Efficient, productive Angus cattle thrive in Boxgum Grazing's pasture system

The Johnsons run Boxgum Grazing at Young in the Hilltops region of southern NSW, and have been producing beef for their own paddock to plate program for the past eight years, along with Berkshire pork and second-cross lamb.

The property has been in the family for many years, and after selling all their Merino sheep during the millennium drought, the Johnsons went into weaner production, then trade cattle.

They started breeding cattle again in 2010, when they made the decision to go into direct marketing.

After having bred Shorthorns and using many other breeds while trading cattle, they concentrated on Angus as they'd previously been able to buy good quality lines, and Angus cattle were commanding a premium.

"We started with a lot of middle-aged cows that were proven breeders which were either Angus or Angus-cross (black baldies) and when we could, we were buying PTIC (pregnancy-tested-in-calf) females," Mr Johnson said.

"We weren't looking for specific bloodlines in the females - just focusing on good quality - but we were always keen to use Kennys Creek bloodlines in the bulls because they're run in similar country to us, in a grass-fed system.

"We're not interest in having to supplement, and we're looking for early-maturing animals, and when we were trading animals steering clear of genetics that were focused on the long-fed market."

Mr Johnson's goal is to turn cattle off with a good carcase from 14 to 24 months, and he uses an extensive grading system to select bulls and breeders.

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Every animal is graded at 14 months on characteristics that suit Boxgum Grazing's market and production system, which includes bone shape, hormonal activity through hair patterns and skin feel.

"Gerald Wyatt from Classic Livestock Management in Queensland has helped us learn how to grade our cattle," Mr Johnson said.

"When we're grading the cattle palatablity and tenderness are major indicators in the male line and in the females we look for the milk qualities, such as udder placement and attachment.

"It's an assessment scheme to assess each animal while they're alive rather than carcase scoring which only gives you yield and meat quality.

"This looks at their performance on grass, they're ability to produce a calf off grass - we're selecting the animals that can thrive under our system."

The yearling steers and heifers are tagged red or blue, blue being the highest rating, for breeders, and anything that falls below the family's high standards is sold.

"We've been using this system for eight years and it's a process of natural selection, so our cattle are starting to reflect an eco-type that performs very well in our location, and we've built a very fertile herd," Mr Johnson said.

"We're finding that we're producing an animal that not only does well on this country, but is able to produce very good quality meat for our market."

The Johnsons currently run 280 Angus breeders on the 1500-hectare property, alongside a 300-ewe flock for fat lamb production and a small number of free-range pigs.

"With the lambs, we're hoping to get a self-replacing breed to select for performance on our country, rather than having to use first-cross ewes that have grown up in a different climate."

The factors that make up an efficient animal at Boxgum Grazing are also in mind when selecting bulls.

"That does mean we have difficulty with selecting bulls as the appraisal through EBVs (estimated breeding values) doesn't quite match up with some of the characteristics we're looking for.

"We found when we were breeding with Shorthorns, prior to the Angus, that while the large-framed animals were great for producing steers for the long-fed market, they're not as good at performing on pure grass, particularly when the seasons got tough, so we avoided the bigger-framed cattle."

Pastures are managed under a holistic grazing system, which has allowed the Johnsons to maintain herd numbers as well as their niche market through most seasons.

"We stopped last year for two months, because we had sold steers earlier to reduce numbers.

"They were all in good fat condition, but we took a break for a couple of months until the younger ones were ready."

The mixed perennial pastures include phalaris, cocksfoot and perennial ryegrasss, along with paspalum, prairie grass, wallaby grass, kangaroo grass, microlaena and red grass.

"We have a mix of summer and winter active grasses - it's a fantastic variety throughout the year which responds well whenever we get rain."

Under the rotational grazing system, which is run by Claire Johnson, animals are shifted in two mobs, with a small mob of about 30 to 40 steers and heifers getting the best pick, followed by the main mob of cows and calves, yearlings and sheep.

The property has about 40 permanent paddocks and the Johnsons control grazing with electric fencing within those smaller paddocks.

"The market cattle get the highest quality feed with no stress, and we'll leave them in the smaller mob for at least three to four weeks before considering them for the abattoir, which helps with meat quality," Mr Johnson said.

"Claire plans and manages the grazing system, which is based on pasture assessments.

"We don't allow much regrowth between the two mobs and they're moved every day, so there's between 40 and 140 days between each pick, depending on the season.

"We also target them to be in certain areas near the yards when we need to do anything to them which limits their stress."

Boxgum Grazing sends four head of cattleto the local abattoir at Cowra each fortnight, along with about a dozen pigs and a dozen lambs.

The bodies are brought back to the on-farm boning and packing facility, which also includes a smokehouse for the bacon and ham.

"Our bodies for the direct market start at a dressed weight of 220 kilograms (430kg to 440kg liveweight) at 14 months, but we can take them through to 25 months, dressing at 300kg (570kg to 580kg liveweight)," Mr Johnson said.

"We're at the farmers market every Saturday in Canberra and we also deliver around Canberra at the same time, and that really took off during the COVID-19 lockdown last year.

"The home deliveries have cut back a bit post lockdown easing but the market is still there, and we've also started to market into Sydney and deliver to the door there using couriers."

A big part of customer demand for Boxgum Grazing meat comes from their on-farm practices, which include low stress stock handling and regenerative agriculture.

"We consider the cattle mob as a tool to regenerate the land base, so we're focused on building up the soil biology," Mr Johnson said.

"Having approached things this way means our use of rainfall is more effective each year, with no evaporation and runoff.

"The cattle mob also spreads manure which breaks down, and that fertilisation is being done naturally through rotational grazing.

"We haven't used fertiliser here for decades and we've increased pasture yields."

Mr Johnson said it was a process that continued to improve each year, with improved soil health, structure and fertility, as well as an increased variety in grasses.

"If you improve the condition of your soil by increasing carbon which helps hold moisture, you increase the ability of that soil to grow productive pastures.

"The various species respond in different seasons so having that variety means we're much more resilient, so don't need to cut and cart hay.

"A hay shed has only got so many days of feed in it, and we have our reserves as time in the paddock, so we know how many days of feed we've got for the whole mob."