Quality Angus genetics, combined with careful management, have enabled Murray and Anne Howard, Violet Banks, Beeac, to produce an ideal calf for the annual weaner sales in January.
After many years spent breeding crossbred cattle to supply the domestic vealer market, the Howard family made a change to a pure Angus herd and have been very pleased with their successful sale results at Colac.
This year a line of their Angus weaners, weighing in at an average of 429 kilograms, topped the sale at $1320 a head.
“Producing Angus weaners has been a more recent introduction for ease of management and increased marketing opportunities,” Mr Howard said.
“We’ve been very happy with the prices we’ve received, we probably should have done it much sooner.”
They will offer a line of 70 late February/March-drop steers, through HF Richardson & Co, at next month’s Colac weaner sales on Thursday, January 3, while their draft of 45 heifers will be yarded on Monday, January 7.
The Howards began their Angus herd with a foundation of Hazeldean bloodlines and have introduced bulls from the Moyle Pathfinder stud more recently. They are currently running 140 head of cows and heifers.
With a focus on growth rates and carcase quality, Mr Howard uses a combination of estimated breeding values (EBvs) and structural soundness to select his bulls.
“I am chasing growth, particularly as we are selling weaners, I will look for bulls with high 200 and 400-day weight figures and intramuscular fat depth and eye muscle area,” he said.
“The weaner sales are our target market so early growth rates are important for our potential buyers who will take them onto the next stage.
“More recently we have also been selecting bulls which are positive for rib and rump fat.”
Birth weight is also a strong consideration, with Mr Howard preferring to select a bull with moderate EBVs for birthweight to maintain calving ease, particularly in the heifers.
A liveweight of more than 400kg at sale time is targeted, but this year Mr Howard estimates weaner weights could be down slightly, due to the dry start to the season.
“The cows and calves have had a tougher time this year, a late break and a dry autumn meant we had to feed out a lot of hay and silage,” he said.
“The winter was very cold and we also had a dry September and October, we missed those early spring rains but luckily some late rains have kept the pastures going for a bit longer.”
Mr Howard said the weaners will still present well and should hit the mid to high 300kg plus liveweight range by sale day.
The calves are weaned in the paddock for about three weeks and supplementary fed quality hay and silage during this time to ensure they are quiet and have settled down well.
“Normally I would cut my own hay and silage, but this year because of the season, I have conserved the pasture and decided to buy hay in.”
