THE wheel of popularity is turning in favour of Herefords once more.
The shift comes at the perfect time for western Riverina Poll Hereford breeders Wayne and Lisa Murray.
After lack of feed and water forced the sale of almost half their breeders during the drought, Wayne said the herd rebuilding program was well under way.
"We're still down about 30 breeders," he said. "We have about 200 at the moment and about 60 heifers joined up, so by spring next year we'll be back up to where we were ... before the drought."
Despite the difficult climatic conditions during the past 15 years, the Murrays have maintained their commitment to breeding for improved performance.
Using Breedplan to evaluate the herd's performance, they have seen advances in muscling, carcass growth rates and milk production.
Eye muscle increased from -0.2 in 1995 to +2.7 in 2004 and last year reached +3.1, which was above the breed average for 2010-drop calves of +2.5.
Growth at 600 days has doubled since 2004, with the most recent crop of calves measured at +66.7kg, compared with the breed average of +62kg.
The Murrays have retained a large portion of each year's heifers to replace the cows sold off during the drought.
Any unwanted stud heifers are diverted to the commercial herd, while culled females - rejected on the basis of inadequate eye pigment, structure, hair colour or performance - are sold at the nearest saleyards, at Swan Hill, at 18-20 months.
Steers are sold at 12-24 months, depending on the season.
"For muscle and growth we're above breed average, so we're pretty happy with that," Wayne said. "And we're about breed average (+12kg) for milk."
With a long-term average annual rainfall of just 325mm, the Murrays rely on irrigation to grow summer pastures on about 240ha of their 1400ha. But even that has been uncertain.
"The biggest challenge is to have good quality feed, dry feed, so the young cattle grow well," Wayne said.
"The big challenge over the last few years has been the lack of water.
"There were restrictions on the creek, so we only had flushes for stock and domestic water and couldn't irrigate and that put a lot of pressure on.
"When water is available, we normally grow about 240ha of irrigated pasture.
"It boosts carrying capacity and gives you security in normal times.
"The cattle run on dry land most of the time.
"We use that (irrigated pasture) to finish cattle to sell and for cows and calves when the cows are milking."
Wayne said the feed drought broke in July-August 2010, which was followed by the wettest summer in decades.
"It was the first time I've ever seen green feed through summer," he said.
Wayne's father, Bill, started the Supreme Poll Hereford Stud in 1969 and the Merranlee stud four years later.
Wayne took over in 1978 and has since run the stud under commercial conditions on Bonnie Doon, north of Swan Hill.
He sells up to 25 bulls each year, usually in autumn and spring and mostly to previous clients from far western NSW.
In past years, Wayne has spruiked his bulls at field days in northwest Victoria and southern NSW, visiting places like Ivanhoe, Homebush, Pooncarie and Broken Hill, and opens his gates most years as part of Beef Week.
Lisa said customers told them temperament was one of the reasons buyers sought out their bulls.
"They say they like Wayne's bulls because they're always really quiet," she said.
Wayne said he hasn't bought a bull since the early 1980s, when he started using semen packages for artificial insemination.
Since then he has bought semen from dozens of bulls from the US, Australia and New Zealand, chosen on the basis of a history of performance and low birth weight.
"I keep getting new genetics through (artificial insemination)," he said. "That way I can use bulls I can't afford to buy."
Wayne said there had been a resurgence in the popularity of Herefords because of their feed efficiency and better grass-fed weight gains.
"Angus were popular with feedlots because of their marbling, but Herefords are better for off-grass production," he said.
"Now the Japanese are coming back to shorter feeding, the Herefords are picking up again.
"It was only the really long-term feeding that they weren't that good at.
"In short-term feeding they have a slight feed efficiency advantage over Angus and a bit better weight gain."
Wayne said the change in focus - and a concerted effort by breeders to boost standards for growth, muscle and milk - had resulted in a 15 per cent rise in Hereford bull sales in the US during the past three years.
With the drought behind them, Wayne said he hoped to increase herd numbers by using rotational grazing methods, especially on irrigated land.
