The Santa Gertrudis-cross cattle the Worsfold family have been producing for close to 20 years continues to provide them with an easily marketable article.
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John and Georgie Worsfold run the business, with their sons Colin and David, across their three Wandoan-based properties: Rochedale, Kimberley and Lara. Rochedale was a soldier settlers block which was drawn by Mick and Fay Worsfold in 1952, while Georgies' parents Harry and Beth Burnett bought Lara 40 years ago. The family added Kimberley 20 years ago.
Colin Worsfold said the family commenced operation with a predominantly Hereford breeding herd, and introduced Santa Gertrudis bulls two decades ago.
"We now run a 50/50 content Santa x Hereford herd. We've found that the right Santa bulls give us docile crossbred progeny with good frame and size. There aren't many markets we can't sell Santas into," he said.
They join the bulls with the females from mid-September to the end of January. They cull empty cows after preg-testing and draft heifers for temperament and type to ensure they keep frame and size in the herd.
"By being fairly strict with our selection we've managed to get our conception rate to between 90 to 95 per cent."
The family target the MSA market through Woolworths with their younger, lighter, 300 to 400kg steers and cull heifers, and also sell 400 to 500kg feeder types to Lloyd Pastoral at Chinchilla or to JBS's Beef City plant near Toowoomba.
"We've been happy with the our returns in the last couple of months."
To source the right type of bulls for their operation they've been buying from the Wandoan Santa Gertrudis Bull Sale since it began.
"The sale appeals to us because the bulls are produced by vendors from the region so they acclimatise very easily to our country here. We've bought from several vendors at the sale to diversify our genetics, and all of these bulls have performed well for us.
"We inspect the bulls before sale to check their temperament and to see how they look in person, then we study their EBV's to make sure their figures match their appearance before we buy."
Mr Worsfold said looking ahead, they'll be looking to expand their herd numbers and country if the good seasons hold up.
"2020 has been a major improvement on 2019. Last year we only received 152 to 203mm across our properties, and we were hand feeding the cattle.
"We had a good start to this year though. On Lara we nearly had our average annual rainfall (610mm) between January and March, while Rochedale and Kimberley each received 254 to 381mm. We have a fair body of feed now and the cattle are back on natural grass."
