Angus Australia's presentation, 'Breeding for Profitability in Northern Australia,' was a resounding success, attracting an almost full house at Beef 2024, a testament to the growing interest in adding value to large-scale beef operations through genetics.
Angus Australia's chief executive officer, Scott Wright, said Angus genetics are being utilised across these operations in traditional bos indicus areas, as well as focusing on how using Angus genetics in these operations improves productivity and profitability.
Ben Noller from Palgrove Pastoral, Troy Setter from Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC), and Ian McLean from Bush AgriBusiness spoke at the seminar. They provided testimonials of their personal experiences or those of their clients about how Angus's genes gave them a profitability edge.
Mr McLean's forensic focus points included: What separates the top performers? What are the more productive herds? Is there a need for better-targeted herd expenditure? Higher degrees of labour efficiency resulted in lower overheads and a sufficient operating scale when these points were all combined to present a lower-cost production system.
Mr Noller manages the seedstock production and sales of a herd of 6500 plus registered cattle and ensures that Palgrove's genetic performance remains at the forefront of the industry.
He said fertility rates were an achievable win, with his experience revealing that Ultra Black or Angus cross heifers were pregnancy-testing-in-calf at 80 per cent while pure Brahman heifers were around the 50pc mark.
Mr Setter said CPC was about four million hectares in higher rainfall areas of northern Australia, and young heifers needed to get in calf and then follow that calf with another to ensure productivity and profitability. He said the Angus/Ultra Black influence provided the genetic foundation to achieve these goals.
The Angus/Brahman cross provided a 92pc weaning rate, while the pure Brahman was 85pc.
He added that when the crossbred heifers were rebred, an 80pc PTIC rate was achieved while the pure bos indicus was only landing at a 45pc re-breed rate.
Simon Chamberlain
I have comprehensive experience in rural and regional journalism, as well as more than six years as a media officer for several politicians and worked in local government. I rejoined The Land in May 2022 and have loved being back in harness, reporting on a massive range of topics.
I have comprehensive experience in rural and regional journalism, as well as more than six years as a media officer for several politicians and worked in local government. I rejoined The Land in May 2022 and have loved being back in harness, reporting on a massive range of topics.
