Under the banner of Braitling Estates, Charles and Sadie Braitling and their family produce a consistently first-rate Brahman article for sale into the EU market.
The Braitlings run their herd across three properties near Springsure, which have been in the family for close to 50 years, Marie Downs, Rainworth and Wyndella.
Charles said the country across the three blocks is comprised of bluegrass and buffel pastures, along with ti tree and coolibah to brigalow and bottle tree scrub.
He said Marie Downs is primarily used as their fattening property, though they also grow oats, forage, dolichos and wheat there.
“We use Rainworth solely for breeding, and while Wyndella is also a breeder block, it doubles as our cull depot for heifers and cows,” Charles said.
He said their breeding herd at Rainworth is predominantly Brahman-based.
“We’ve been Brahmans for close to 40 years,” he said.
“Brahman cows and bulls can handle the varying climate factors we face here, when the dry weather hits, their ability to hold their condition and produce a great calf is crucial for our operation.
“Their hardiness against ticks is also vital for us.”
He said their ongoing goal is produce a herd with good growth rates and fat coverage in their steers and heifers to help them meet the specifications of the EU market.
“We aim to sell steers at 350kgs and heifers at 290kgs into the EU market, and considering the dry conditions and the sheer amount of cattle hitting the market at times, the prices we’ve been receiving haven’t been too bad.”
To continually produce a easily marketable article, Charles said they strive to maintain a consistent Brahman-based breeding herd, and some years join the females with Charolais bulls.
“This gives us that desirable F1 Charbray progeny, which provide extra weight in our finishing cattle.”
To bolster and diversify the genetic composition of their herd, the Braitlings have been attending the Rockhampton Brahman Week Sale (RBWS) for decades.
“We bought 15 bulls at the RBWS last year and they’re performing extremely well, and looking good considering the season we’re having.
“The RBWS is a great sale to pick from the widest selection of Brahman genetics available to suit our operations requirements, in one place at one time.”
At the sale, Charles said they look for bulls with strong EBVs across the board, that also show good weight for age gains, are early maturing, and are visibly correct in bone and muscle growth.
“These traits are prerequisites in the bulls we buy so that we have the confidence that they’ll help us get the end result we require for sale into the EU market.”
