TOM Lawson has achieved some big things. Not least has been the recent $US50,000 sale of his Paringa Red Angus bull's genetics to US buyers.
The sale of the half-share of the Northern American semen rights to Paringa Iron Ore E37 is seen as somewhat of a milestone in Australian cattle breeding history.
For years it has been the Aussies looking to the US's larger cow herd and gene pool for genetics.
Now cattlemen, such as Tom, and Iron Ore - who has Te Mania bloodlines - are showing the world that Australian cattle are worth a look, too.
Te Mania Angus' Tom Gubbins said Paringa's sale of Iron Ore was an excellent result.
"It is a bit like selling coal to Newcastle," Mr Gubbins quipped.
But he said he believed Australian cattle was comparable in quality to the US cattle and that the US industry was becoming aware of it.
"It is very exciting stuff because the US is a difficult market to crack. Americans are so patriotic, whereas we tend to be the opposite," he said.
"In Australia, anything is seen to be of value if it is imported, while in the US, anything of value is home made."
Iron Ore was sold to 10 breeders; Leachman Cattle, of Colorado, Bieber Red Angus, RA Brown Ranch, Lorenzen Ranches, Leland Red Angus, Hueftle Red Angus, Strawberry Ridge Red Angus, Rhodes Red Angus, Sonstegard Cattle Co and TJS Red Angus.
While the sale was significant, Iron Ore was yet to prove himself as a sire in the United States.
"There is no reason why he won't, but he still has a way to go," Mr Gubbins said.
The beef industry globally was looking for "outliers" that were less related to the gene pools breeders had been using.
This could provide more opportunities for Australia seedstock producers, he said.
But more is to come for Tom and wife Olivia's Paringa Livestock stud business at Yea.
They breed Charolais, Red Angus and hybrid cattle and own many top-ranking animals within these breeds.
The Charolais herd is focused on aspects such as early growth, short gestation and carcase quality.
Mr Lawson said Paringa's Charolais and Red Angus rank in the top 5 per cent of most performance recorded traits within their breeds.
Of the Charolais breed's top 15 bulls, Paringa has 12, he said.
Paringa is also leading the Red Angus breed, especially in performance recording.
Here, the focus is on feet, udders and calving ease, and carcass.
Paringa also run its own indexes for all breeds focused on profits for clients, Mr Lawson said.
They are also applying more emphasis on traits such as temperament, calving ease and feed efficiency.
"Angus cattle are losing some of their maternal aspects and we don't want to go down that track," he said.
They are also involved in a composite breeding scheme.
Called the Stabilizer program, it is essentially a cross-breeding program designed to boost livestock production profits.
The Stabilizer program is a joint venture between US cattleman Lee Leachman and Paringa.
Mr Lawson said it was based around the proven science that maternal cross-bred cow herds mated to terminal sires were the most profitable livestock production system.
He said such cross breeding could produce 20 per cent more kilograms of beef per hectare than straight breed production.
Stabilizer cattle are not breed specific and the breeds used vary, he said.
Composite cattle, and the benefits they can have in feed efficiency and growth, are going to be big in future, Mr Lawson said.
"We want to maintain heterosis. The Stabilizer cattle are like Angus in kind and make-up with extra muscle," he said.
He said the Angus branded marketing had failed to give producers a premium on-farm.
"A premium doesn't exist on-farm for branded Angus products. What does give you a premium is more kilograms produced per hectare," he said.
"This program isn't something we have put out there much yet, but we have big plans and lots happening in this area."
Some of the first calves from this program have been sold at Pakenham as vealers.
"Charolais bulls over Stabilizer females are very exciting. Charolais are the most feed-efficient," he said.
Mr Lawson said the aim was to produce 200-300 Stabilizer bulls from a nucleus of 2000 cows within five years.
"It is one of the most exciting areas for us," he said.
"And, of course, it is exciting to own the No.1-ranked Red Angus (on the Long Fed Index), Te Mania F690, the No.1-ranked black Angus bull Dunoon Evident E614 (on the Long Fed Index), No.1 ranked Domestic index Charolais bull Paringa Encore E268E and to sell semen to Yanks.
"Not often does it come together like this."
