MITCHELL cattle producer Bim Struss has a clear message for industry.
"If we stuff up animal welfare, and in particular providing pain relief to our cattle, then we risk damaging the industry's hard-won reputation," Mr Struss said.
"All the good work we've done in gaining access to markets and on biosecurity will be lost if consumers don't trust that we are doing the right thing by our animals."
Mr Struss is a major proponent of the off-the-shelf pain relief product Tri-Solfen as part of a multimodal pain relief strategy.
"We've been using both Tri-Solfen and an injectable Metacam to deliver both immediate and longer-term pain relief," he said.
"It's not just the right thing to do by our cattle, but there are obvious production benefits.
"The calves that receive pain relief are clearly less stressed, walk out better, mother up sooner, and get on with the business of growing."
Mr Struss said he had first become interested in Tri-Solfen following trial work by industry leader, the late Zanda McDonald.
It fits in well with Mr Struss's belief that cattle should only ever have one bad day: The day they are ultimately processed for their intended purpose as beef.
"With the pain relief like Tri-Solfen that is available today for carrying out necessary husbandry practices and quality of transport, we've really come a long way," Mr Struss said.
"At this time, we're still growing out calves for the feedlots, but longer term our aim is to become a 100 per cent grass-fed operation.
"The welfare of our cattle is central to the management of Havelock. There isn't much more important than seeing those cattle happy, healthy and growing in their own paddocks."
Havelock and the Struss's nearby property Yellowcap cover some 20,000 hectares along the Maranoa River, running about 1500 breeders.
About 60pc of the females are polled Hereford, with the balance being Angus and an 'influence' of Shorthorn.
The females are currently joined over a three cycle, 63 day period. However, the joining time is likely to be reduced to 42 days, to further reduce the spread on the ages of the calves.
"A lot of effort has gone into developing and maintaining a productive polled herd," Mr Struss said.
"We're using homozygous polled (PP) bulls and culling anything that grows a horn."
In addition to a range of desirable traits including conformation and fertility, the temperament of the herd is also crucial, assisted by the exclusive use of horses for cattle handling and mustering.
In fact, a major effort goes into the education of young cattle to ensure they remain extremely quite, even as grown cattle.
"We are fortunate to have very experienced people like Mark and Deb Tully from Mitchell and Alicia Corbett, who just joined us recently, who can come and work with our cattle," Mr Struss said.
"It really makes a big difference having calm cattle.
"Stress is not something the beef industry needs."
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