In this 3rd phase of our on-farm mineral supplementation trial, we explored whether there is a benefit to using a combination trace mineral supplement (e.g. Multimin) when we’ve identified that we have only a single mineral deficiency, in our case Selenium (Se). Let’s start by recapping the journey to this point: Trial #1 Trial #2 Trial #3 Title Growth Response to Supplementation Fertility Response to Supplementation Fertility Response to Supplemtentation Comparison Multimin vs Cobalife Se Multimin vs Control Multimin vs Cobalife Se Hypothesis A combination mineral supplement (Mn ..read more

The Genomics for Commercial Angus Cattle Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) project with funding support from MLA involves a group of breeders in Victoria’s North East trialling the HeiferSELECT product to assist in their selection of replacement heifers.  Six core-producers will test 100% of their heifer crop over five years.   The core-producers DNA sampled their first heifer progeny in Spring 2020 and have just marked those heifer’s first calves.  Meanwhile, the second cohort are currently being joined while the third cohort has just been sampled. 2022 Field Day In Dec ..read more

Even before the current run of favourable market conditions, many Australian beef producers have been artificially inseminating their commercial heifers. The current boom in beef breeding has seen an even greater uptake of the practice. I’m often asked why we don’t AI the commercial heifers in our enterprise. This post lays out the reasons why we don’t do it, but please note, the reasons are quite specific to our environment and production system – they may not apply to yours. For reference, our commercial enterprise is a Spring calving, self-replacing Angus herd in the high rainfall zone (HRZ ..read more

The current market for cattle is at an all time high.  La Niña is forecast for the third year in a row. Most old-timers are telling us we’ve never had it so good!  Now is a time of surplus – both of grass and cash. Now is the time to be thinking about strategies to mitigate the impact of future ‘tougher’ times. Here are my thoughts and a virtual tour of some of the investments we’ve made to build resilience in our commercial beef enterprise in recent years.    Resilience doesn't just happen Resilience doesn’t just happen – it takes research, planning and investment. &nb ..read more

This Spring we are excited to offer 25 excellent yearling bulls bred for maternal efficiency, carcase quality and growth. The offering comprises a good number of all-rounders, heifer specialists and some big growth EBV bulls suitable for cows. The bulls are for sale by private treaty. Please don’t hesitate to contact Julian on 0418 331 311. The quality of the R drop bulls was a significant step-up on previous years despite the increased number presented for sale.  Most scored 5s and 6s in their independent structural assessments. The line-up includes sons of 38 Special, 44 Envision ..read more

Profitability PuttingGeneticsto Work In good seasons it’s easy to forget about the cost of feeding your breeding cows.  While young cattle are nearly always adding value as they grow, once mature, cows move into a maintenance cycle with their value fluctuating up and down with pregnancy status, weight and condition. In a self replacing breeding herd, it’s estimated that 75% of the grass grown goes toward maintaining the cow herd.  That only leaves you with a quarter of your pasture productivity to generate sales!   So how does genetics contribute to profitability? Mainte ..read more

You may have seen last years post about our response trial comparing mineral supplementations. We compared Multimin to Cobalife Se to see if there was any difference in weight gain in our young cattle over the winter. As both products delivered a similar amount of selenium – our main deficiency – I felt the trial was an opportunity to measure any difference in response to the other possibly useful ingredients: copper (from Multimin) and the B12 (from cobalife). There wasn’t. Unfortunately, I didn’t have an untreated control so I can’t tell you if the Se made a difference to weight gain. The ar ..read more

The 6 core producers DNA sampled their heifer progeny last Spring and are putting the genomic data to use now as those heifers are ready for joining.  There’s been some fascinating insights already. Selecting Heifers by Weight This week we discussed the weak correlation between our genomic predictions for yearling weight and the raw weight data we’ve recently captured.   Yearling Weigh: Raw KGs vs genomic prediction Weights alone are a poor indicator of genetic merit.  For as long as cattle scales have been common place, breeders have been selecting replacement heifers b ..read more

At the beginning of our commercial genomics project the question was raised: How do we measure our current genetic progress? The question was raised in the context of needing a baseline to compare the effect of genomics project on our genetic progress. The solution I came up with is fairly simple. I decided to graph the changes to the EBV averages for our sire battery from year to year. It only needs two pieces of information: Which bulls sired calves in a given year The current EBVs of the bulls With that data and a few hours of spreadsheet development I came up with the Genetic Progress To ..read more

It took some time for me to get my head around the multitude of worm and fluke drenches on the market. It wasn’t until I sat down with my vet and developed (and documented) an annual parasite management plan that everything made sense. I thought I’d share our plan and the reasoning behind it for anyone else who might be interested. Considerations There’s a number of considerations that go in to developing an annual parasite management plan. These include: Which parasites are compromising production in your environment The lifecycle of parasites The impact of parasites on different classes of ..read more