Jindivick cattleman says Simmentals are key

After decades in the game, Jindivick cattleman says Simmentals are the key to success

By Jacinta Cummins

MALCOLM MacFarlane has been in the cattle game his entire life. He’s dabbled in Angus, Black Baldies, Charolais and Murray Greys to name just a few, but only got into Simmentals in his 80s.

The Jindivick cattleman’s only regret is not switching earlier.

“I’d seen Simmentals at shows over the years and I was always very impressed with their docility and that their calving was under control,” he said.

Malcolm’s chance came when he saw an ad in the paper for eight purebred Simmental heifers and snapped them up for $1140 a head in 2019.

After buying the 9-month-old heifers, Malcolm found they were out of registered cows from Frank and Francie Rizzo’s now dispersed Trijena Park stud at Mickleham.

“I wanted to see how the Simmentals would fare here as other breeds like the Murray Greys were not suited to Gippsland and boy, was I impressed with them,” he said.

In fact, Malcolm was so happy he bought the Rizzos’ last lot of 12-month-old heifers in 2020.

These heifers were sisters of the first lot he had purchased.

Malcolm has also been buying fiveday-old Fleckvieh bull calves direct from dairy farmers Greg and Vikki Templeton, but won’t have this opportunity again as the Templetons transition from a dairy to a beef program and will keep the calves themselves.

Ease of handling has become more important to Malcolm because he largely runs the cattle operation, which also include Angus breeders, on his own while wife Dianne manages their Weemilah English Leicester stud which has just celebrated 44 years.

“The Simmentals are very quiet, I can go out in the paddock and walk among them and pat and talk to them,” he said.

“They are the very best breed of cattle we’ve ever had to handle and while we downsized to retire, it’s turned into ‘semiretirement’ so safety is more important than ever at my age.”

Malcolm artificially inseminates his heifers and cows instead of traditional joinging due to an increased success rate with an extra benefit being not having to handle the bulls or deal with them fighting or straying onto neighbouring properties.

He has started AIing in early November of recent years to move his July/August calving window to late August and early spring to avoid the extreme Gippsland cold.

Rod Cameron of Cameron Genetics, Shady Creek does the AI and joined Malcolm’s first Simmental heifers to Pinaroo Hills Albert John from Peter and Vanessa Wenn’s Bunyip stud in 2020.

Malcolm sold the males from this drop as nine-to-ten-month-old vealers for $2000 a head at the Victorian Livestock Exchange’s Pakenham sale in March 2021.

Malcolm was delighted with the price.

“When you can get that money for a calf that young, why would you bother growing them out?

“The value isn’t there for me to carry them on as a bull only to sell it for $5,000 or $6,000 years later.

The females were joined to Glen Anthony Y-arta from New Zealand’s Glen Anthony Super Simmentals after a one off release of the retired bull’s semen was imported into Australia in 2021.

This year’s joining is to Willandra Ranger using semen sourced from Peter and Vanessa Wenn and Greg and Vikki Templeton who bought the bull from Willandra Simmental stud in February.

“The calves we’ve had since going to Simmies have just been absolute rippers so I’m really looking forward to seeing next year’s drop with Willandra Ranger as he is an excellent bull,” Malcolm said.

“I’m not looking for an overly big bull, I want a moderately framed sire which can produce moderately framed calves and the Simmentals have just got a massive growth rate”.

Malcolm has long been attracted to Simmentals for their easy birth weights and said it’s a credit to Simmental Australia for working on this while many other breeds ignored the issue.

“I bred Charolais from about 18 months after they came to Australia and they were very good cattle, but they had calving issues upfront which frightened a lot of people off and the marketing was poor.

“The Simmental industry has done a good job on both of these fronts, but at the end of the day, it’s about having an excellent product.

“No amount of marketing will sell a poor product.

“Down here black cattle are meant to be everything, but my experience has been it doesn’t matter what colour it is, if a vealer’s got the weight in it, it’ll sell.

“And my Simmental vealers have proved this by making a premium price while being a more manageable workload for me than other breeds have been.”

Jindivick cattleman Malcolm MacFarlane has dealt with many cattle breeds over his lifetime, but after trying Simmentals for the first time in his 80s, he wishes he had switched to the breed earlier. PHOTO: Vikki Templeton

Malcolm MacFarlane says the Simmentals’ temperament is one of the breed’s best traits. PHOTO: Vikki Templeton

Some of Malcolm MacFarlane’s heifers he bought from Frank Rizzo’s Trijena Park stud with Glenanthony Y-Arta calves at foot. PHOTO: Vikki Templeton