Across three properties situated north-north-west of Injune, Drew and Eliza McLauchlan, along with Eliza’s father Rob Taylor, run a 3500-head commercial breeding operation, producing a first-rate Santa Gertrudis-infused product.
The majority of the females are run on the 2000ha Talcalbah, which is managed by Rob, while the remaining breeders are at South Westgrove and recently purchased New Merivale (13,000 hectares combined) which are used as fattening blocks.
“We use a Santa/Hereford-cross in our core breeding herd, of these close to 60 per cent are joined with Santa bulls, the remainder of the females are put in with Hereford and Red Simmental bulls, and maiden heifers are joined with Angus bulls for ease of calving,” Drew said.
“This ensures that their is always Santa bloodlines running through all the progeny we produce,” he said.
He said Rob has been using Santas for nearly two decades, initially, with bulls sourced from highly regarded studs such as Eidsvold, Gyranda, and Yarrowonga.
“Rob does a great job of running the cattle and the country at Talcalbah, he built up the backbone of herd we run at Injune.”
“We’re using the baseline of the breeders Rob produces and improve them with the stud bulls we purchase.
He said for the last decade they’ve been primarily purchasing bulls from the Greenup family during their annual on-property sale at Rosevale in Jandowae.
“We like the temperament of the Rosevale bulls and the weight they put into their progeny.
“I know the David Greenup is very focussed on achieving high fertility rates in their herd, which gives us a lot of confidence when we put their bulls in with our breeders. I’d say close to 60pc of the sires we’re currently using are Rosevale bulls.”
Drew views the Santa Gertrudis as a top all-around beast.
“They have a good temperament, solid frames, good milk in the cows, they’re easy-doing, and the calves and crosses are exceptional when it comes to putting on the kgs quickly. From an aesthetic perspective we also really like the look of red cattle.”
Drew said having the really good weaners which the Santa provides them with, gives them a good head start when it comes time for them to sell.”
He said their bulls are put in the paddock with close to 250 heifers joined in October each year for three months, preg tested in February, and emptied, with the steer and cull heifer progeny fattened and sold to Teys Beenleigh for the EU market and Teys’ Grasslands brand.
“The rest of the breeders are joined in November, so we’ll usually have the bulls out in the paddock until May or June depending on the season.”
He said steers are sold at 300-420kg dressed, while the cull heifers are sold at 260-360kg dressed.
“Our lead run of steers this year averaged 393kg dressed, and the second run averaged 360kg dressed, the first run of cull heifers averaged 317kg dressed, while the remainder averaged 305kg dressed.”
Drew said they’ve been lucky during the dry.
“We received good rain towards the end of last year, and with the way we run the operation, we’ll have enough feed to push our herd through to Summer. They should be fine.”
He said moving forward, they’ll refine their breeding program as necessary to ensure they’re producing highly fertile females and progeny with good growth rates, so they can continue getting good prices at the meatworks.
“We were at about 90 per cent when we conducted our most recent round of preg testing, but we’re hoping to get that a bit higher.
“The Rosevale genetics are helping us achieve that goal, we’re also been a bit harder with the cows we keep, which is strengthening the core herd.
He said while prices have been fluctuating in recent times, they’re still turning off their cattle at good values.
“We have no complaints, the returns we’re getting are very strong.”
Overall, Drew said he’s happy with the current direction of the operation.
“We’re able to take our progeny through to bullock weights, and in dry seasons, we can turn off our lighter cattle as needed with no problems.
“We’ll continue to retain the best heifers that come through, and continue to keep a good, even line of bulls.
“The bulls we choose account for 50 per cent of the article that comes out, so we need to ensure we continue selecting the good ones.
“At sale time we go through the yards and inspect each lot, looking for good feet, temperament, length, depth, and a nice head.
“We then go back and check their EMAs, weights, scrotals, and semen score to make 100 per cent sure the bulls we’re going to purchase will be profitable and functional.”
When not at Injune, Drew enjoys spending time with Eliza and their three young children Charlie, Lucy and Evelyn, at the McLauchlan family property, Yarrandale, Griffith, NSW, where he runs a commercial dryland cropping operation with his father.
“It’d be much tougher tackling both roles if Rob hadn’t gotten us into the strong position we’re in now with the cattle, and our managers at the South Westgrove and New Merivale, Brett and Kim Perkins, and Eric Miles are two of our best assets.”