For Mike Scales the recent purchase of 16 Angus heifers with calves at foot was just the one step on a journey to develop his own farming enterprise.
Mr Scales recently purchased 40 hectares at Bobinawarrah near Milawa in the north-east with plans to start a cattle herd.
He started with the premise that because of the size of the land available initially he needed to source the best genetics from the start.
Given the constraints resulting from COVID-19 restrictions and attending saleyards in person, he engaged with online trading platform, AuctionsPlus.
"I was impressed with the amount of information from the vendors and assessors put on the site. I knew exactly what I was getting, I knew the bloodlines, I knew I was going to have to pay over the odds and I didn't want to truck them too far," he said.
He selected a line of 16 heifers with calves at foot, and were rejoined but not tested back in calf and purchased them for $3475 per unit.
"It was really exciting to take delivery of my own cattle last week. I have managed properties in the past but these are my first of my own," he said.
The lot was offered on AuctionsPlus account Hopkins River Pastoral, Tatong.
The heifers were described as 28-29 months old, ranging in weight from 534kg to 644kg liveweight.
Hopkins River's David Maconochie, said the sale of the heifers was part of the dispersal of the business's autumn-calving herd and the sale heifers were the tops of the herd.
He said the herd had been gradually changing from a split calving to spring-calving with 1200 breeders to be calved down next year. The Tatong property would be used to run replacements.
The two year old heifers had their first calf at foot, born in March and April, sired by stud Wattletop Angus bulls and redepastured to the same bulls over a six week period.
AuctionsPlus assessor Jamie Quinlan, Elders, said the large-framed heifers were out of a "tremendous herd of cows".
"Bulls are selected for low birthweight, high growth rate and positive fat indexes. These cattle have been bred to perform in all types of grazing conditions, whether that be to finish on grass or grain and to export or supermarket weights, these cattle will perform to the highest grade," he said.
"This is a wonderful opportunity to secure potential three in one outfits entering the prime of there breeding life.
"I want to start up a breeding herd and the heifer portion of the calves will go into that herd and the 11 steers grown out for sale next autumn," Mr Scales said.
"The frame and the depth of the mothers is outstanding," he said.
He said the online description of the animals - how they were handled, what they were grazing gave an instant visualisation of the animals.
He said the mothers would be pregnancy tested and any empties would be synchronised and artificially inseminated to keep the calving pattern as tight as possible.
"I like a compact joining and these are a six-week joining period," he said.
"I want to expand the herd and land area, either by leasing or acquisition. I just want to do it for myself now.
Mr Scales said he was putting effort into the infrastructure on the farm.
"I'm running this as a commercial farm on a per hectare basis. That's why these cows had to be good quality animals with good quality calves," he said.
He was also putting investment into pasture improvement and fertiliser with direct drilling of pastures and high levels of lime.
"I'm a great believer in - if you grow good quality grass, you grow good quality cattle," he said. "That means you turn them off faster and that makes the return on capital look better."
