WHEN Angus industry leaders Coolana Angus, headed by Mark and Anna Gubbins, decide to sell 50 Angus bulls from a new base in South Australia, the industry sits up and takes notice.

The inaugural sale will take place later this month and fittingly it will follow the final Willalooka Basin dispersal.

This is fitting because Mark was the volume buyer at the Willalooka Basin dispersal sale in December.

He bought 32 mixed age Willalooka-type cows for an average $2343.

At the time he told The Weekly Times the Willalooka cows were "close to breed average and also classed by Dick Whale, as our herd is".

"It was a great opportunity to get into some families I don't have already," Mark said.

"I saw the cattle and knew the program at Willalooka, and bought the productive cows with EBV's (estimated breeding values) above the Angus average."

Coolana Angus's bull breeding unit is based at Chatsworth, and a commercial property at Meningie in South Australia was purchased in 2006.

The South Australian autumn sale will add to the two bull sales held at Chatsworth in autumn and spring, with 140-150 bulls sold across the three sales.

Mark, also vice president of Angus Australia, plays down the significance of the South Australian bull sale, saying the stud has been selling bulls into South Australia's South East for the past decade.

With two young sons interested in agriculture, Mark has set five-year targets to grow all aspects of the Angus commercial and stud operations as well as prime lamb production.

Currently the Gubbins run 1250 breeding cows - both stud and commercial - with a 2015 target of 2000 cows.

"I see the next generation coming up," Mark said.

The South Australian sale marks a well-thought out expansion, typical of all the decisions made by the third-generation producer.

"Traditionally Coolana was a Corriedale (sheep) property," Mark said.

"However, with the change in the dynamics of the sheep and wool industry, we changed into breeding composites."

While sheep are only a relatively small part of the picture at Coolana, the Chatsworth property still lambs 5000 ewes for prime-lamb production, with plans to increase that to 7000 within five years.

"Our five-year plan is to not shear our sheep and to have the ewes lambing three times a year," Mark said.

"This is the one place I can see productivity gains - more for less really (with more lambs on the ground each year)."

However, it is evident that Mark's passion lies with cattle and particularly Angus.

"The biggest issue facing the Angus breed is if we stand still, get lackadaisical. Genetic improvement never stops," he said.

"The recessive genes have caused a hiccup for some of our better genetic lines, but it has just meant we have had to look elsewhere (for genetics).

"Angus issues are cattle issues."

  • Coolana will host its inaugural South Australian bull sale at Padthaway, SA on February 17 in the twilight after the final Willalooka Basin bull sale, also at Padthaway.