Reece and Doris Grant with Angus Australia’s CEO Graham Truscott presenting them with
The Story of Angus in Australia as the prize for having the Best Presented Angus Pen
at the 50th annual Braidwood Blue Ribbon calf sale.

Braidwood, NSW, cattle producers Reece and Doris Grant replaced their Herefords with Angus about 20 years ago for a simple but important reason. “We changed because we could see the Angus cattle were making more money,” Reece said. The change has proven profitable over the years, with the Grants regularly receiving top money for their calves at the annual Braidwood blue ribbon calf sale.

At the 50th anniversary sale this year, they received the top price of $660 for a pen of 20 steers, which was also named best presented Angus pen. Reece described the money as reasonable in the face of the current climate, having received $695 the previous year and $715 in 2006. “They were really top calves. I sent them in via a few truckloads and told the driver to tell the agents to put them in the one pen.”

The Grants haven’t been the only producers in the region to replace whiteface cattle with Angus in what was traditionally a Hereford stronghold. The Braidwood sale shows the extent of the change. “You see the odd Hereford in the yarding these days whereas 40 years ago there may have been one pen of Angus,” Reece said.

Braidwood agent Geoff Baker has been involved in 15 Braidwood weaner sales and has seen a dramatic transformation in the colour of the yarding – from the red and white of the Herefords to the black of the Angus. “I worked in Victoria for a few years in the late 90s and when I came back in 1999 I couldn’t believe the transition,” he said. “The change has become even greater over the last 5-6 years. It used to be all red and white with a sprinkling of Angus, now it would be 65 per cent black and their derivatives (Angus-cross). It used to be 90 per cent Herefords.” Mr Baker said those producers that changed to Angus had made their decision after seeing the premiums Angus received in the saleyards, like the Grants.

While Reece knows the market favours black cattle, he ensures he selects bulls with good eye muscle area (EMA) and marbling (IMF), characteristics desired by lotfeeders and exporters. He also scans the estimated breeding value (EBV) figures for birth weight and milk. His top-priced Braidwood heifers weighed 369kg and were sired by a Cudgell Creek bull with Stockman 2164 bloodlines that the Grants paid $10,500 for. Weaners are sold from 10 months down to six months and repeat buyers include lotfeeders and restockers, while butchers normally buy the heifers. The Grants were running 300 breeders on their Braidwood property but sold 220 hectares and now run 180 breeders on 330 hectares.

The sale results show quality certainly hasn’t been affected by the reduction in size or the harsh seasons experienced throughout the district. “The season has been average for the last few years and we haven’t made hay for years,” Reece said. “I used to make all my own hay but have been buying it for 9-10 years. “The seasons have been good enough to make feed but not good enough to make hay - if you cut it, you can’t see where it is.” Reece top dresses his pastures with fertiliser – half the property each year now costs have risen so dramatically - and also spreads manure. About 25-40 cows are joined to each bull and heifers receive a second chance if they do not fall pregnant.