For more than two decades, Brangus bulls have been successfully used by Godwin Cattle Company’s Sid and Tricia Godwin and their four children Annalee, Sylvia, Riley and Jared.
The family currently run their Brangus-cross herd over three properties, Tanderra, and, Welcome, located south of Springsure and, Silverleigh, south of Banana.
“We run a breeding and fattening operation, in conjunction with some mixed cropping activity,” Sid said.
“Most of our breeders are run at Tanderra, with Welcome used as a grower property with a smaller herd of 700 breeders,” he said.
“Silverleigh is used primarily as a fattening block as there is an abundance of Luceana there.”
Sid said Tanderra is “the hub of the operation” as most of the slaughter cattle are finished there as well.
“With the exception of dry cows the majority of our slaughter cattle are either grain assisted, crop assisted or finished on Luceana.
“We try to grow as much of our own commodities as we can and source the remainder as necessary.”
“We’ve been grain assisting since 2005 as a means of obtaining consistent turnover, as we join our breeders all year round, it also allows us to produce a constant high quality slaughter article, at any period of the year, in all seasonal conditions.”
He said they normally try to obtain a dressed weight of around 340-380kg for steers and 280-300kg for heifers.
“Dry cattle are weighed prior to being put on Luceana or grain assisted so we can minimise the risk of there being any overweight or underweight cattle after a determined period.”
Sid said they’ve been using Brangus Bulls in their herd for a little over 20 years.
“Initially we had a Santa Gertrudis base but we were looking for higher fertility, faster maturing cattle with a little more Brahman content, so we went with Droughtmasters as we love red cattle.
As the years have progressed the Godwins now have an almost 40 per cent Brangus herd.
“We like the breed for the superior fertility of the females, and the desire of the bulls to perform, which when combined leads to a faster growing herd.
When it comes to selection, Sid said he looks for a bull that is clean coated and soft, has at least 50-70pc Brahman content, a good temperament, and is tidy underneath.
“Unfortunately, most of the bulls I like are also desirable with the majority of commercial breeders and it’s hard to source larger quantities at any one sale without going crazy.”
He said their oldest daughter, Annalee, recently applied to register her own Brangus stud.
“We’ll see where that road leads in the years to come.”