Surgeon James Masson says many of the things which he enjoys about medicine – numbers and genetics – also relate to the seedstock industry.
“I come from a science background, I like numbers and working with animals, so it’s great to see what we can produce,” he said.
Having worked in Wagga Wagga as a young doctor, Mr Masson and wife Karen decided to return to the region just over a decade ago.
They ended up at “Elouera”, via The Rock, and began trading steers.
Mr Masson said while that was fun it was “not very exciting”, so they decided to get into the stud game.
The Rock Angus was established when Grange Angus dispersed in 2009, and has grown, through breeding and further dispersal selections, to 100-stud breeding females and 50 embryo recipient cows.
Mr Masson said the Angus breed was an obvious choice from the get-go.
“I saw more opportunities in terms of genetics and breeding values which I liked, plus the breed has been marketed well, and people seem to like black animals,” he said.
“We’d like to grow to 200-250 breeders,” he said.
“This year was a tough season so although we are in a building phase, we actually decreased numbers but it turned out to be a positive going forward as allowed us to be quite critical.
“Having the smaller numbers allows us to have a good handle on our animals – we are particular on culling those not up to scratch.”
Granite Ridge Kaiser K26 and Ayrvale General G18 have been influential artificial insemination sires at The Rock, while two home-bred females sired by Pathfinder Genesis have been the standout donors so far.
“We aim for the commercial market, and buyers so far are very keen on calving ease and low birth-weight to use over heifers, with high 600-day growth,” Mr Masson said.
“We are trying to work on carcase traits, as well as positive fat and positive eye muscle area.
“I often go to sales and see a wide spectrum, and buyers do want different types. We can now produce a consistent product with reliable growth.”
The Rock holds an on-property auction on the first Friday following the Henty Field Days in September each year, beginning in 2017, and previously has sold bulls at two-years-old.
This year, because of the higher percentage of older females being turned off and heifers retained, Mr Masson said they had offered yearlings.
“We have a split calving so we can potentially offer two-year-olds, 18 month olds and yearlings, we will see how the market goes to see which we end up selling the most of,” he said.
All animals at The Rock are genomically tested and have been since the technology was introduced.
As well as pedigree verification, genomics can improve the data on an animal’s genetic traits.
“Once you have as much information on both sides of the mating system, you get a better handle on what each is capable of doing,” he said.
“We genomic test everything at weaning – if their dam hasn’t been tested you don’t get as full picture, so we need to be as thorough as possible. We’ve been caught a number of times buying bulls, bringing them home and finding they weren’t sired by who they were meant to be.”
The improved pastures at The Rock mean bulls regularly have a daily weight gain of 1.5kg on grass, and while no hay has been cut for the past two years, a bumper season before that has meant the Massons had enough in reserve to get through the recent tough conditions.
“We’re in an area of well-established, prominent studs – Beef Week has been useful to get a foot in the door,” he said.
