Brangus have allowed the Meteyard family to market their cattle with ease since they introduced the breed into their Pentland-based operation in 2008.
Under the banner of Arthur Shepherd Pastoral company, Shane and Tracey Meteyard run their commercial breeding program across three properties, Milray (27,000ha), Myttonvale (11,000ha) and Uralla (5500ha). All three blocks have the Cape River running through them and predominantly lie on forest country.
Mr Meteyard said they run 2500 pure Brangus breeders on Milray and Myttonvale, while Uralla is primarily utilised for growing weaner steers out to yearlings.
"Our numbers are down a bit at present as we destocked between 2013 to 2016. We ideally like to have 5000 adults including 3000 breeding cows," he said.
It was in the late 1990's that Mr Meteyard first learned of the breeds advantages.
"A presenter from the US was at a conference I attended and while he was discussing the different breeds the Brangus kept popping up. I'm also mates with a long-term Brangus breeder in Bowen, and I'd always liked the look of his cattle.
"These prior encounters, along with the breeds fertility, weight for size, wonderful temperament, and marketability is why we chose Brangus. We'll always require cattle with Brahman content up here, but of the crossbreeds we think the Brangus is the most hardy."
Mr Meteyard said they usually market their pure Brangus article to the live export sector or as backgrounders for the feedlot.
"Last year all of our 400kg yearling steers went to Vietnam, and this year they're all going to the JBS Beef City plant in Toowoomba. We generally grow all our heifers out but if they go a season without producing a calf they're sent to the abattoir or to other breeding operations.
"Last year we sold breeders into North Queensland, and this year we're sending some to New South Wales. The versatility of the Brangus means our article can go into a lot of different markets. We get repeat buyers for the article we produce.
He said they've been purchasing bulls from the Pearce family, Telpara Hill Brangus, for five years now.
"The Pearces produce good framed, quiet bulls with the Brahman content we need. Frame, a high pizzle and a shinier coat for NQ conditions is what we need in our article, and the Telpara Hills bulls deliver that. We purchased 15 Telpara Hills bulls last year and you can easily see the progeny by them in the herd.
"We bought bulls from the Salisbury family, Bimbadeen Brangus, for quite a while as well which did a good job for us. We swung over to Telpara Hills simply to get some different genetics and for a bit more Brahman content."
