Welcome to the fifth GASKIN’S TUWHARETOA (pronounced too-far-ee-toa) ANGUS sale. The present conditions on farms in south east Australia may have been finally brightened by light falls in early April. May it be a precursor to more falls. We could all do with some major falls this year.

The breed has been rocked by the finding of a recessive form of a gene which causes Arthrogryposis Multiplex also known as “Curly Calf Syndrome”. Unfortunately the sire responsible for greatest amount of carcase improvement over the last 20 years – Future Direction, has been found to be a carrier. The recent flurry of DNA testing by Angus breeders should minimize the potential problems this genetic defect might cause. It may well be that any curly calf issues will just dissipate over the next year or two.

It’s my feeling that most Angus breeders were already using alternatives to the Precision lines. There have been various attempts to source outcrosses and this reflects normal and sound breeder practice. Future Direction will continue to exert an enormous positive influence on the breed over the next 20 years, albeit through his sons and daughters that are AM free.

TUWHARETOA EBV CHANGE (last 15 years)

We have been Breedplan recording now for more than 15 years, after purchasing our initial cows from Landfall in 1994. We are on the verge of becoming long termers in this industry. The long term focus on CALVING EASE, GROWTH and CARCASE is very evident when the graphs are studied. These parameters were seen as important for farmers who will continue to have less time to be around at calving, and yet still have a product that grows and provides the correct carcase for a wide range of markets.

View Calving Ease PDF	View Birthweight PDF
View 600D Weight PDF	View Eye Muscle Area PDF
View Marbling PDF

The graphs show a growing gap compared to Angus breed averages for calving ease, birth weight and the 2 carcase parameters - eye muscle area and marbling. Slightly above average growth is being achieved with less birth weight and greater calving ease. We will keep selecting sires with these critical traits in mind.

It’s very interesting to chart the genetic change in the Angus breed over the last 10 years. Since the year 2000 I think the changes in both Eye Muscle Area and Marbling have been quite dramatic.

Over the last 15 years the changes in 600 day growth (40 plus kilograms) but with an improvement in calving ease, is another large plus for Angus breeders. Normally such large changes in growth would be accompanied by a similar increase in birth weight and loss of calving ease.

In our own herd, future matings will be geared to produce progeny that will all average 2.3 for marbling, with the tops over 3.0. We will still aim to increase growth while holding or improving calving ease. Fertility, Structure and Phenotype won’t be sacrificed in the push for a better cow or bull.

SIRES REPRESENTED IN THIS SALE

After 3 visits to the USA visiting in excess of 50 farms we felt it was necessary to look at more usage of Australian bred sires. These have had more scrutiny of phenotype and structure without the “care” used in some of the USA Bull Centres. The USA gene pool is larger, but we felt that it was still worth considering the Australian gene pool which has more focus on structure without losing anything in the growth and carcase figures.

a. Dunoon Midland A017

Jock Harbison gave us the opportunity to test early this bull which had a good mix of figures, scans and butt shape to try over our cows. We felt the Precision line was far enough back on the male side to qualify as an outcross. Thankfully the bull is AM free.

b. Te Mania Unlimited

A much used bull for calving ease and carcase. We have tended to use him on cows with a little more EMA. We particularly have liked the progeny from our style and class cow BNA X208 (Lots 3,14,15).

c. GAR Predestined

USA bull by New Design 036, but with a little more thickness, and less frame. Would prefer better birth to growth stretch, but he does come with excellent calving ease given his birth weight. His forte is the carcase improvement for both EMA and Marbling. All 11 lots come with a marbling EBV of greater than 2.0. The feedlots should love these cattle.

d. BNA A49

We only have the 1 lot (4) in this sale, but we plan on using more of this bull sold to Rosie Stradbroke in 2007. The calving ease, birth to growth spread, carcase and phenotype make it worth using him a lot more in 2009 matings. Have a look at his EBV’s.

THE FUTURE?

The prolonged drought will effect decisions in this neck of the woods for some time. We have reduced our cow numbers to reduce the feeding costs of silage and hay until the years look like they will change. We have become a lot more conservative in our stocking rates.

I suspect those drought hardened farmers will become more discerning in the cow herds they develop. I would expect they will target quality bulls for their herds based on lower labour inputs and keeping costs to a minimum. Having reasonable calving ease while still delivering growth and carcase is our offer to these farmers. We have used people like Reon Holmes, Mark Lucas and Jim Green to supplement our own efforts at providing a bull for these times.

We look forward to meeting you on sale day and discussing the pros and cons of each animal. Let us hope the season is good.