ONE of the country's most respected cattlemen, Queensland's Peter Hughes, was inducted into the Wagyu Hall of Fame today and the honour opened the door for some incredible insights into what it takes to 'get it right' in beef.
In accepting the award, presented at the 2022 Australian Wagyu Association's annual conference, WagyuEdge, in Melbourne, Mr Hughes ran through his seemingly simple, yet clearly very powerful, rules of the trade.
They included his observations that most people in cattle seem to want to go too fast and that livestock in a good frame of mind is always the answer. And that all country is good country with the right stocking rates.
Mr Hughes has been described as both a superpower of the Australian beef industry and the country's undisputed cattle king, and the Hughes family today run what is thought to be the largest privately-held Wagyu herd in the world.
They were among the pioneers of the Wagyu sector, have always been trailblazers in beef and today are leaders in the current wave of consolidation and development of Australian pastoral properties.
Peter and Jane Hughes, with sons Fred and Sam and their families, run Georgina Pastoral Company across three stations, Lake Nash on the Barkly Tableland in the Northern Territory, Caldervale near Tambo in Central Queensland and Keeroongooloo via Windorah in the Channel Country.
They have recently expanded with other significant property acquisitions including the addition of Stanbroke's Miranda Downs Station and Victoria River District cattle stations Riveren and Inverway. The Hughes property aggregation is now estimated to hold more than 200,000 head, with Wagyu a large part of future plans.
The Hughes rules
Water is the most important thing in raising cattle, Mr Hughes told delegates at the Wagyu conference.
Quite simply, if you put a bore down and it's not up to scratch, don't pump it into a tank and run it into a trough. Water has such a tremendous influence on how your cattle do, he said.
Facilities, too, must be right. They don't have to be elaborate but they must be cattle-friendly.
"Thirdly, handling," Mr Hughes said.
"You have to study how to work with cattle. Most people want to go too fast. You have to let heart rates go down. Pull up for ten minutes and that might save you hours in the long run. Cattle in a good frame of mind is always the answer."
Next is stocking rates. All country is good if you can find the right stocking rate, Mr Hughes said.
"Most times you have to drop 25 per cent on the valuer's assessment," he said.
"People have been pushing it up and up with stocking rates. But if you drop it back you'll build biomass and get through the hard times.
"This drought thing is so overused. Droughts are usually brought about by people overdoing the stocking rate. The environment is part of the deal with what we're doing. When you get the stocking rate right you always have good marketable cattle and you don't wear your country out."
Finally, a beef producer has to trust people.
"Once a family-run operation gets a bit bigger you have to rely on others," Mr Hughes said.
"The odd one might let you down but most won't. My team is second to none and they work harder than I do."
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Things change
Peter Hughes came from a Hereford family and started with Brahmans in the 1950s.
He says he was as strong a barracker for Brahmans as anyone.
But things change, and it's not always expected, he said.
Thirty years ago, it was 'risky business' ordering a steak anywhere in the north, Mr Hughes said.
"The product was pretty ordinary. You could've nailed it on your boot and done better than leather," he said.
"Everyone knew we had to lift our game. It was one thing to send manufacturing beef to the US but we had to have a product in Australia that would compete with pork and chicken."
At the time, Mr Hughes was listening at camp drafts to his neighbour Wally Rae, also now a Wagyu Hall of Fame recipient, wax lyrical about the virtues of Wagyu.
When Mr Rae imported Japanese genetics to the US, and from there semen and embryos to Australia, the Hughes bought some of his early bulls.
Across the Hughes pastoral empire, the crown jewel and headquarters is the family station Tierawoomba at Nebo, west of Mackay. It was here where Mr Hughes' love affair with Wagyu would begin.
A primary driver for the Hughes in getting into Wagyu was fertility and docility. The cattle performed so well in the Queensland environment for weaning rates and surviving drought.
Built at Tierawoomba over three decades, the Hughes Wagyu breeder herd is now at more than 50,000 purebreds, turning off up to 30,000 feeders each year to long-term supply chain partners.
In 30 years, the eating quality of Australian beef had lifted tremendously, Mr Hughes said, and 'if Australia is not leading the world now we must be very close to it.'
Breaking down barriers
In presenting the honour, AWA president Charlie Perry said Mr Hughes' impact had spanned all aspects of Wagyu production - from supporting the development of new producers through to the establishment of global supply chains.
"However, his friends and those of us in the Wagyu sector, know of Peter as a down-to-earth, personable and generous man who has made time for those around him, providing advice and guidance and sharing his knowledge with any who would ask," Mr Perry said.
"Plenty of people didn't like Wagyu in the early years, they didn't look like northern cattle. Peter broke down barriers, provided the confidence and the supply that helped grow supply chains, brands and the broader Wagyu sector around it."
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