ANGUS cattle have always been the breed of choice at High Spa Angus, ever since the Mobbs family bought their Daylesford property back in 1965.
They originally used the property as the base for their petroleum business Kookaburra Gas, but after they sold that business in 1986, they decided that their cattle operation, which had been running on the side, would take precedence.
The initial stud cattle were purchased from Tibooburra Angus stud, Hoddles Creek, and the Basin stud, Keith, SA, and genetics were also bought from the United States.
Since then, the family has obtained two other properties in the Daylesford and Mount Franklin district, and they now run about 400 cattle on 600 hectares.
High Spa is a family operation, run by brothers Brian and Wayne Mobbs, and their wives Theresa and Rose.
Brian’s son Kevin, and Kevin’s son Shannon, are also both involved in the business.
Brian Mobbs said Angus cattle have consistently suited the needs of their operation.
“Angus were the most profitable breed when we first started, and that hasn’t really changed,” Mr Mobbs said.
“They handle extreme cold and heat conditions a lot better than a lot of other breeds, which is really useful in the area we’re breeding in.”
He said performance recording cattle has been of great benefit to their operation.
“All of the cattle are performance recorded, it’s the only way you can nail them down if they’re not performing,” he said.
“We’ve really been trying to focus on performance, and this is the best way to do it.”
He said it’s helped them analyse each animal individually, and deal with them accordingly, particularly when it comes to feeding.
“Ours and other research has shown the idea that the bigger the animal, the more feed they need, doesn’t always work,” he said.
“The smaller ones can also eat more because they may have a faster metabolism than some of their larger peers.
“There are deficiencies in bigger cattle, and efficiencies in smaller cattle, and vice versa, it’s just about working them all out.”
They join cows twice a year, with 75 per cent calving in autumn, and the remainder in spring, and Mr Mobbs said this spreads out availability of bulls throughout the year.
“It means we have younger bulls available to our clients, so they’ve got options to choose from.”
High Spa open their gates to the public twice a year, first at Stock & Land Beef Week, and secondly at their own open day held on the last Sunday of every August.
Mr Mobbs said this is where they sell the majority of their bulls.
“This way of selling, plus selling privately throughout the year, has obvious advantages over high pressure buying and sometimes inflated prices generated at stud auction sales.”
He said temperament is one of the stud’s biggest focuses.
“We breed them so they’ve got a good temperament, they’ve got to be docile so you can interact with them,” he said.
“You’ll always find that there is an odd silly one, but we just cut those ones out, they make good grinding beef.”
Mr Mobbs said while a lot of other people run sheep as well as cattle, they’re only interested in running cattle at High Spa.
“Although there are similarities in sheep and cattle, they’re both entirely different.”
He said sticking to what you’re good at is the key to success in this industry.
“If you can do one thing good, then do that,” he said.
“We’re good at breeding Angus cattle, so that’s what we do.”
