Kneeling to take a picture of Barry Hollonds with his steers, I hear snuffling behind me, feel my hair being investigated and, a split second later, there's the rasping sound of a slobbery bovine lick right across my back.
We're being mobbed by inquisitive cattle and there's not a feed bucket in sight.
It's no accident - it's one of the secrets to Mr Hollonds' success producing some of the tastiest meat in the country, which has earned him recognition from Meat Standards Australia (MSA).
The Sale producer came 35th out of 2000 entries in the MSA Excellence in Eating Quality Awards this year.
He was also placed first in Victoria for the 2018 National Beef Carcase Competition.
"Temperament has a lot to do with it," Mr Hollonds said.
"You'll see my cattle don't run to the end of the paddock when you walk in the gate.
"The secret is to walk around your livestock a couple of times a day and talk to them because being about all the time, they watch you and get used to you."
Mr Hollonds has developed a list of preferred breeders.
"It's not about how big and fat the cattle are, it's all about how they yield and marble," he said.
"I follow particular bloodlines that yield and I talk to the breeders.
"Last year, a butcher bought the brothers of these cattle here and they yielded at about 60," he said.
In fact, Mr Hollonds is so keen to establish a great relationship with breeders, he invites them to visit their grown-out bullocks.
"I give feedback to vendors and that includes asking them if they would like to view their cattle on my farm to see the finished product and most of them take the opportunity," he said.
"It's a great way to share information - they tell me what sorts of bulls and cows they're using - and they can see some years are better than others and, while most farmers understand that, others turn a blind eye."
A regular at the Bairnsdale, Sale and Heyfield saleyards, Mr Hollonds is also a keen observer of temperament in the pens.
"In the selection at the yards you get a fair idea of their temperament, too."
"Some wild cattle will quieten, others never will.
"A dark cutter can mean a protein issue or stirry cattle.
"My bullocks leave here in Sale at 3pm, travel to Broadmeadows for hours and have to stand all night in a strange environment and, the quieter the cattle, the better they'll handle all that."
A Never Ever program and JBS supplier, Mr Hollonds says good quality pasture also makes a big difference and is grateful to have 25 hectares of irrigated pastures and another 40 hectares of dryland paddocks.
Weaners start on the dryland blocks and are finished over a couple of months on the irrigated home block and Mr Hollonds has no doubt pasture quality has an impact on MSA scores.
Mr Hollonds keeps his pastures clean and has reduced his stocking rate to about half in the last 12 months.
"Towards the end of spring in 2018, it became too expensive to fatten bullocks," he said.
"The cheapest and easiest option was to have fewer mouths to feed."
MONEY IN MSA
Quiet cattle and good feed - the cornerstone of Barry Hollonds' approach - is backed up by science and economics, too.
Eating quality can be ruined by changes in muscle glycogen (blood sugar) levels, which take days of feeding to build but can be slashed in minutes by stress.
MSA program manager Sarah Strachan said that while stress was almost inevitable for cattle during transport and in the new environment of an abattoir, it could be managed.
"If they've had great nutrition for the last 30 days and brought into the yards at the farm with low stress, they'll actually be in really good condition to handle some of those stresses," she said.
"The eating quality will be fine because you've filled them up with enough energy to have a bit of a buffer to handle those stresses."
Good quality drinking water also had a big impact on MSA grades, with Tasmanian research showing cattle accessing dam water had a 50 per cent higher dark-cutting risk than those drinking from a trough.
MSA grades were also good for farmers' hip pockets.
National livestock Reporting Service data revealed MSA-graded young cattle attracted 30 cents a kilogram more than non-MSA-graded young cattle.
"That 30c premium is for those cattle that have actually just met the MSA minimum requirements," Ms Strachan said.
"On average, that works at about $80 per head for an animal."
Marian Macdonald
Writing for farmers in the Stock & Land, The Land, Queensland Country Life, Stock Journal and FarmWeekly, farming in Gippsland.
Writing for farmers in the Stock & Land, The Land, Queensland Country Life, Stock Journal and FarmWeekly, farming in Gippsland.
