Supplying cattle in an assured grass-fed program has had benefits and challenges for Howard and Beryl Bush.
Mr Bush’s family may have farmed at Pennyroyal, in the state’s south-west since the 1880s, but in the past few years they have made some changes to the farming operation. In 2013 they changed from running cows and calves to buying in weaner steers and growing them out.
“It’s made it a bit simpler,” Mr Bush said.
He said they had a very tough year before making that change, and buying in young stock and turning them off gave them more flexibility so they were unlikely to run out of feed again.
That has proved a wise decision as two of the past three years have had a failed spring.
Mr Bush said they managed last year’s tough season by not being too heavily stocked, selling off some cattle early and finishing their last two mobs of cattle on a “good crop” of a Winfred forage crop that had plantain, chicory and rape.
The Bush family had to be careful about their supplementary feeding, as they are part of the JBS Farm Assurance program to supply Great Southern Beef. The cattle at their 223-hectare home block and their 41ha block at Yeo, near Colac, have to feed on grass and meet Meat Standards Australia (MSA) grading requirements.
They also have to buy vendor bred, pure beef breed cattle, and meet animal welfare standards and keep good records of everything that happens to the cattle. Independent inspectors audit the farm to ensure it is meeting requirements.
Mr and Mrs Bush said it was worthwhile to “tick all the boxes”.
“On average for the whole year get $150/head above anywhere else,” Mr Bush said.
Last year, they sold the Angus-Charolais cattle by the start of October to get the program’s winter premium. The rest of the Angus cattle were sold in November and December, with the final two mobs that grazed the forage crop sold in April and May.
This year, they are growing out 225 steers, of which about 70 per cent are Herefords.
Mr Bush said they picked the Hereford calves out on colour, conformation to type, good backsides and bodies.
“The Herefords are a bit of an experiment,” he said.
“The Angus are doing the best in Colac and maybe they have more weight gain than the Herefords, but there mightn’t be a lot in it because it was about 10c/kg cheaper to buy Herefords.”
They have fixed stocking with most mobs being about 40 head. Mr Bush said that way mobs are to the processor in the same semi-trailer, which reduces stress as is important for meat eating quality.
He was very pleased that all 70 Angus cattle they sent in were MSA graded.
They use low stress handling techniques for the duration of the time the cattle are on the farm and further reduce stress by only yarding them once – for a drench in late winter.
Mr Bush said they aim to turn off cattle at more than 600 kilograms.
“Last year, their average carcase weight was 320kg, and most were 620-630kg.”
To get the cattle up to those weights in a grass-fed system, pasture management is paramount.
They have been regenerating pastures, including by planting a summer crop that is grazed and then re-sown to perennial ryegrass. This year, the sowed about 28ha of annual ryegrass and 20ha of perennial in late April.
Applying DHP at 100kg/ha has seen the ryegrass perform really well.
Good rainfall is setting this spring to be much better than last year’s.