An outback NSW grazing family are going to great lengths to improve the prices they receive for the cattle they are turning off.
Nick and Rebecca Pearce, and their four daughters, Charlotte, 15, Ruby 13, Lucy 10 and Matilda five, run Gumpopla Station, at Packsaddle, north-east of Broken Hill NSW.
They are running a 400-cow Angus herd, turning off steers and heifers into the southern Australian market.
Most recently, the Pearce family consigned 129 head to the Euroa saleyards, having previously sent stock to Dubbo and Barnawartha.
"In all honesty, it doesn't really matter where you go from here with cattle, it's a minimum of 800 kilometres to the saleyards," Mr Pearce said.
'You go 800km so another 100km is not a big factor, really.
"It's a fair hike, no matter which direction you go."
An Elders Broken Hill stock agent recommended selling at Euroa, so Mr Pearce said he gave it a go.
In what remained a relatively subdued market, the family sold one of its pens of 11 Angus steers, 343kg, for $1460 or 425c/kg.
They also sold five head of heifers, 267kg, for $940 or 352c/kg and 17 head, unweighed, for $1010.
Cattle from the Euroa sale went to buyers at Walla Walla, NSW, Shepparton, Wangaratta and Euroa.
The shift to Angus bulls was driven by a desire to turn off quality cattle, appealing to buyers in all locations, Mr Pearce said.
"We are aiming to fine tune our genetics and breed quality cattle," he said.
'We are trying to break the reputation of unsettled and inferior quality cattle coming from far west NSW."
He said buyers were hesitant to purchase the cattle, once they knew where they were from, and prices ended up being "pulled to the lower end of the market.
"It's definitely different country out here, but I wanted to breed something good," he said.
"No matter were we go with them, they are going to sell and people are going to want them."
Mr Pearce said it wasn't right to send down some "wild, old mongrel Brahman-type cattle."
He said the biggest challenge he and Rebecca faced was the seasons -"like everyone out here."
They hadn't had to do anything different with the bulls, despite the change in climactic conditions from south-eastern Australia to outback NSW.
"They run with the cows all year around," he said.
"We have noticed they sometimes take a bit of time to settle in, especially with larger paddock sizes having a greater area to walk, but they have all acclimatised well."
Quality driven
The decision to chase quality genetics was made after the property came out of the "worst drought in history.
In August, 2018, the drought saw the Pearce family sell their breeding cattle, after hand-feeding their stock for 12 months.
"Before the drought we were running 7000 merino sheep and 600 head of Hereford and Charolais cattle," Mr Pearce said.
"Coming back into a dry time we are currently running 2500 merino sheep and 400 cows and their calves, from Pathfinder bulls."
"We ran out of water and everything, in 2017," he said.
The property sits on an annual rainfall of around eight inches, or 200 millimetres.
"We restocked really selectively and went into the Angus side of cattle, trying to pick and choose what we bought."
Temperament was a key driver for Gumpopla.
"It's a big property (54,632 hectares) so we didn't want to rush in and buy cattle you are never going to see again," he said.
"If they are not quiet, you really don't get them back in."
The plan was to "conservatively restock" while going for quality.
"We bought Pathfinder bulls, we had a friend who is a retired stock agent who goes around the studs and selects bulls for us."
The cow bloodlines were of mixed genetics and sourced from AuctionsPlus.
"I think we have the cow side of it pretty well, so we are just improving the herd," he said.
The stock graze on native pastures and verbiage.
Females are mated for a February/March and September/October drop, with a 95 per cent calving rate in a good season.
Mr Pearce said the cattle consigned to Euroa were weaned to give their mothers "a bit of a spell.
"It's turning dry and I wanted to get these calves off the cows, before we have to thing about what we do with them [the females]," he said.
"I don't want to sell them because I've got them to a point where they are quiet, and we are happy with them - if it doesn't rain within another month, I'll probably be looking for some agistment.
'That gives them a fighting chance to hold on."
He has a simple philosophy behind the family's operation.
"Hopefully people will realise out here it's not all wild, crap cattle, but that we can breed some good animals," he said.
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
