Theodore district cattle producer Fiona Skinner has scaled back her commercial breeding operation due to the ongoing dry conditions.
Mrs Skinner, along with her husband Michael are in partnership with her mother Kay Hills, and she manages their commercial operation alongside the NK Brahman Stud founded by her late father, Pat Hills.
In a normal season the family would carry 700 commercial Brahman breeders, but have scaled those numbers back 600 spread over 8500 hectares on two properties Amaroo and Mt Kitchener.
Amaroo is softwood scrub grassed with Buffel and spear grass and improved with planted stylos and is used for breeding, while Mt Kitchener is hilly country and used for growing out progeny and finishing culled cows to processor weights.
Mrs Skinner retains 70 per cent of the top heifers as replacements and the balance are grass finished and sold to JBS.
She marks about 60 male calves to finish as steers targeting the Japanese market as two tooth and four tooth that dress out at about the 314kg HSCW at JBS.
Skinners juggle management and maintenance
Mrs Skinner manages a compact joining using one bull to 50 females over her 600 breeders for three months from October on-wards.
Her sire battery includes using some home-bred NK bulls along with introduced bloodlines bought from Muan, Brahrock, Mt Callan and Lancefield Studs.
"I always look for a long, good boned bull with a tidy sheath and a good temperament - which is paramount," Mrs Skinner said.
"I really don't need him to be a polled bull as I have plenty of polled genetics throughout the herd."
Mrs Skinner said she finds horned bulls can often give a better carcase quality and structural soundness to her herd.
Once joined, all maiden heifers are pregnancy tested and those which are empty are grown out and finished then consigned to JBS Rockhampton.
Calving starts in mid July, and the first round of weaning gets underway in February when the progeny are about seven months. A second round of weaning takes place in May, allowing the the cows time to freshen up before the next drop of calving.
All weaners are then walked over to Mt Kitchener and are grown out.
"We find by walking them the 14 kilometres using working dogs and horses is an ideal part of the educational weaning process," she said.
"I find the importance of using working dogs a major part of our operation as it is hard to find the right staff, and I can muster on my own with little fuss or stress to cattle."
At 15 months all heifers retained are bought back to Amaroo and integrated with other cattle on the property ready for the October joining.
Of the 300 male calf drop, apart from the 60 steers consigned to JBS, the balance are grown out as herd bulls which the family sell directly into Western Australia.
All the steers are castrated, branded, and dehorned using Trisolfen, and receive a 5-in-one vaccination.
"We find by using Trisolfen we can walk the steers back to the paddocks without any stress or ill-effects from the process," she said.
Heifers receive a 5-in-one shot, Leptospirosis and Pestivirus vaccine, while cows receive a Leptospirosis and Pestivirus boster.
Mrs Skinner culls for age all cows at seven years, unless they are a non breeders or have temperament issues.
"With the continued dry weather we are culling harder with our females and there are no second chances."
While Mrs Skinner manages the cattle operation, husband Michael keeps all the mechanical, machinery, and bores working.
"He is a general all-rounder and is my guide and support when making all the decisions on-farm," she said.