The fertility of the crossbred herd Queensland’s Wade Warrian is focussed on producing has been markedly enhanced since he introduced Angus bulls.
With support from his fiancée Ashleigh and their 11 month-old daughter Madeline, Mr Warrian runs his breeding program on Myrtlevale, Injune, and Wilga Park, north east of Roma.
Good times: Wade Warrian with his fiancee Ashleigh Cleal and their daughter Madeline, on Myrtlevale, Injune, Queensland, with a selection of their Angus-cross herd.
Mr Warrian said they’d been running more of a Brangus herd prior to sourcing Angus bulls from Jim and Jackie Wedge’s Ascot stud five years ago.
“Through the drought in 2019 we’d been having fertility issues, but since utilising the Angus bulls our heifers are going in calf much younger and going back in calf a lot easier,” he said.
“The Ascot bulls have also bolstered the bone, length and depth of the progeny we’re producing.
“We’re aiming for a three quarter Angus one quarter Brahman article. We’ll always keep Brahman genetics in the herd for drought proofing purposes and to keep the shiny coat on the progeny.”
The bulls are put in the paddock in the first week of November. A couple of these bulls stay in to pick up whatever cycles are missed.
“We sell weaner steers through the Roma Saleyards, off their mothers at 300kg, so it doesn’t worry us if we have different lines of weaners going there through the year.”
The predominantly brigalow scrub country on the properties has received “unreal rain” since late in 2021.
“We received nearly 560mm in November, though it has since dried off a bit. The grass started coming through in December/January and hasn’t stopped. We have some excellent herbage coming through, which has helped to kick the cattle along.
“Now that we have better conditions we’ll be getting stricter with culling again over the next 12 months. We’ve continued to preg-test and remove empties through the dry, but we’ve been easier on them while trying to get our numbers back up. Our fertility rate is in the high 80 to early 90 per cent range.”
“We’re looking at increasing our breeder numbers by 200 in the next three to four years. We’ll then be taking over more country, which means we’ll need to substantially increase our numbers again at that point.”
Mr Warrian said dealing with the Wedges has been an “unbelievable” experience.
“All of their cattle are so quiet and easy to manage, and the Wedges are a pleasure to deal with.”
He said they currently have 10 Ascot bulls in the paddock.
“The best Australian bloodlines are in all the bulls Ascot produces. The Wedges have really done their homework. We’ve never had an issue with one of their bulls. We’ll be looking to buy more Ascot bulls at the Wedges sale this year.”
Author – By Matt Sherrington