It has been a gradual, though successful, immersion into the Angus breed for the Gaffney family at Graneta Angus, Glendale, situated at the foothills of the Bunya Mountains, in Bell, Queensland.
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Jon and Leny Gaffney run their stud enterprise, with their son Peter, his wife Samantha, and their 19-month-old daughter Isla, who represents the seventh generation of the Gaffney family on Glendale, which was purchased by the McPhee family when they arrived from Scotland in 1861.
The land of Glendale consists of bottle tree scrub with pockets of brigalow and belah, making it well-suited for seedstock production.
The property received a drenching last year with 880mm descending.
"We're back to normal this year. We've received 230mm to date. We have plenty of dry feed for the cows and the bulls are currently on a multi-species oats crop, which is seeing them cruise along," Mr Gaffney said.
"We also lease country at Taroom in the Western Downs of Queensland, where we run some of the breeder herds," he said.
Many years ago Mr Gaffney was a contract musterer with a keen interest in the various prime and carcase competitions.
This interest led the Gaffneys to form a Limousin stud herd in 2005. In 2011 they bought heifers from Ardrossan Angus with a view of breeding Limousin-Angus. This, in turn, led them to moving towards focussing wholly on an Angus program in 2019, which was finalised in 2022 with the dispersal of the animals from the Limousin stud.
Mr Gaffney said the primary reason for this change came down to the marketability of Angus.
"Angus cows are also the best mothers around, and the fertility and temperament of the breed are both excellent."
Another drawcard was the strength of Angus Australia.
"They're so innovative and proactive with everything they do. They've been very helpful with anything we've needed assistance with."
He also "can't get over" the weight gains of Angus bulls.
"They're so much heavier than any other breed. When we're marketing our stock we get calls every week about our bulls from clients in Queensland."
In addition to their initial purchases from Ardrossan, the Gaffneys have purchased cows from the Carabar, Glenoch, and Premier studs.
"We've also used donor females from Millah Murrah in partnership with the Mandayen stud, based in South Australia. These flushed cows are where we derived a lot of our embryos from."
Mr Gaffney said the most substantial change they've made to the Angus program since it was established has been to AI everything in one cycle.
"After this, we put covering bulls over the cows for six weeks, and the heifers for nine weeks. We then run the ET program, scouring the best genetics for that."
The Graneta herd sits at close to 60pc for the AI program.
"This activity is carried out in one blanket run, which is the same method we use for the ET program from which we receive a conception rate between 60 to 65pc. The latter program is carried out through Holbrook Breeders Australia."
While the Gaffneys are still building up numbers at present, from 2024 onwards, when calves start hitting the ground, they'll start entering Angus steers in feedlot trials.
"We had been putting our Limousin-Angus steers in trials, for which we won carcase comps. So we're looking forward to getting back into that."
The Gaffneys' focus is fixed on breeding to type, with a short coat, longevity, and good feet and legs to walk the long distances to join with cows in the north.
"We're breeding for the future. We sell bulls to Boulia, Sarina, and especially Charters Towers in Qld, right down to the middle of NSW."
The Gaffneys' best bulls are offered at their annual on-property sale, which first featured purebred Angus in 2019, while their draft for the sale averaged $16,400.
"We'll be offering 60 bulls in total at this year's sale. We're hoping to increase that figure to 80 bulls per year, and then continue to increase numbers annually.
"We feed all of our own bulls. They go on Leucaena and pasture from buffel and panic country, and are then fed the tail-end of the oats crop left over from the bull the year prior. They then go into a multi-species paddock for 10 weeks before the sale.
"Our 2022 draft morphology tested at more than 90pc. They're healthy and can get out and about. They aren't over-fed. They can go straight out and work. We also offer free delivery, and drop our bulls off personally to our clients."
Mr Gaffney said while they're still in their infancy stage with Angus, they're scouring the US, New Zealand, and Australia for the best genetics for their AI and ET programs.
"We like to use proven bulls, usually two years or older, as we need to make sure our genetic gain is always improving to ensure the short coat, structure, constitution, and good feet required for the tough Qld conditions."
