A shift in production focus has allowed central Victorian Angus breeder Amy Rush to access the premium grass-fed finishing market, a move she hopes will pay off in the long-term.
"We have changed more in the past 12 months than we have in the last five years," Ms Rush said.
"The farm size has increased by one-third and we have almost doubled our breeder numbers.
"I have also gained accreditation through the Greenham Never Ever beef program which gives us another option and good market premiums, even for our older cows."
Trading as the Rush Bros, Ms Rush manages the Malmsbury-based operation for her family, which currently comprises 350 hectares of owned and leased property, running 230 Angus breeders and 50 replacement heifers.
"We have always run Angus, I loved them even before they were popular and when the market premiums and brand recognition is so well renowned, why would we change," she said.
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"We are building a sound breeding herd that can regularly turnoff weaners to market specifications and continue to move forward, even in tougher conditions.
"I'm after good, moderate cattle which are honest, rewarding and have the temperament to match."
Ms Rush started sourcing bulls from local stud, Adameluca, about seven years, using a combination of visual appraisal and estimated breeding values (EBVs) for her sire selection.
"Our purchase checklist varies a bit from sale to sale but the two most important attributes for me would be the temperament, as I am doing most of the cattle work on my own, and conformation, including feet and legs," she said.
"Then I look at their EBVs, some years I am after a bull that is more maternally weighted and other times I have a heavier focus on carcase traits."
Ms Rush has also invested in top female genetics to speed the rate of genetic gain, purchasing 50 cows from the Coolana dispersal sale in 2017 to breed quality replacement heifers.
"The Coolana cows already had lots of ticks against them before they came to our place as they had gone through a stud program and had to perform, so they were able to make some pretty quick improvements to our herd," she said.
"I look for a quiet, structurally sound heifer with good natural thickness and weight for age."
The breeding program was further expanded last year with the purchase of 75 Speriby North-blood joined heifers from northern NSW which calved down in July and August.
A split calving is carried out to better manage pasture demands, cash flow and seasonal variation and risk.
"In the past I have calved all the heifers down in autumn only but now run both a spring and autumn heifer calving mob, transitioning younger stock back into each of the cow mobs," Ms Rush said.
"All the cows are naturally mated for eight weeks although I am planning on tightening this joining period even further."
The autumn calving mob is joined in June to start calving in March, while the spring calvers start in August.
Ms Rush is also planning on moving the Speriby North heifers to a later spring calving.
Nutrition is a key management focus at joining and calving, particularly with the heifers.
"I think the quickest way to blow out your herd fertility is to not look after the nutrition and body scores at those key times, so joining is a critical time for us to keep them on a rising plane of nutrition," she said.
"Sometimes this can be quite a challenge when it falls during our winter and summer months."
Ms Rush has made a big shift to sowing more land to grazing crops, having great success with ryecorn for winter and a blend of millet and brassica summer crops.
"These crops aren't just reserved for the young stock, but also cow and calf units, the more I can put in front of them to graze, with less supplementary feeding, the better they do," she said.
"I like the autumn calving cows to be in condition score 3-3.5 at calving because they have to carry that right through winter."
The farm produces about 1000 bales of hay and silage which is used when there is a feed gap. Ms Rush has also brought in barley header tailings, fed in hay rings with molasses poured over, to assist in maintaining gut fill during the winter months.
The cows and heifers are pregnancy tested and depending on their age and the season, the empties will either be sold or rejoined.
The calves are weaned at six months of age, spending about one week in the yard with feed and handled extensively, before being transitioned into larger paddocks with better quality pastures. The weaners are weighed regularly to monitor their progress.
In the past, the weaners were finished on-farm, using a small grain ration, and sold directly to the abattoirs at about 12-13 months of age.
But with a bigger focus on the breeding herd, the weaners are now targeted for a 350 kilogram liveweight turnoff, with most going to grass-fed finisher operations and the balance to feedlots.
"We are now also fully grass-fed, which was initially driven by high grain prices and is supported by the premiums available."
The first draft of weaner steers and surplus heifers were marketed through the Greenham program last spring with Ms Rush very pleased with the sale result.
