FOUNDED on the back of high quality Weemalah heifers from Victoria in 2003, Brown Mountain Angus’ Rosemary Hack and partner Mason Lane have spent the past 13 years refining their herd.
Spread across two properties in Bungarby and Bemboka, Brown Mountain has focused on calm, easy calving, sound, fertile bloodlines with the best carcass quality off grass possible.
As a consequence, Rosemary’s herd has generally low birth weights whilst retaining high scrotal, positive fat and high marbling.
“Our goal is to market high quality carcase cattle which will withstand the ever more demanding Australian climate and grass conditions,” Rosemary said. “These cattle are bred to calve every year under tough conditions.”
Travelling to Kingaroy for the second annual All Breeds Sale, Rosemary hopes to get an insight of the local Queensland Angus herd.
“We usually sell about 12 bulls per year through word of mouth with our local area.”
Working with Victoree/Our Farm Angus’ Rob Williams, Rosemary said he was the one to convince her to travel north for the August 19 sale.
“Rob’s bulls sold well at last years sale and because we have similar bloodlines, he really encouraged us to bring our cattle up.”
Originally from the Sunshine Coast, the humble breeder has recently received accolades at the local Wagga prime sale – selling 30 head of 320kg weaner steers for a record top price of 415.2c/kg. Though Rosemary’s work hasn’t been without hardship.
“Our first few years on the property were in the middle of the worst drought the Monaro had seen in 100 years,” Rosemary said, adding the property suffered from being situated in a rain-shadow from Mount Kosciusko.
“It’s not high rainfall country at all though it’s good country when it does rain. Its better suited for breeding rather than finishing cattle.”
Brown Mountain Angus breeders are held on about 1000 hectares at the Monaro property with bulls and heifers kept at the home property at Bemboka.
“Because our farms are approx. 100kms apart, we rely on easy calving cattle because we can’t be in two places at once,” Rosemary said, adding once the heifers have calved and are back in calf, they return to the Monaro property.
Rosemary said they select their Angus cattle based on fertility and temperament. “Because we were new to farming, safety meant everything to us, having well mannered cattle was very important”.
Rosemary said she was particularly looking forward to the potential of finding a new market with her Angus cattle and working with new people at the Kingaroy sale.
