USING Angus genetics is giving Marcus Berlyn more marketing opportunities for his crossbred steers, which attract more competition at the saleyards.
The Santa Gertrudis breeder and his wife Kimberly, with children Ryan and Chelsea, have been using Angus sires for six years at Whitestone, Ercildoune, west of Ballarat in Victoria.
Among the Angus bloodlines used are Murdeduke, Claremont, Francs and Banquet, and Mr Berlyn focuses on structure and temperament when selecting bulls.
"We have a 600 to 800 millimetre, predominantly winter, rainfall, so feet is a big priority," Mr Berlyn said.
The Berlyns run a split joining with his 450 breeders, with calving in autumn and spring.
About half of the herd is joined to Santa Gertrudis sires to maintain their pure base, but they also run an Angus herd and a Santa Gertrudis/Angus-cross herd.
"We run Angus bulls with Santa cows, and we do have 50 Angus cows, and we're putting Santa bulls over those cows," Mr Berlyn said.
"I've found that the characteristics of the bull will always be dominant, but black is the dominant colour.
"The Santa bull over an Angus cow, will give me the broader Santa head and floppy ears, and the Angus bull will produce more of an Angus head and tailset.
"The black coat is a big factor in price and that's the dominant gene for colour."
The crossbred cattle are particularly impressive as breeders and mothers, Mr Berlyn said.
"We've found that Santas put more milk into Angus cows, with the beautiful slick coat, so they milk really well, calve really easily, and they tend to hold on longer with a big sappy calf."
The crossbred calves are also heavier than the purebreds.
"We weaned our autumn calves in late November and the steers topped at 420 kilograms and averaged 360kg and the heifers topped at 370kg and averaged 330kg," Mr Berlyn said.
"It's been a pretty good season but they're weaning 20kg or 30kg better than the straights would at seven to nine months.
"And the prices for Angus and Angus-cross calves are well above straight Santa.
"Over the 10 years there's probably 10c/kg in it."
All steers are sold through the saleyards with the next lot of 100 to be sold in February at the age of 18 months.
Mr Berlyn's goal is to get them to 350kg off grass, which he achieves with a low stocking rate and improved pastures.
He's currently carrying 400 cows and calves, 150 yearlings and 100 dry cows on 730 hectares (1800 acres).
"We bought our properties with the demise of the blue gum industry in Victoria in 2011, so it's taken a decade to clear them and set up the properties with improved pastures, and we're slowly increasing our stocking rate," Mr Berlyn said.
"Post-blue gum we went for a cereal crop - oats - then an annual-based pasture, then a perennial pasture - a basic ryegrass and clover mix - four years after blue gum.
"This year we've started growing multi-species pastures.
"We've just started a carbon project with AgriProve to use a Soilkee Pasture Renovator, and that's all about using multi-species pastures and their ability to put more carbon in the soil."
While the Angus and Angus-cross progeny is profitable, Mr Berlyn is sticking to Santa Gertrudis as a base due to their ability to work with his cutting horse training program.
"Prior to buying these properties we had a house and 20 acres, and to train cutting horses you need fresh cattle all the time.
"Our next door neighbour was a wholesale butcher and dropped off a Santa steer, and a Santa moves very differently to an Angus or Hereford.
"My son Ryan, who's autistic, liked that steer and we still have him at 15 years old, so we fell in love in Santas then."
Ruth Schwager
Ruth Schwager is a journalist with the national agricultural features team.
Ruth Schwager is a journalist with the national agricultural features team.
