Early weaning makes sense for New England enterprise

Relatively new to the progressive enterprise, Mr Hobbs only started with the company in early 2016.

Mr Hobbs looks after the 800 commercial Angus breeders along with 200 replacement heifers on the 1568 hectare New England property.

This year, in aim of inviting feedback from feedlots, a new strategy of single sire mating has been set up.

“We have used embryo transfer (ET) to get greater numbers and uniformity of out preferred genetics,” Mr Hobbs said. 

“This way, if we have three full embryo transferred brothers, all with the same sire line, out with 150 cows, all the calves are going to be by the same sire, or the same bloodline.

“We can then chose the best steers from that joining group and put them into a feedlot trials to get their feedback,” he said.

“It also allows us to get more meaningful feedback from abattoirs.”  

Currently, they have six steers in a trial through Teys at Jindalee feedlot to measure growth and carcase performance.

As well as single sire mating extensive artificial insemination (AI) is used within first calf heifers in the commercial herd to proven calving ease and high intramuscular fat (IMF) sires. 

These AI sires are selected from the stud herd and multiplied through the commercial herd.

They are joined in October/November at about 15-months of age to calve down as two-year-olds. 

Early weaning takes place through the specially designed cattle yards when calves hit six months of age.

The yards are specifically designed, by Mr Hobbs, to be able to feed calves starch for rumen development and for low-stress stock handling.

“We don’t do a lot on the first day, but on the second and third we start to walk through them and get them used to us,” Mr Hobbs said.

On the third day they are placed into a larger paddock and hazed with a dog with either a horse or bike in front.

“We will let them out for the day and bring them back into the yards in the late afternoon,” Mr Hobbs said.

“We will do that for a couple of days and eventually, about the fifth day, we will put them into a bigger paddock and that’s where we will leave them.”

Practicing early weaning in February give cows the chance to put on body condition before harsh winters and recover after calving down in July/August. 

This matches the nutritional requirements of the enterprise to the pasture growth curve of the New England region. 

"This way they don't have to be supplemented during the winter, and we can usually run more cows,” Mr Hobbs said. 

“They get into good condition quicker and and will hold through winter until it starts to warm up and we get a bit of growth. The cows calve down in better nick and provide better colostrum transfer and milk, as well as re-breeding quicker".

The steer portion of the operation are sold as weaners to one of the company's biggest clients, Top Waterloo, run by the Benson family at Walcha.  

According to Mr Hobbs, the early weaning of the steers gives them the best start before the stress of a Walcha winter hits. They are then backgrounded on high performance pastures and usually sold over the hooks.  The feedback is then collected by Bensons and passed on to help Ben Nevis make improvement for the future.

Yearling bulls are used extensively through the joining program and although you have to look after them a bit more, getting an extra year out of them is a big advantage, Mr Hobbs said.

“As long as you use them wisely and sensibly, you get that extra year out of the bull not having to wait until he is a two-year-old.” Mr Hobbs said. 

"In addition, they are proven to have lower rates of breakdowns, adapt better to harsher environments, and are usually easier to manage both in and out of the cow herd."

Mr Hobbs said yearling bulls were the norm in the US. 

“We are a bit behind in Australia, although we have clients from Springsure and Oodnadatta who specifically come to us because they feel the yearling bulls adapt better to their harsher conditions,” he said. 

The entire Ben Nevis program is centered on supplying the high quality markets where IMF is important such as the Japanese B3 and the Certified Australian Angus Beef markets.  

“We also focus on supplying high IMF growth Angus females to replenish purebred Angus and Wagyu Angus cross herds,” he said. “We do this to capitalise on supplying the animal which is shortest in supply given current market conditions and that is the high quality Angus replacement female.

This year, to increase the supply of quality Angus females, Ben Nevis will join over 1100 pure bred Angus females, and sell over 300 pregnancy tested in calf (PTIC) females annually, plus over 100 yearling and 18- month-old bulls.