Day 4 - New School and Old School Cattle Production

The first stop today was at Lawson Angus.  This stop was fairly interesting, but it was raining and we were standing in mud during the visit so I think that had an impact on the entertainment value of the visit.  This ranch is a seedstock producer and main focus is on improving the genetic value of their bulls.  They get most of their AI semen from the U.S. and use a timed AI program.  They are extremely keen on what trends are in the international markets and really try to improve their herd.  They also have their own annual bull sale and have an in house marketing team to maximize profits.  They are also working a great deal on international marketing and have sent several bulls to Russia and America.  Another market that they target is crossbreeders in Queensland who export to Asia markets.  Lawson Angus largely uses the NLIS as a management tool to track the production of their bulls.  I would qualify this operation as a new school type of breeder since they strive for the newest and most improved genetics. 

On the other hand, the Hereford and sheep breeder we visited this evening was much more of an old school type of operation.  This ranch was called Lima Park.  At this operation there are only two men who run the entire ranch of about 500 Herefords and about 3000 head of sheep.  I really was shocked by this because I thought that they would need to have more people to run that size of an operation, especially during calving and lambing season (which there occurs at the same time).  Their cows have an average weight of about 1600 pounds!  At Lima Park they focus on low stress management, this allows the cattle to better perform and is easier on the workers.  All of the breeding at the ranch is natural service, which I also found surprising.  Here they barely use the NLIS as a management tool, they only use it to qualify for the EU export market, which is their main target market.  They don't use it at all for their sheep herd since it isn't required and they tags don't stay with the sheep very well.  He felt that the electonic boluses would be a better investment for both species.  The most shocking thing about this visit was how the story about how some people think that foxes are the worst predators in the area, but it is actually crows because they come down and peck out the eyes and the anuses of the sheep and then they foxes finish them off.  That was pretty grusome!!!

Overall today was a great experience to see that operations differ just as much in Australia as the do in America.