Thompson's finishing touch

"We don't have a really big operation but what we try to do is plan our matings fairly well and select females that suit the sires that we have, or are about to purchase, so that we can get the very best out of our animals," he said.

"With the way the market is at the moment, you need your animals to be as suitable as possible. They have to have the right specifications to make any money out of them."

The Thompson brothers got one of the best indications yet that their cattle were hitting the mark when a Limousin/Shorthorn-cross heifer they bred was named champion carcase in the Woolworths MSA value-based marketing carcase competition (class 35) at the Royal Queensland Show last Saturday.

The heifer was out of a Shorthorn-cross cow and by a Black Limousin bull bred by Robyn Nobbs, Clifton. She spent 80 days on grain at Kevin and Jan Perkins' Kjal Feedlot, Wondi, averaging 2.69kg/day. Midge Thompson said it was exciting to win such a hotly contested class.

"It's probably the most difficult of all the carcase competitions to win due to the fact that most of the time, there are a lot of entries and some very good cattle produced by very astute cattlemen that have been in the game a long time," he said.

"We won the Coles competition, which is class 34, in 2012 and we won class 36 last year, so I guess class 35 was the one that was missing in the middle and we are certainly stoked to have achieved that goal."

The Thompson brothers favour a number of breeds in their operation, running Droughtmaster, Charbray, Brangus, Brahman and Greyman cows.

Midge said the breeders were run on forestry country and some Bos Indicus content was essential for tick control.

"We then use Euro bulls over them - mainly Charolais, Simmental and Limousin," he said.

"That gives you the great weight gains and performance but the little bit of Bos Indicus helps to ensure more even fat distribution when they are slaughtered. We also use some British bulls like Shorthorns and Lincoln Reds with our heifers for ease of calving and low birth weights."

The heifers are joined from 18 months, with bulls generally mated from the first week of October through to the last week of March. Midge said a tighter calving window helped to reduce the stress on breeders through the colder months.

The breeders are generally run in forestry while all progeny go back to the better finishing country, generally characterised by volcanic red soils, after weaning.

The Thompsons don't use HGPs although Midge concedes they can be useful in some markets.

"We are predominantly HGP free," he said.

"Although I can see that they are useful in the lofted industry, the way our markets are progressively heading we find that we have to try and produce a finished animal without them."

LIKE many regions across Queensland, the Burnett district has not been immune to recent seasonal challenges.

Midge said most of their country didn’t receive a decent summer break until late March when about 130mm fell.

“We had some oats dry planted and we were able to get enough to get a fairly substantial crop off for fodder, but as far as the grass country goes some rain in the very near future would be very welcome,” he said.

“Of course, August and September aren’t great months for rain but if it does happen that would be great because it would allow us to get some of our forest country burnt.

“That would provide some fresh fodder for the cows that are calving and break the tick cycle.”