Wannon based Grangeburn Simmentals stud continues to expand

Based in Wannon, the stud runs both traditional and Black Simmental cattle stemming from Canadian genetics.

Stud principal Brodhi Carracher said he was approached by Canadian breeders and was in discussions for a couple of years before travelling to the country to visit a range of studs.

"I think I went to about a dozen and picked out the cattle that suited the Australian conditions and the type of cows that I wanted to breed here, structurally correct and middle of the road for frame size rather than extreme or too small," he said.

"And cattle that were still soft and had the natural muscling ability that we want in the Simmies with obviously still high growth rates.

"There was one or two particular studs that we ended up securing genetics off, they were generous in allowing us access to their herds and to be able to flush whichever cows I wanted."

He favoured pedigrees that had consistently produced over a number of generations.

"Obviously structure first and temperament, making sure they were up to scratch," he said.

"Going forward from that was their production record... just strength probably through pedigree and a number of generations that are solid rather than one animal being phenomenal and the rest of its family dropping away."

He has since used embryo transfer from both Canadian and American genetics to continue to expand and improve the herd quality.

"I've got nearly 100 traditional cows now which I can produce a number of bulls of a high enough quality," he said.

"Cull rate is probably about 90 per cent just because we want to keep the top 10pc of our bull calves.

"The traditionals, they're expanding probably not in numbers but in quality they're increasing because we've been able to secure these Canadian genetics that are based on strong cow families."

The traditional Simmentals were becoming increasingly popular in Queensland, but he also hoped to expand the number of Black Simmentals in his herd going forward, particularly for crossbreeding operations in Victoria and South Australia.

"The blacks probably have a little bit more fat cover, are a little bit easier doing and probably a smaller mature frame size for the most part," he said.

"But having said that we're trying to get as much fat as we can into some of these traditional cattle as well and the bulls I've got on offer this year are starting to show that."

The breed had a lot of maternal attributes as well as being used as terminal sires, he said.

"On the terminal side they've got the muscling, they've still got a good amount of fat cover with some marbling there," he said.

"Some of our heifers we were scanning were doing upwards of 6pc intramuscular fat as two-year-old in-calf heifers.

"On the maternal side their calving ease is pretty good."

Grangeburn's field day for Stock & Land Beef Week will have a number of cattle for sale, including private treaty bulls and embryo calves close to one-year-old.

Stud cattle will be on display and the field day will also showcase some of the bulls Mr Carracher is sending to the Simmental Queensland Bull Sale in spring.

He said it was rewarding to see the stud develop from scratch and watch the improvements in his herd.

"A lot of time and financial outlay but you've just got to believe in yourself and try and be a leader, for want of a better word, to secure some outcross genetics for yourself and potentially other producers," he said.