The Marshall family has enjoyed sustained success since introducing Limousin bulls into their Brahman breeding herd on their long-held property Nandowrie, situated 53km south-west of Springsure.
Nandowrie was drawn by the family in 1895, with Matthew Marshall representing the fifth generation of the family to live and work on the property.
Mr Marshall runs the business, as Crescent Nine Pastoral, with his wife, Nevitta, and his parents Stephen and Nerelle.
He said the property has received close to 305mm of rain annually over the last 10 years, so the 400 to 450mm that has fallen this year to date has been welcomed.
"We had a fall of about 150mm at the end of February and another 100mm the following month. We've had good run-off rain and good feed.
"The country is still green which has allowed us to avoid supplement feeding. If we have another break in the season we should be right until Summer."
It was due to their beneficial carcase traits that Limousin bulls were first purchased five years ago.
"We soon found that the Limousin improves any breed they're crossed with. We can get a flatback Brahman-cross, which can handle the Queensland heat.
"With the Limousins we're improving our Brahman-cross core herd, with the progeny achieving higher MSA grading, while allowing us to maintain polled progeny.
"We've been Certified Organic for six years, and our poll MSA-graded article is very sought after by our primary buyer, Arcadian Organic & Natural Meat Co."
He said while the drought has knocked around their key production dates to some extent, they generally put the bulls in with the cows for 70 to 90 days from mid-December.
"In a good season we're really hard on culling females - and place strong emphasis on colour, temperament, structure and skin type. However, due to the dry over the last two years we've been more lenient on that selection process, because sourcing organic breeding females can be difficult. Despite this we still annually achieve a fertility rate of 85 to 95 per cent."
The Marshalls sell their steers to Arcadian at two years-old and 300kg-plus dressed.
"The Limousin-cross provides Arcadian with a carcase that has a good balance of meat yield to fat cover.
"Our carcase measures 12 to 15mm on rib fat, and no trimming of the carcase is required, which makes it easier to sell into the domestic market.
"We can guarantee them this consistent article all year as we paddock feed silage."
In addition to utilising homebred bulls from their stud Crescent Nine Limousin and Brahmousin, the Marshalls also purchase bulls from seedstock producers the Gaffney family, Graneta Limousin and Angus, situated in Bell, Queensland, and the Gommers family, Mandayen Limousin and Angus, at Keith, South Australia.
The Marshalls are aiming to expand their Limousin-cross cow herd, to compliment their pure Brahman breeder numbers.
"We'll then introduce Brahman genetics back over these cows to keep at least 25pc Brahman content in the herd for hardiness and drought tolerance, while the Limousin provides calving ease, and low birthweight progeny with explosive weight for age.
"The second cross also helps to keep the skin type right, as the Brahman content knocks the hair off the crossbred progeny."
