Queensland Machinery Agency

from Angus Bulletin Spring 2022

Validation for Angus in Eating Quality

Northern Focus

Their breeding operation is also heavily influenced by the seasonal conditions.

“We generally join all year round – because the seasons are so erratic in this country you can get caught out, but when the season allows, we pull our bulls out after the first round (March-April) and then have a bit of a gap until it rains (usually just before Christmas),” Tim explains.

“We will wait until we have had 4 inches and then a follow up until we know we have a season to bank on and that it wasn’t a false start before we add the bulls back in,”

Tim adds.

“It’s not totally controlled breeding but it allows us to look after our bulls in that time that they are not really needed and check them before they go back in,” he says.

Replacement heifers are initially joined at 18 months old and occasionally younger depending on feed availability and maturity and are selected on similar criteria to that of the bulls; walking ability and softness. Ultimately, the

Joselands aim to breed medium framed cows.

“We believe in medium framed cows for this country especially. Big cows take too much to keep full in a drought.

Cows with a medium frame will still produce the same quality calf provided that the breeding is there, and they will handle a dry time better, provided you get the calf off.

If a big framed cow goes down she takes a lot to get back up again and you won’t run as many, you will run 10-15% more medium framed cows,” says Tim.

All younger breeders and weaners are run at “Eltham” so that they can be more closely managed, while older breeders are run on “Bonavista”.

“We keep the older cows on the southern block, while we generally keep the weaners and maiden heifers in the river and the channels and our younger breeders the on the western side out of the river,” says Tim.

“We do two rounds in a normal season, but will do four in a bad drought, pulling calves off and look after those cows and heifers,” says Kerry. During the two rounds of mustering the Joselands conduct each year, anything that presents dry is pregtested and if the pregnancy is undetectable they are sold. The weaner progeny are taken through to light feeder weights of 350-450kg and placed into a variety of markets, including the southern market. “We do sell them into different markets depending on what seems to be the best at the time. We have sold direct to feedlots, we have sold through AuctionsPlus and we also use the Blackall saleyards which is a very good selling centre,” says Tim. “It is local knowledge that even if its dry here that our calves and weaners weigh like lead, because they get all that soft herbage like button grass and lamb’s tongue. It’s incredibly good when you have got it for cows, calves and weaners. When it is wall to wall feed weaners just do so well on it, so we are pretty lucky really to have this sweet country that produces such soft feed,” he says.