed society is reporting back to me on the genetic gain that’s occurring in my herd is important. We’re in a situation where we see improvements come with the same animals from 30 years ago, the progeny of our cowherd now meeting their market specifications anywhere up to three to four months younger than what they were all those years ago. It doesn’t seem like much, but we establish and set up our business to ensure that our system in agriculture fits the environment which we are in.

sons Abbott and Arthur. Image: Al Mabin D: Bald Blair prize winners at the 1929 Sydney Royal Easter Show

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As we go into other environments, you find these systems have to be adaptable or vary. My system, if I was in southern New South Wales or Victoria would be different to what it is up here because of climate variation and differences in the seasons and when pastures are available. Angus Australia’s role is to assist in my measure of genetic gain, the recording of actual genetic gain in a herd and registrations in our seed stock operation. More significantly, as we evolve and recover from the 2019 disaster, we’ll have more cows with the potential to be recorded on TACE commercially than we ever had before. We also run sheep inside this business and our plan is never to be in a situation in our business where one sector of the business totally dominates another. It’s a bit out of skew at this point as we recover from 2019 but the idea is essentially is to have cash flow operating all through the year rather than at peak times in the year. If we look at a bull sale and we look at the pressures of a bull sale and these feelings are feelings shared by all those of us who are breeding bulls, there’s a lot of pressure. For those families where the stud enterprise is their primary and only source of income, the pressure is multiplied even more to get it right. For some the income comes in one day of the year and it could come in as quick as one hour, and for that, they spend up to three years getting their bulls prepared for it in terms of the genetic decision being made before they’re born, who we’re going to mate who to, to when that calf is born and growing it out and selling it. Our roles are intertwined and extremely important. Information flow and timeliness of information flow is becoming more and more important and hence the importance of the IT team in reporting and getting all the data into angus.tech where we can see everything that’s going on in a herd. It’s a very powerful tool and it’s going to become more powerful as we have that ability to register and do all the things that angus.tech is going to provide to us in the future.

You have painted a pretty good picture of how the work we’re doing day to day does have a really big impact on particularly seed stock operations and more into the future of the commercial operations that are breeding Angus cattle as well. We’ve obviously seen a lot of changes, not only how Angus Australia operates, but how that’s affected your business.

Yes, there has been significant change and remember that when things get tight, there’s a natural tendency for the commercial breeder to want to buy the cheapest thing, because all he’s thinking about is surviving, which is a necessary reality. To a degree you might find that that might be contrary to selling good bulls to people that are going to lift them out of their situation. I want to talk about the value of a bull, because I think it’s important that everybody understands it. The most important thing about a bull is that that bull has an impact in an operation. So, one bull might, if he is put with 50 cows, produce 23 steers and 23 heifers, a few are not going to conceive and that’s normal. If that bull lasts for two years, he produces 46 steers and 46 heifers. If that bull lasts for three years, you can see what happens, it goes up and up. If that bull lasts five or six years, while he’s genetically surpassed at that stage, he’s still having a massive contribution and the cost per calf is dropping all the time. There is a cost of production, a cost per calf born that sometimes is an impediment for some people when they come to buy a bull because they don’t necessarily see that $12,000 can last for three years. They just go, well, that hurts right now, I’m not going to buy, or is there something cheaper, all I need is something just to get rid of, and there will always be a trading component in our industry. You’re in a situation where the contribution of that bull is significant however there are a lot of people that see that we turn over our bulls, but why do we not turn over our cows as much? It’s important that you understand that the cow is the asset. She is the factory of our business. Now, that cow if she stays there for eight years, is a pretty powerful animal. We want to know about that potential for that animal to stay in a herd. If we keep that animal until she’s 10, 11, 12, that’s a pretty amazing animal. While genetically surpassed, the cost of production is dropping all the time, but we can put up a more genetically powerful bull to that older cow and still get calves that are above average and that continue to get their genetic gain. It’s important to understand that we don’t turn over a cow herd because it’s too expensive and at a time like right now when it’s extremely expensive to buy cows, it’s great if you’re selling and that’s ultimately what we want. We want

Sam White (second from the right) formed part of the panel at the 2019 Angus Through the Ages National Conference where he spoke about ‘Look how far we’ve come and where we’re going – an insight into the evolvement of Angus cattle and beef across the last 100 years ‘. Image: Studstocksales.com 76

to be part of a process in recovering from the drought and then in a few years time there are more people breeding with Angus females and in all areas. The work in northern development going forward is also extremely important as we evolve and develop the influence that Angus has across the industry.

What is it that makes you such a proud member and breeder? Well, it is extremely important to our family to have been around for as long as we have and it’s important to me and to my wife, Kirsty, of our association with the breed society and to carry on that association for as long as we have. I’m proud to be part of the evolution that’s occurring with Angus Australia over these 30 years. It has been significant in both a number of members that have come to Angus Australia and also the number of cattle that are now bred by members of Angus Australia. Angus cattle are a great breed, but so are the people who are involved in our industry. There’s a lot of us and we all come from all different walks of life and it’s extremely important that everybody has made and will continue to make good contributions to not only to the society but to our businesses as well. The White family has obviously dedicated a lot of time to Angus and the Board. What made you decide that now’s the time to step up onto the board and then into the President’s role? The Angus breed of cattle have been an amazing breed of cattle and when I look at all the changes that have occurred in our personal businesses and whenever we’ve had issues that have come up, we always reflect back as to what’s got us through and it’s our herd of Angus cattle. I suppose for me, while there is a heritage, there’s no expectation for me to serve as the President. I’m just lucky to be in this position at this particular time.

The reason that that I’m on the Board is because I want to give something back and I feel that this breed has certainly contributed to many people’s businesses around this country and will continue to do so long into the future. Occasionally I look back on the deeds of the past. My grandfather was President and my father was President during which the first World Angus Forum was held. My uncle was the President for the second World Angus Forum and it looks like respective of circumstances with COVID-19, that that may not be the same for me, but my contribution is still as significant as any family member who has put their name up to take on this role, which is significant in terms of time and cost. It’s something that we don’t do lightly and it’s something that we give and give gratefully. It has its challenges, but we have still got to keep focussing on the big picture of moving the Angus breed forward. In 2019 for a lot of people it was a challenge to get to board meetings and various other committee meetings that you’re required to do when you’re trying to run a business in the middle of a drought. But with ZOOM it is pretty amazing what we can achieve now at a distance. We have all got to continue to evolve and you only have to look at how many people went on the AuctionsPlus during 2020! I could sit back and watch a bull sale every lunchtime, which was pretty amazing. To listen to this episode of the Behind the Beef Podcast scan the QR code.

Above: Bald Blair 2020 Bull Sale, Dick Whale, Sam and Kirsty White, Ian McDuie, Brian Kennedy, Elders and auctioneer Paul Dooley.

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Angus CONNECT

Research & Development Update Autumn 2021 Thursday 25 May 2021 Angus Australia YouTube Channel from 7pm AEDT

Save the Date

Angus Australia invites all Angus seedstock and commercial breeders to an online event showcasing the latest research and development relating to Angus genetics

For more information head to www.angusaustralia.com.au

Corrections to the list of top selling bulls published in the 2021 Summer Angus Bulletin Year 2019 – Millah Murrah Paratrooper P15 PV (NMMP15). Sold to a top of $160,000, bred by Goonamurrah Pastoral Co, Millah Murrah Angus NSW and sold to Cowan family, Arkle Angus WA

2019

Year 2018 – Millah Murrah Nugget N266 PV (NMMN266), Sold to a top of $54,000, bred by Goonamurrah Pastoral Co, Millah Murrah Angus NSW and sold to Kamilaroi Angus NSW Year 2015 – Millah Murrah Kingdom K35 PV (NMMK35). Sold to a top of $150,000, bred by Goonamurrah Pastoral Co, Millah Murrah Angus NSW and sold to J. & J. Woodruff, Witherswood Angus VIC, J. Wedge, Ascot Angus QLD, R.Thompson, Millah Murrah Angus NSW, B. Bateman, Gilmandyke Angus NSW, ABS Australia

The full list of top selling bulls can be seen online here 78

2018

2015

To get involved talk to us today: 02 6773 4600 | office@angusaustralia.com.au | www.angusaustralia.com.au

Angus australia Supporting youth development, education and research to benefit the Australian beef industry

Staff Directory Chief Executive Officer

Human Resources

Peter Parnell, Chief Executive Officer M: 0428 918 632 · P: 02 6773 4600 E: peter@angusaustralia.com.au

Ron Bower, Human Resource Manager P: 02 6773 4607 · E: ron@angusaustralia.com.au

Strategic Projects Christian Duff, Strategic Projects Manager P: 02 6773 4620 · M: 0457 457 141 E: christian@angusaustralia.com.au

Nick Butcher, Project Officer, ASBP P: 02 6773 4638 · M: 0427 701 236 E: nick@angusaustralia.com.au

Jen Peart, Northern Development Officer P: 02 6773 4644 · M: 0417 219 405 E: jen.peart@angusaustralia.com.au

Marketing, Communications and Youth Diana Wood, Marketing & Communications Manager P: 02 6773 4601 · M: 0411 242 001 E: diana@angusaustralia.com.au

Robyn Brazier, Marketing Assistant P: 02 6773 4609 · E: marketing@angusaustralia.com.au

Samantha Hamilton, Marketing Officer – Sale Catalogues P: 02 6773 4613 · E: sam@angusuaustralia.com.au

Kate Reynolds, Graphics & Multimedia Officer P: 02 6773 4645 · E: design@angusaustralia.com.au

Ebonie Sadler-Small, Graphics & Multimedia Officer P: 02 6773 4610 · E: ebonie@angusaustralia.com.au

Cheyne Twist, Communications Officer P: 02 6773 4635 · E: communications@angusaustralia.com.au The Angus Bulletin - Autumn 2021

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Staff Directory Breed Development and Extension Andrew Byrne, Breed Development & Extension Manager P: 02 6773 4618 · M: 0418 412 042 E: andrew@angusaustralia.com.au

Matt Reynolds, Breed Development Officer P: 02 6773 4626 · M: 0433 532 453 E: matthew.reynolds@angusaustralia.com.au

Member Services Scott Wright, Member Services Manager P: 02 6773 4636 · E: scott.wright@angusaustralia.com.au

Adam Allingham, Member Services Officer P: 02 6773 4602 · E: adam.allingham@angusaustralia.com.au

Robyn Kelly, Member Services Officer P: 02 6773 4615 · E: robyn@angusaustralia.com.au

Tammy McLeod, Member Services Officer P: 02 6773 4604 · E: tammy.mcleod@angusaustralia.com.au

Henry Newell-Hutton, Member Services Officer P: 02 6773 4614 · E: henry.newell-hutton@angusaustralia.com.au

Heather Rocks, Member Services Officer P: 02 6773 4621 · E: heather.rocks@angusaustralia.com.au

Sarah Scott, Member Services Officer P: 02 6773 4611 · E: sarah.scott@angusaustralia.com.au

Nicky Wallace, Senior Member Services Officer P: 02 6773 4616 · E: nicky.carey@angusaustralia.com.au

Lou Wood, Member Services Officer P: 02 6773 4617 · E: office@angusuaustralia.com.au

Commercial Supply Chain Liz Pearson, Commercial Supply Chain Manager P: 02 6773 4608 · M: 0488 758 360 E: liz.pearson@angusaustralia.com.au

Software Development Christopher de Crespigny, Information Systems Manager P: 02 6773 4619 · E: christopher@angusaustralia.com.au

Dale Curtis, Computer Programmer E: dale.curtis@angusaustralia.com.au

David Edgar, Computer Programmer E: david.edgar@angusaustralia.com.au

Gerard Hammond, Computer Programmer E: gerard.hammond@angusaustralia.com.au

Lei Qian, Computer Programmer E: lei.qian@angusaustralia.com.au

Finance & Administration David Cameron Administration Manager/ Financial Controller P: 02 6773 4624 · E: david.cameron@angusaustralia.com.au

Joy Howe, Accounts Officer P: 02 6773 4612 · E: joy.howe@angusaustralia.com.au

Carole Johns, Accounts Officer P: 02 6773 4628 · E: carole.johns@angusaustralia.com.au

Sue Webeck, Accounts Officer P: 02 6773 4606 · E: sue@angusaustralia.com.a

Amanda Wolfe, Administration Officer P: 02 6773 4650 · E: amanda@angusaustralia.com.au

Angus Australia Locked Bag 11, Armidale NSW 2350 P: 02806773 4600 | F: 02 6772 3095 | E: office@angusaustralia.com.au www.angusaustralia.com.au

Herd Building Genetics From Beefgen MILWILLAH NAPA N498 Matauri Reality 839 x Coonamble Elevator E11 One of the most admired Angus sires on the market combining elite marbling & outstanding carcase shape. Napa is a standout proven calving ease sire suitable for heifers. Napa's dam is one of the breeds best with numerous stud sires to her credit and more to come. While sire, Reality is a proven herd builder. This is an exciting opportunity for Commercial Breeders to access elite genetics and take their breeding program to a new level. Napa is a rare individual combining striking phenotype & proven genetics in an easy to use, profit driving package. Commercial semen only.

EBV

CED +7.4

BW +3.3

SC +3.7

EMA +7.0

Rmp +2.4

IMF +3.8

Rank %

15%

30%

CW +73

Rmp +0.9

NFI-F -0.21

20%

10%

Rmp +3.9

IMF +1.9

MILWILLAH POWER BROKER Q11 S Powerpoint WS 5503 x Coonamble Hector H249 Power Broker was the high selling Powerpoint son of 2020 and one of the seasons most popular young sires. Purposefully bred to combine the renown carcase attributes of Powerpoint & Hector with the class & function of Reality. Q11 performed at the top of his contemporaries being #1 weight, #1 EMA & #3 marbling sire and combined this performance with straight 5's on structural assessments & a outstanding disposition. Power Broker offers Breeders a serious herd building option in 2021. From moderate birth, Q11 features strong performance & is backed by maternal excellence - a recipe for success.

EBV

CEDtrs +7.0

BW +4.5

400D +101

Rank %

15%

60%

15%

25%

EBV

CED +7.8

CEDtrs +5.0

BW +4.0

SC +4.5

15%

30%

45%

SUDELEY VIKING 18101 (NZ) Matauri Reality 839 x Meadowslea C844 Viking generated much hype as a $60,000 high seller in the 2020 New Zealand season. Without doubt Viking can lay claims as one of the most imposing sons of Reality with tremendous body capacity, width and carcase shape all in an easy fleshing package. Viking was purchased by Earnscleugh Station to work in the tough NZ high country & features perfect feet & legs required to work in tough conditions. Viking is an imposing individual suitable for heifer or cow matings in 2021. With strong breed type & striking phenotype, Viking progeny will establish a rock solid base for your herd's future.

Rank %

55%

NEW IN 2021 - MILL BRAE BENCHMARK 9016 Connealy Confidence Plus x Connealy Final Product One of the most anticipated young sires in the USA, Benchmark does it all! Backed by a tremendous dam and cow family Benchmark combines a great phenotype, with performance and exceptional EPD's (Top 20% in 12 traits including CED, WW, YW, RADG, YH, SC, HP, Milk, Claw, CW, RE). Owners include Montana Angus & Schaff Angus Valley. Set a new Benchmark in your herd! Reserve Now.

BEEFGEN.COM.AU | INFO@BEEFGEN.COM.AU | +61 412 425 949 2021 Sire Guide Online Now - Angus, Hereford & Maine Anjou

Looking to the F UTURE

May 27th 2021 Bull Sale is off, but 100 R bulls coming up!

50 yearlings available, October 2021 & 50 bulls, on farm sale May 26th 2022 SIRES REPRESENTED: Landfall Keystone K132PV, Bub’s Southern CharmPV, GAR InertiaPV & GAR Fail SafePV OUTWEST ANGUS: Ewen & Marg McLeish 0428 242 044, 02 6824 2044 or outwestangus@bigpond.com