Northern Focus
Taking Angus to the next level at Golden Arrow Jen Peart, Northern Development Officer
‘Golden Arrow’, Hannaford has been in the Wells family since its development in 1932 and is currently owned and operated by David and Anna Wells, the third generation.
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Golden Arrow Location “Golden Arrow”, Hannaford 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) “Totara”, Talwood 10,000 acres, (4,000 ha) Annual Rainfall 600mm pa
use for paddy rearing just to get them used to their new surroundings. It keeps them quiet, lets them adjust before we add them to the bull herd, limits the fighting etc, for the three months before we join” says David. Between joining seasons, the bull herd is run on a leucaena crop of around 150 acres to regain and maintain body condition. Drought has played a significant role in shaping David and Anna’s business. Five years ago, the Wells’ were joining 1,000 breeders – 80% of which were Angus, the balance composites – over their two properties, ‘Totara’, Talwood and ‘Golden Arrow’, Hannaford. The successive dry years of 2017-2019 saw both properties completely destocked, the composite portion of the herd sold, and the remainder relocated to agistment near Windorah. Now, with a good season behind them, ‘Totara’ leased, and 600 head of pure-bred Angus breeders left, David describes the restocking process at Golden Arrow as an opportunity
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I love the fertility of Angus, I haven’t had a lot to do with other breeds of cattle but from what I understand, we are just miles in front
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David and Anna run a breeding operation, currently joining 600 pure bred Angus breeders and turn off roughly 250 weaner steers each year. Fertility is a key focus at Golden Arrow, with PTIC rates consistently between 94 and 96%. Joining is a three-month window from December 1st, and any female that returns empty at preg-testing is culled. Maiden heifers are first joined at 15 months of age – either to leased Wagyu bulls, with all F1 progeny supplied to a local feedlot operator as weaners, or to calving ease focussed Angus bulls. “We like to value add to our heifer side of things by either joining them to Wagyu bulls for calving ease in our F1 program, or to low birth weight Angus Bulls and have the option to keep them or sell them as PTIC heifers” says David. All pure-bred Angus progeny from the core breeding herd are weaned and the steers sold on AuctionsPlus at around 250kg liveweight while their heifer counterparts enter the breeding program. David attributes part of the success of this program to the saleability of Angus. “This year we are selling weaners for more money that we have ever have, but even back in 2018-2019, every time we went to sell our weaners on AuctionsPlus, we sold them every time, we have never had them passed in. We have always sold them at, or above, the market. They are just a saleable commodity, it doesn’t matter if you are in a dry season or a good season. There seems to be a concept that anything that is sold that’s 100% Angus, put extra cents and dollars on top of it.” he explains. Approximately 80% of the bull herd on “Golden Arrow” are registered sires purchased externally, while the balance are bulls the Wells’ have bred themselves. When selecting a bull for purchase, David explained visual assessment is a must, but his initial step is to look at a bull’s EBVs. He prioritises genetic condition free bulls with low birth weight and high early growth (200 day weight), followed by carcase traits such as intramuscular fat. When inducting a purchased bull, he allows for three months where, on delivery, the group of bulls purchased together are run with his small herd of five dairy cows. “We keep them in the group of bulls they came with and put them in with our little herd of five dairy cows we
