The breeding objective could be flippantly summarised as “High Growth at no cost”. We strive for growth as that has a direct effect on our farm-gate returns, but we are careful not sacrifice other traits. After all, a fast growing calf is only profitable if it is alive, and if it’s mum is efficient.
Ultimately, the objectives are centred around the cow and by describing our ideal cow we can get a good picture of the constraints we’re talking about.
| Breeding Objective | Selection Drivers |
| A cow that produces a live calf | Good width, pelvic structure and smooth shoulders. Positive Calving Ease and moderate Birthweight EBV’s. |
| A cow that gets in calf easily | Fertility traits: Scrotal size, short gestation and days to calving. |
| A cow that is efficient and resilient | Moderate frame. Moderate mature cow weight EBV. Positive fat cover (rib and rump EBV’s). |
| A cow with adequate carcass attributes | Maintaining breed average or better for IMF and Eye Muscle area. |
When all of those are achieved, we then select for high growth – with specific focus on 400 day EBV’s.
Growth
We focus on 400 day growth over 600 day because most of us sell our cattle between 270 and 450 days of age. Early growth is more profitable than late maturing cattle (which is what much of the industry is focused on breeding for).
Carcass
Our policy on carcass attributes has evolved in recent years. While it is still early days, the price signals around eating quality are now real. Increasing IMF is now a significant factor in our mating decisions. Increasing eye muscle area is also important to us as we believe well muscled cattle not only yield better, but are more resilient in hard seasons with muscle tissue being the best store of energy reserves.
Structure
We pay a lot of attention to EBV’s. That said, any animals are not structurally sound or don’t get in calf are culled as soon as they’ve weaned their current calf. Every yearling is independently assessed by Liam Cardile of Beef Excel.
On moderate frame size, we are focussed on turning off more kilograms of beef per hectare than more kilograms per head.