CONSTANT measurement is the key to efficient beef operation for Mick and Jacinta Coffey.
Each calf the commercial breeders produce has a score out of five marked next to its mother.
- AT A GLANCE
- Who: Mick and Jacinta Coffey
- What: beef
- Why: keeping score
- Where: Port Fairy
- Report: KATE DOWLER
The Coffeys run a tight ship at Fairbank, near Port Fairy.
Cows grazing the volcanic rises have to pull their weight and their calves are closely scrutinised.
Mick and Jacinta run a commercial beef business but they pay as much attention to genetics and bull and cow selection as any stud breeder.
Mick scores every calf the heavily culled cow herd produces.
Maximum score is five.
"I give them a visual score, based on their value and size," Mick said.
Each calf is identified at birth and matched to its dam.
The calves often top the Hamilton weaner sales.
But Mick says getting the top price is not the goal.
"It's all about averages," he said.
"We don't aim to have the heaviest calves, our focus is on the averages; the prices at the end and the more calves you can turn off, and keeping the costs down.
"Genetics is the most important aspect."
The Coffey family has farmed at Port Fairy since the 1860s, running beef with sheep, but the move into Angus cattle has been relatively recent.
Mick credits his late parents, Charlie and Ursula, with giving him experience early on.
"Dad let me manage things when I was quite young, it was a great way to learn," he said.
Mick said giving up fine wool sheep in the 1990s was hard.
"But wool was down, and running the sheep was too much work," he said.
Now the Coffeys have two farms, Fairbank and The Reedy, covering 500ha and running 400 breeders.
"We had Hereford-Shorthorns and then we moved into Angus, using bulls from studs like Te Mania, Weeran and Pathfinder, but predominantly Lawsons," Mick said. "We use those because they all use the top sires worldwide.
"I select on the best sires to suit my cows."
Half of his selection emphasis is based on Breedplan figures.
"I'm looking for feminine cows that have fertility, milk, good temperaments and aren't over-fat.
"For bulls, I focus on muscling and growth," he said.
"I steer away from studs that use too many of their own sires."
The Coffeys have not ventured into using artificial insemination in their cow herd.
Mick said it would require more labour and back-up bulls.
"We're using bulls that are sons of those AI sires, so we're getting the genetics," he said.
A tight joining period of nine weeks helps keep calves even.
Mick classes his older cows to type, and uses corrective mating to compensate for deficiencies in the cow or bull.
Calving is in March-April and calves are sold at nine to 10 months.
Steers average 370kg at turn off, and the secondary heifers are sold about 330kg.
Each year 85 heifers are joined but, depending on their performance and fertility, they are culled back to about 70.
Cows are kept until they are eight years old then sold pregnancy-tested in calf.
While many producers are considering cross-breeding or composite cattle for greater growth or hybrid vigour, Mick is thinking about going to all Angus joined back to Angus.
"It's a tough decision to make," he said.
His reasoning is that the growth and the improvements in the Angus breed in the past few decades make it comparable to a cross-breeding operation.
And he now has enough Angus cows to produce large breed-specific lines.
He has been joining Angus females to Charolais sires.
"There's not a lot of difference in the dollar returns between cross and straight-bred calves now," he said.
"We might be better off going with all Angus now, as then we'll have bigger lines of pure Angus calves to sell."
The Coffeys sell about 80 Charolais-cross calves each year and in the past they have outweighed and outpriced the Angus calves.
But in recent years the tops of the Charolais-cross, weighing 388kg, sold for $853, or 220c/kg, while the tops of Angus at 416kg sold for $899 or 216c/kg.
Last year the Fairbank calves topped the Hamilton independent agents' sale at $913, or 220c/kg, with 415 European Union-accredited Angus steers.
This year a similar penning of 416kg weaners sold on a bid of 216c/kg for $899.
The calves were EU-accredited but sold unweaned.
Mick said the later finishing season at Port Fairy meant calves were still growing through December so weaning would set calves back too much.
"Having quiet cows is very important, I select on temperament and think they set the example for the calves," he said. "We don't give them any vitamins but they get two five-in-ones and maybe a drench."
Jacinta and Mick have lifted their stocking rate by 20 per cent a cow/ha.
Mick said their children - Leigh, a podiatrist, Sally, a nurse, and Karina, a physiotherapist - all moved away to study and now have the travel bug, but help out when available.
"If they are interested in the farm that would be fine, but we remain neutral on that," he said.
Down the track, Mick said they would probably move to growing weaners out to feedlot weights to reduce the workload.
But for now, the focus is on having the best herd and producing the best weaners possible.
