Charbray’s shine in the west

By Penelope Arthur

The use of Charbray bulls in a diverse cross breeding program on Phil and Jennifer Christmas’s properties in the Cunnamulla and Bollon districts is enabling the Christmas family to meet the demands of the market.

Working in conjunction with their daughter and son-in-law, Alex and Rob Donohue, the Christmas family run around 2500 breeders across four properties at Bollon and Cunnamulla. The family operate several herds including a long established Braford herd, a Red Brahman herd and a large Brahman Charbray cross herd.

Mr Christmas said Charbray bulls are now used in all herds as he’s become increasingly aware of the marketability and adaptability of Charbray’s in the west.

“We’ve only been in this district for the past twelve years and it’s only really been in the past few years that we’ve really made the move to Charbray’s,” he said.

“It’s obvious to me at that you can’t beat Charbray bulls in terms of acclimatising and adapting to tough seasonal conditions.”

“We’ve trialed a lot of breeds over the years but as time marches on, we just seem to use more and more Charbray bulls.”

The Christmas family join their bulls all year round and carry out two musters to wean and preg test the females. The steer progeny are offloaded at 330-350kg through private paddock sales.

Mr Christmas said many of his clients are repeat clients who are specifically seeking Charbray cross cattle.

“They are certainly very marketable,” he said.

“We have clients from over the border in NSW through to the Roma, Surat and St George districts and we find the Charbray cross weaners are very popular.”

A former Braford seedstock producer from NSW, Mr Christmas is still indulging his love of breeding bulls at Booroomba, 32km south west of Bollon. The vast majority of the Charbray, Red Brahman and Braford bulls bred on Booroomba are used in the Christmas’ own herds although surplus bulls are offloaded through private sales and at select multi-vendor auctions.

Mr Christmas also buys in extra Charbray bulls from studs such as Huntington to inject fresh genetics into his herd.

“We generally select Charbray bulls with low Brahman content and we have to look at the bulls to ensure we like their style, structure and confirm that they are sound before we buy them,” he said.

“Fertility is also important and temperament is equally so – we need to get calves on the ground but in our operation temperament is also vital.”

“We also look for any available raw data to back to the bulls up.”

The Christmas family are currently enjoying a wonderful season on all four of their properties. Mr Christmas said the family take on agistment cattle when seasonal conditions permit to boost cash flow.

“That’s our strategy in good years and at times we can have up to 6000 head across the four properties,” he said.

“I find if you buy in extra cattle and run too many of your own cattle you can really paint yourself into a corner in this country.”

“It’s looking unreal here at the moment – the flood and the rain has really put some subsoil moisture down and the Buffel is hanging on very well.”

“We have a mile of feed on all the properties.”

Temperament focus paramount in MSA quest

By Penelope Arthur

PRODUCING cattle with quiet temperament has always been paramount for Jambin Charbray breeder Heather Stewart. But since Ms Stewart began targeting MSA grids three years ago, the temperament of her herd has never been more important.

“We spend a lot of time tailing out the weaners on horses and it pays off because when they go away as bullocks they are quiet and aren’t stressed and that is reflected in the results we get with MSA,” she said.

“Temperament is very important to us and although Charbray’s are naturally quiet we spend a lot of time ensuring our entire herd is as quiet as possible.”

Operating in partnership with her three children, Gordon, Helen and Fiona, Ms Stewart runs around 1100 Charbray breeders across three properties, Craiglands, Kilburnie and Rockwell, in the Jambin region, north of Biloela. The family own around 24,700ha and aim to finish all bullocks on grass and a small area of forage crops.

Ms Stewart’s family have been in the Jambin area since her grandfather, John Campbell, took up Kilburnie in 1883. The family bought some of the first Herefords to the area in the late 1890s but also experimented with other breeds, including Shorthorns and Zebus, until settling on Brahmans in the 1970s.

Ms Stewart said their Brahman herd performed very well for many years but eventually she felt something extra was needed to lift the herd.

“We tried Santa’s and although I have great admiration for the Santa breed they just didn’t like the hills here,” she said.

“But I still felt our Brahmans really needed something extra.”

That led the Stewarts to their first National Charbray Sale where Ms Stewart said she quickly became a convert to the breed.

“I thought the Charbray’s would be too soft for our country but couldn’t resist buying two young bulls and once they had their calves on the ground we never looked back,” she said.

“They are actually surprisingly tough, which the Brahman coming out in them, but they also have that excellent weight for age and a wonderful carcase.”

“We turn our bullocks off as two tooth steers and they grade beautifully for MSA.”

The Stewart family sell all their cull cows, heifers and bullocks direct to Teys Biloela with the exception of extremely dry years when they might be forced to offload stock early through local feedlots. Ms Stewart said they receive great feedback on their cattle by selling direct to works, particularly since they began targeting the MSA grid three years ago.

“We were Cattlecare accredited so it wasn’t a big deal to follow the protocols for MSA,” she said.

“The premium can be 15c/kg dressed so it’s well worth aiming for and the Charbray’s seem to be doing very easily.”

The Stewarts buy all their bulls through the annual National Charbray Sale and are picky when it comes to selecting sires for their herd. In addition to temperament and confirmation, Ms Stewart said weight and fat cover is very important when selecting a bull.

“Now that we have access to figures such as P8 fat and Rib Fat we can try to select a bull that will provide adequate fat cover across our bullocks,” she said.

“We like our bulls to have good confirmation and be nice, growthy bulls.”

The bulls are joined to the cows in early spring, generally for six months. Weaning is normally carried out in April or May and, depending on the season, a second weaning might occur later in the year.

The herd is completely free of hormone growth promotants (HGPs) and Ms Stewart said these aren’t needed to finish bullocks well.

“We are pretty careful with our country and always try to rotate and rest country well,” she said.

“Most of the country gets a rest during the wet season.”

Horses play an important role in the Stewart’s operation and Ms Stewart said all mustering is done in horseback with the exception of a small area of their roughest country.

“We use a helicopter in some of our roughest country with the aid of horses but our contractor is very good and we work hard to ensure the cattle don’t get stressed at all,” she said.

“We’d never be able to replace the horse in this sort of country – they are just too valuable.”

A longtime supporter of the Charbray breed, Ms Stewart’s dedication to the breed was rewarded earlier this month when she was presented with the first new commercial member package with the Charbray Society of Australia for 2010 at the Gracemere Saleyards.

As part of the commercial member package, Ms Stewart is eligible for a $100 rebate on seedstock purchased at the National Charbray Sale along with full access to society services, publications and functions.

“That rebate is really important to me because we buy all our bulls at the National Sale every year so you get your money’s worth just by doing that,” she said.