MAINTAINING profitability is the core focus at Andrew and Tracey Simmons’ Central Queensland feedlot and backgrounding operation.
Spread over four properties totalling 20,000 hectares, three of them – the 4000ha “Karinya”, 5000ha “Woodine” and 1600ha “Flagstaff Hill” – are adjoining properties at Taroom, while the business produces beef for Coles supermarkets.
Mr Simmons said cattle which passed through the feedlot were both bought-in and bred on-property.
“Originally, we were breeding all our own calves but as the feedlot grew, we couldn’t produce them all,” he said.
Faced with this, Mr Simmons made the decision to get out of breeding and focus solely on backgrounding and feedlotting in the early 2000s.
That changed two years ago when his daughter Felicity Streeter and her husband Joe decided to join the family business.
“They had some bulls of their own and wanted to do some breeding themselves,” Mr Simmons said.
The decision to return to producing their own stock was two-fold, he said.
“It gives us more competition in the market because the margin for backgrounding cattle hasn’t been quite as good as it had been, and partly it was for our own interest,” he said.
The family now runs 700 Brahman- and Droughtmaster-cross breeders north of the feedlot at “Rossmore”, in Eidsvold’s ironbark country.
Simmental, Angus and Shorthorn bulls are put over the Bos Indicus females to satisfy Australians’ appetite for beef from the British and European breeds, while maintaining the level of hardiness and good foraging ability necessary to thrive in the northern parts of the country.
The bought-in weaners are sourced from commercial breeders around Central Queensland in places such as Biloela, Theodore and Moura at weights of 220 to 250 kilograms.
As the animals which pass through the Simmons’ feedlot are destined for Australian plates, all must have Bos Indicus content of less than 50 per cent.
The run of primarily female cattle are first kept at the family’s backgrounding facility at “Rossmore” where they are socialised and run in open paddocks until they reach the 350kg feedlot entry weight.
About 3000 young cattle are currently being backgrounded.
Mr Simmons said backgrounding bought-in weaners was a more efficient way of producing feedlot-ready cattle than breeding everything independently.
“It’s not as labour-intensive,” he said.
“By not having to run those breeders I can run three backgrounded calves up to feedlot weight in the place of one breeder.
“I’m producing three beasts in the place of one, basically.”
Backgrounding bought-in weaners also meant it was easier to maintain a consistent line, he said.
When beasts reach the entry weight, they are sent south to “Karinya” where they are finished on a wheat and silage based ration, with silage grown by the Simmons on-property.
A cottonseed and molasses mix is sourced from the Riverina.
Cattle stay at the feedlot for 60 to 70 days to reach weights of 450kg before being trucked to the Australian Country Choice abattoir at Brisbane for slaughter.
Mr Simmons said turning off good cattle came down to a simple formula.
“(When buying weaners) we’re looking for good quality cattle,” he said.
“If you have good cattle and give them good feed, you seem to get good results.”
Cattle entering the feedlot from the backgrounding program have little trouble reaching the target weight of 450kg in the time budgeted, he said.
“They average about 1.8kg to 2kg weight gain per day,” he said.
Feedback from the abattoir had been positive, he said.
“Ten suppliers send cattle to Australian Country Choice; they’re all ranked and we are generally in the middle to the top of that group.”
