IT’S NO wonder Mike Carroll agreed to become a progeny test herd – he is as bred to type as the Angus cattle he runs on his Derrinallum property.
His family has been farming, cattle, in the Mudgegonga valley since the 1860s.
And while he might have only established the Widgeegonga Angus herd 10 years ago, embracing cutting-edge genetic management has seen him fast track his herd to the point his major customer happily buys them sight unseen.
Although he admitted he was off to a flying start when he purchased his foundation cows from the high-profile Habbies Howe program, based at the southern end of the Strathbogies.
A professional director after a long career which saw him head up NAB’s agribusiness division, he could not resist the temptation to once again get some dirt under his fingernails.
With close to 1000 acres he pushes his operation hard, always looking to find the right balance between the maximum stocking rate, maximum kilograms of beef grown and the challenges of climate.
As a former banker it is no surprise that maximising the return on investment is the number one goal, however with other interests the farming system has to be simple and low risk.
“This year we have preg tested 325 breeders in our August calving, spring joined herd,” Mr Carroll said.
“We synchronise all our heifers for an August calving so they are ready to make the most of the next spring flush,
“Our heifers are all artificially inseminated – we do two rounds – which gives us a tight calving, which is easier to manage and we consistently get AI conception rates around 80 per cent. This year it was 82 per cent.
“We then put them to back-up bulls and the 15-20 per cent in calf to them are often sold off separately.
“Having a tight heifer calving cuts down on supervision cost.”
When he decided to purchase his property and stock it with Angus he did a lot of research on everything, from the production system to bloodlines to marketing.
And it seems he got every bit of it right.
“The chance to purchase cows from Habbies Howe was a no brainer – there is more than 160 years of experience in that herd and they have been long-standing members of Team Te Mania,” he said.
“Which gave me a pure Te Mania Angus herd to begin with and as my target was the high-marbling feeder steer market - it was everything I wanted. High fertility, excellent calving ease, moderate mature cow weight and outstanding 400-day growth,” he said. “What impressed me with Te Mania Angus was the large contemporary groups they run and the accuracy of the EBVs. When they get a positive outlier you know it’s the real thing and you can shape the genetic profile of your herd with a greater level of precision.”
Mr Carroll’s steers go direct to Rangers Valley, which sees them for the first time when the trucks start unloading, because he said they know the track record of the cattle he produced and know he will deliver to their specifications.
“We have a MSA marble score averaging around 570 or 3.5 on the Ausmeat scale and that’s what Rangers Valley is looking for, they know when I send a consignment how they will perform, there won’t be any health issues and the steers will all weigh between 450kg and 500kg at 14-15 months,” he said.
“Next year’s results should be even better for Rangers as every steer was by a bull that ranked in the top 100 for IMF and the long fed index.”
