THERE is a saying that dairymen understand cow families better than most and for proof one needs only to look at the female line of Hereford which dominate the clover-rich flats of upper Tooloom Creek.
The Smith brothers, from Woodenbong and Urbenville on the Queensland border, understood the art of dairying off their father Hughie, and gained encouragement from their mother Mary to ‘hop in’ to any venture they could muster.
They stuck with dairying most of their lives, giving it away after deregulation when prices fell to half what they are now. But beef was their motivation and both brothers were paying off 80 hectare farms by the time they were 20. Of course, Hereford was the breed of choice. There was little else on offer that commanded respect.
“Herefords have been good to us,” John said. “We think they suit the area.”
About 14 years ago the brothers tried Santa Gertrudis bulls over some of their Herefords. Peter Wickham, Killarney initially offered them words of encouragement.
Jim’s son Jamie first took the plunge, followed year on year by the brothers. Between them 1000 head will be on offer at next autumn’s weaners sales.
John, whose properties run right to the top of Lindsay Creek, under the shadow of Nothafagus, carries nearly 1500 pure Hereford breeders on 2630 hectares with 12km of creek frontage. Eight hundred go to Santa bulls and the remaining 700 back to Hereford to create pure replacement heifers.
Jim runs about 800 Hereford breeders and 250 heifers on 1618 hectares, with a similar proportion going to Bos indicus vigour – without the hump. He also diversifies some of his land for rotational cropping – a ‘beef and beans’ program that uses summer soy and winter rye to achieve maximum yield. His son Jamie does the cropping work. When they go back to pasture, after about three years, the mix includes Tetila rye, clovers, Rhodes grass and Kikuyu of course.
The brothers run their enterprise as a separate business but come the autumn weaner sales at Casino they present as a united force. Last year John won best pen of steers and Jim took the ribbon for heifers.
“We breed the same sort of cattle,” John said. “We’ve even got the same ear mark.”
The brothers have bought Santa bulls from the nearby Ellevsen brothers, early adopters of the breed along with Yugilbar. Lately they buy from the MacCue family, Tookey Creek, via Belatta as a number of their calves are sold to MacCue’s feedlot destined for Coles.
Hereford bulls come from Stannum and Turee at Coolah. “We turn over all our bulls often,” John said. “We keep them young.”
