Shiralee Charolais to join Stock & Land's Beef Week for the first time

Shiralee Charolais stud principal Peter Wallis, Gundowring, said it was his first year joining the Stock & Land Beef Week as an exhibitor.

He said the recent rain had kept conditions cool, dust down and his stock were looking "nice and comfortable".

"We're having a good season here," he said.

"It's my first year in [Stock & Land] Beef Week, my mate and I normally go around, we take a few days off and travel.

"This year I've upset the routine by saying I'm going to be in it."

He said he believed it would be a good chance to promote the stud, as he previously sold through private sales.

He said there would be about 15 bulls on offer for people visiting during the Stock & Land Beef Week.

"You have to be up there and it's one thing to have good livestock but you have to be a promoter too," he said.

"There'll be bulls for sale, some two-and-a-half year old bulls, and some one-year-olds that we don't normally put up for a sale at that age but if someone wanted one, they'll be available.

"There's a couple of Charolais studs in this area, with two studs not too far apart it'll be of neutral benefit to both of us that anyone interested in the breed can look at both."

He said temperament was paramount to his breeding goals, along with good feet, homozygous polled, calving ease and fertility.

"They have to be able to walk around if they're going to do a job whether it's a cow or a bull," he said.

"We keep a close eye on our calving ease, scrotal size and fertility, and we don't want any extremes of the other breeding values, just keep everything in the middle if we can."

He said they started using Charolais bulls about 40 years ago for the vealer market, before moving into selling commercial cattle at store sales.

They eventually started the Shiralee Charolais stud after they bought a pick-of-the-calf at a Rangan Charolais sale.

He said they aimed to breed cattle that would finish easily and early on grass, to then "finish beautifully" on grain if buyers needed.

"They had a feature lot where you could pick one of the five top heifers and you could take the pick of them, the others stay in the Rangan herd," Mr Wallis said.

Mr Wallis' pick of the heifers has produced six heifers, and he said all continued to perform well.

The Rangan heifer's full brother, Rangan Redemption E42, was the interbreed champion at the 2011 Brisbane Ekka, while the heifer's full sister, Rangan Gabby G84 won Melbourne Supreme Charolais in 2017.

"Every one of the calves from the cow we bought have stayed in the herd, and her heifers are performing well also," he said.

"Then we bought an equal-top price Rangan bull in 2021, and a second top-price bull in 2023."

Mr Wallis had more than 30 registered Charolais cattle in the stud herd, with the goal to have purely homozygous polled within a few years.

He said each registered Charolais cow has a temperament score of one, and feet and leg structures of five and six.

Mr Wallis said he was especially thankful for his wife, Sharon, for helping manage the stud and farm, and his grandchildren for their helping hands.

"We just ask for you to come along and have a look and hope you enjoy looking at our cattle and our little farm," he said.

"We're genuine beef producers, we've been in the game a long time and we're familiar with what we need in the beef industry."