WITH a focus on productivity and performance the WA Charolais Society field day last week at Dean and Kate Ryan's Gingin property had something for everybody.
The aim of the day was to provide information to producers on how they could maximise their herd productivity through the use of Charolais bulls and adopting best practices such as semen testing and pregnancy testing.
Producers were also given an insight into market requirements from both butchers and live exporters and how Charolais beef performs in terms of carcase attributes.
The day started in the Ryans' cattle yards where Bos Veterinary Services' Dr Matt Carrick gave a practical demonstration on pregnancy testing on a line of Charolais heifers and discussed the benefits of pregnancy testing.
Dr Carrick said there was a lot of benefit with pregnancy testing, especially when it came to aging the calf.
"If you are able to age the calf while pregnancy testing it will give you best results for your time and effort," Dr Carrick said.
"The accuracy of aging however gets harder the further into the pregnancy you get.
"At six months it can be plus or minus one month either way but at six weeks you can tell nearly to the day."
Dr Carrick said if pregnancy testing was done early with a short joining period it could be done quickly and you could get good information from it.
Dr Carrick also stressed the importance of looking after heifers before they were mated and prior to the next mating to ensure the best results are achieved.
"Nutrition makes a huge difference with the cycling in heifers," he said.
"They need to be on a rising plain of nutrition when bulls are put in to get the best results.
"It is also a good idea to join the heifers a bit earlier than the cows to give them the extra time to recover for their second mating."
When Dr Carrick finished his presentation the focus switched from breeders to bulls and how producers can get the best performance out of their bulls with a presentation from Landmark Breeding Services representatives Brad Demarti and Steve Mountford.
Mr Demarti's presentation focused on the importance of ensuring bull health and semen quality by incorporating routine semen testing into herd management programs.
Mr Demarti said any form of stress on the bull would effect its semen production and semen quality and producers needed to be aware of this.
"Producers get holes in their calving programs due to the bull being stressed at some period, as there is a 45-day cycle with semen production," Mr Demarti said.
"Therefore it is important to reduce the stress on the bulls before they are put out.
"This means they should be treated 45 days prior to being put out at least."
A highlight of the day was a demonstration by The Beef Shop's Kevin Armstrong and his butcher Russell Taylor, who cut up a carcase to show the different cuts and prepare the steak for lunch.
The 420kg Charolais cross heifer used in the demonstration had been in the Ryan's feedlot and had been killed at the Gingin abattoirs on Friday.
The carcase had a 58 per cent yield and 8mm of fat.
When cutting it up Mr Armstrong said it was the perfect carcase and there certainly weren't any complaints when the steak was served for lunch.
Mr Armstrong said he liked purchasing Charolais infused cattle due to their meat yield as he believed in the future producers would be paid on meat yield.
"I think we will see more and more Charolais bulls being used over station cattle in the future so the progeny can be fed to produce a better product," Mr Armstrong said.
Along with the demonstration, Mr Armstrong also stressed what he looked for when buying cattle for his shop.
"We are very conscious now of having a consistent product, which means we know our suppliers and how they prepare the cattle," Mr Armstrong said.
"Most of the time our visual assessment of the animals is correct when it comes to the carcase."
Mr Armstrong also stressed how bad dark cutters were in a butcher shop, as they don't have the shelf life.
"Therefore we have to be careful of the cattle we buy and make sure they are not stressed," he said.
After discussing the domestic trade attention switched to the live export trade and producers were full of questions for Mr Ryan, who is heavily involved in it through his Central Stockcare business.
With everybody wanting to know more about where the industry was at, Mr Ryan explained where things currently stood with the government and the industry.
He also stressed the importance that everybody involved in the live export supply chain must take responsibility in ensuring animal welfare standards are at the forefront of the mindset.
"We all have a social and ethical responsibility to make sure animal welfare is handled to the best of our ability it doesn't matter if you are a producer, truck driver, agent, or exporter," Mr Ryan said.
"For producers this means making sure you are weaning prior to sending calves for live export."
Mr Ryan said while there were many negatives to come out of the suspension of the trade to Indonesia including the government's knee-jerk action, a major positive was the massive welfare changes made which were industry driven.
To finish off Mr Ryan also briefly discussed Livestock Shipping Services bull calf contracts and the markets it targets in Israel and Turkey.
Rounding out the day, Irwin producer Rob Gillam spoke about the benefits of crossbreeding in the Mid West, while Mr Ryan's livestock manager Robert Sibley discussed the operation's management systems.
Mr Sibley explained how they used the National Livestock Identification System for the management and recording of all cattle on the property.
He then demonstrated how the operation used its electronic scales system to meet its markets in terms of weights and fat scores
By using this system it meant every animal in the feedlot had a life history from when it came in and allowed the operation to record a lot of information to help with its marketing.
Mr Sibley said it was all done crush side and you could then go home and download the information and make reports daily.
He also stressed the importance of mouthing animals prior to sale.
"We mouth every animal, so we are certain of their dentition when we supply a market so the buyers can't come back to us and say we have supplied the wrong age," he said.
