Quantifying Breeding Values - Adelong Show Commercial Cattle Competition 2023

James Crawford, James Wallis and Sam Lucas

Using data to breed commercial success.

It can be easy to stand in the paddock or your yards and say “these are the best cattle”, however, how does a producer verify that.

The ability to quantify what were the best animals in his herd was a contributing factor in Adelong producer, James Crawford, winning the 2023 Adelong Show Commercial Cattle Competition.

“You need to have production figures to support it”, Mr Crawford said, who runs Angus on Galimbang, Yaven Creek.

Mr Crawford has only been on the 915ha property coming up on 10 years but in that time he has made substantial improvements to the infrastructure and pastures on the 620ha of clear country.

The balance was timbered but still provided some grazing.

The competition was judged by Sam Lucas, Reiland Angus, Killimicat, and James Wallis, Jugiong.

Mr Crawford’s herd took the grand champion award and the cows with calves category for the second consecutive year.

He joins 600 females for three cycles and retains 450 to calve, which allows him to cull hard post joining.

He pregnancy scans at a point that allows the embryos to be reasonably developed.

“Typically, we sell our third cycle and other surplus pregnancies as PTIC on Auctions Plus”, Mr Crawford said.

"Repeat buyers were active this year as both successful bidders and underbidders.

"I find that personally gratifying - it's a genuine show of confidence in what we are producing.

For the past eight years, Mr Crawford has been sourcing replacement bulls from Scotts Angus, Henty, and the Thomson's Shacorrahdalu, Bookham.

Fixed time AI to elite sires has also been used in the maiden heifers for the past three years.

"Embracing Genomics has also been a leap forward for us in identifying genetic merit" he said "My selection is based on a well defined breeding objective, where returns per hectare are more important than dollars per head”.

"I focus on birthweight, no greater than the breed average; 600 day growth, better than the breed average, along with scrotal size and intramuscular fat.

"For us, those traits are important to meet our goals - to breed, to grow and to grade." By focusing on those measurable traits, Mr Crawford was meeting his breeding objectives.

"We are achieving weaning percentages from our two year old heifers comparable to that of our mature cows, through better birthweight and calving ease figures with growth," he said.

"Last production performance year, we grew over 320kg liveweight of beef per clear hectare of pasture.

"We are selling our steers at 13 -15 months, weighing 420-440kg average (curfewed) to feedlots who carry them for another 160 days.

"That is why the 600-day growth figure is important for us.

"The feedlot is our customer for steers and it's important they go on and do well for them."

Feedback on the steer herd brothers to the winning cows showed 78 per cent achieved a marbling score of 3+ or better.

"We are a commercial feeder steer breeding operation and those figures show we are achieving our goals," he said.

"We are striving for the most effective production of kilograms of readily marketable beef per hectare."

To reach their goals, Mr Crawford said reproductive performance and growth were also key.

"Our surplus female sales are significant, contributing greater than 40 per cent of our revenue," he said.

"We are capturing additional value from surplus pregnancies with repeat buyers appreciating the genetic reliability."

Entering the 2023 Adelong Show Commercial Cattle Competition was an opportunity for Mr Crawford to compare his cattle's performance against others.

"It is really healthy for us as producers to see other production systems and objectives, and to see how we can translate them to our program," he said.

"Participating prompts us to better define and evaluate our own performance.

"It's a bit of work but is worth it."

’The Land article, published 18/5/23, written by Stephen Burns’

Some of James Crawford’s winning cows with calves

James Crawford, Adelong, with his partner Carolyn Browne and their raising two-year old heifers