Yarra Valley monastery to offer 200 calves at Pakenham

Owned by the Cistercian Monks, the 400-hectare Yarra Glen property offers approximately 200 Angus/Charolais-cross and Angus calves annually at the Pakenham weaner sale.

Farm manager Leon Schreiber, who has worked for the monks for eight years, said the mixed-sex calves were popular among producers to feed on, as well feedlots across the state.

"Everyone seems to look forward to coming to see our cattle on market day," Mr Schreiber said.

In years gone by, Tarrawarra Abbey was known for its Red Angus cows, however, a shift attributed to a change in market demand has led to a transition of Black Angus cows with Angus and Charolais bulls.

"When we had Red Angus steers, they would always return slightly less than the Black Angus so we went with the crowd," he said.

"The Red Angus will dwindle out of our operation eventually because we're not breeding for them anymore."

In that same transition period, the operation moved away from two calvings a year, selling their spring cows and replacing them with Angus autumn-calvers.

The herd now consists of about 270 breeders.

"Over a period of two or three years we got our numbers back up to where they are now and then we just join Black Angus bulls to Angus cows to get some replacements and then the rest of the Angus will be joined to Charolais bulls," Mr Schreiber said.

The weaners feature notable Charolais bloodlines including Rangan, Violet Hills and Rosedale, with Merridale and Rennylea lines a hallmark in the straight Angus portion.

"We had a fair bit of flood water come through during the wet season but the calves are presenting well," Mr Schreiber said.

"The Abbey has built up a reputation for producing some good lines of beef weaners for the Pakenham weaner sale [and] this year is no exception with the weaners looking as good as ever."

The property consists of undulating land and river flats which border the Yarra River.

"People have always said they are good, quiet weaners which are well-grown and grow out well and that's got a lot to do with picking the right cows and bulls," he said.

Originally when the property was purchased in 1954, it ran predominantly sheep, but a passion for cattle saw the monks swiftly change their operation towards breeding calves.

It also had a strong association with dairying, operating a dairy up until 2000.

A portion of the Angus draft is retained each year for self-replacements.

A feature of the property, according to Mr Schreiber, is its layout, made up of eight to 10-hectare paddocks.

"It helps with rotational grazing which is a big part of our grass-fed operation," he said.

"Some farms have 200-acre paddocks and it's pretty hard to do rotational grazing on those paddocks."

He said on average the draft weighed between 350-400 kilograms, and with promising seasonal conditions he expected the cattle to be in the higher end of that range come January.

"Although this year has had challenges of flooding flats on the farm, overall the season has provided great pasture growing conditions giving no excuse for the calves to do well," he said.

"The cows are fed silage conserved from the farm from the time the cows calve and through winter to keep nutrition up to them.

"A slow rotation of the farm through this time of year also ensures the weaners have constant access to good pasture."

Several feature lines of vendor-bred cattle will headline next month's annual weaner sale at Pakenham, despite some calves being sold earlier than usual due to buoyant conditions.

Agents will yard 2000 mixed-sex weaner calves on January 7 with cattle consigned from West Gippsland and the Yarra Valley.

Delaney Livestock & Property director Anthony Delaney said his clients' main lines of weaner cattle were still "generally intact".

"We haven't sold too many cattle early that would have been earmarked to go to that sale," Mr Delaney said.

"If anything we've got some people that wish to keep their cattle longer due to their feed situation."

Vendor-bred feature lines will include 200 Charolais/Angus-cross and Charolais/Red Angus-cross mixed-sex calves forwarded by Tarrawarra Abbey, Tarrawarra.

P & L Burgi, Gruyere, will offer 100 Angus/Charolais-cross mixed-sex weaners, 9-10 months, while the Doake family, Coldstream, will sell 80 Angus mixed-sex calves, predominately featuring Ardrossan bloodlines.

"It will be an excellent yarding of calves that will stand up alongside any other weaner sales in the state," Mr Delaney said.

"They have come good quick but finished late because it's been a harsh winter hence why people haven't been keen to sell them early."

Another feature line will be 120 mixed-sex Angus, Hereford and Black Baldy calves consigned by Bergamin Pastoral Co, Willow Grove.

Alex Scott & Staff Pakenham livestock manager David Setches said the Bergamin family had opted to sell a portion of their cattle in December, capitalising on the already strong market.

"The second half of their draft which may weigh below 260 kilograms will run on to gain weight over the Christmas period," Mr Setches said.

He said a lot of cattle his agency had earmarked for the sale had already been sold.

"Despite this, calves are likely to sell for $250 to $300 [a head] more compared to 2019, particularly when calves might have received 345 cents a kilogram last year, and could potentially receive over 500c/kg for the better lines of steers," he said.

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