Commercial Supply Chain
Utilising Opportunity and Actioning Your Goals Cheyne Twist, Senior Marketing & Communications Officer
Jarrod Koch, Barrabool, VIC, is co-director and owner of Longview Agriculture, and together with his wife Fiona, runs a beef enterprise consisting of registered Angus and Black Simmental cattle, commercial Angus and SimAngus breeders and backgrounding Angus steers for entry into domestic grassfed programs. Since purchasing their first property in 2016, the Koch’s have run commercial Angus breeders with the registered Angus stud commencing in 2020. When it comes to the decision of progressing their operation with the Angus breed, Mr Koch attributes his background as a former saleyard manager and his awareness of the Angus premium that is commanded by stock associated with the Angus breed as a driving force. “In addition to the growth and fertility traits that Angus are renowned for, the eating quality is a new focus of the industry and Angus is again proving its breed merits,” said Mr Koch. “Angus are in a very strong position as the demand for quality Australian beef continues to grow over the next decade. Across the industry, different areas of focus will become apparent and evolve over time.” Within their operation and selecting traits in their breeding program, the Koch’s are very focused on improving the product that they are offering into the markets in which they participate. For their breeding cow herd, they turn off weaners into the domestic market, therefore highlighting early growth as a critical trait in order to be able to deliver a larger more valuable calf. When joining Angus heifers to sell as future breeders, the Koch’s aim for calving ease, low birthweight and early growth characteristics. “Overall whilst we focus initially on the above traits when selecting bulls for our different enterprises, we also look at the bulls’ overall values as well as a physical inspection focusing on structure and phenotype to ensure we aren’t sacrificing in other areas,” said Mr Koch. “The key drivers of success for us are very different depending on each of our enterprises – for our commercial breeding operation, which is our main focus, we require high conception rates, marking and then weaning as many calves as possible per breeding cow and finally having 52
weaners that continue to grow and put on weight during the weaning process and right through to sale.” With a transition into the industry in recent years, and with the continued development of their enterprise, Mr Koch has more recently had the opportunity to step into his role within his business on a more full-time basis. “Having had a previous career in the Australian Defence Force, I was considering my next career and whether I would stay in the engineering pathway or seek a new career in an area better suited to my passions and skillset,” said Mr Koch. “Having spent time in the country as a child, I was drawn to agriculture and the farming lifestyle so once I transitioned out of the ADF in 2016, we purchased our first farm and I maintained full-time employment across a number of different agricultural roles and industries to grow my exposure to different people and knowledge, whilst at home we also spent time growing our skills, herd numbers and overall business slowly to the point where I was able to step back from full-time employment in late 2020.” “The transition to self-reliance and taking day or week opportunistic employment has allowed a better worklife balance whilst also being able to focus on the onepercenters in our business which drive success and growth.” Looking to the future growth of Longview Agriculture, Mr Koch is driven in developing both their commercial enterprise, but also branching into the seedstock sector. “Long-term we aspire to be a large progressive and sustainable commercial and stud breeding operation, holding annual bull and female sales. We want to be known as industry leaders with a focus on incorporating the best genetics possible to drive objective and measurable growth in commercial drivers of success – for example weight gain and carcase quality.” The next five years for the Koch’s will be dedicated to the growth of their herds, but also their assets, with short term goals of growing stud numbers to 100 registered breeders, further expanding land under management Jarrod, Harper, Matilda, Fiona, Evie and Molly Koch
