FOLLOW THE NEVER MISS COW FAMILIES Our cows are the powerhouse of our herd and the success, or failure of our program sits with them. We run our cows under commercial conditions so that we can see how they perform in a typical production system, and for the past decade we have actively selected cows that consistently perform in our environment.
We have built a foundation of females that have proven themselves year-in-year-out, and through successive generations; below are a few cows from our 'Never Miss Cow Families'.
Fertility: Number one on our list is fertility. Our females need to calve unassisted at two, have tidy udders with good output and wean a strong, healthy calf. Across the herd, we aim to select females from proven maternal lines that have the capacity to calve within a 365 day window year after year in our marginal country.
Performance: When selecting donors, we look for females that are easy doing in the paddock, and that maintain productivity when times get tough. Our heifers are joined at 15 months old so we strive to breed females that mature early and reach Critical Mating Weights (CMW) ready to join on time.
Carcass: We're working on breeding cattle that are structurally sound, with good capacity and depth of body, and that offer a balance between carcass yield and quality traits. Our ideal females have a Mature Cow Weight (MCW) of 550-650kg, they effectively lay down fat reserves when good feed is available, and efficiently draw down on those reserve to maintain productivity when feed is limited.