WHEN it comes to beef breeding, Boyup Brook producer Wally Holland prefers quality to quantity and his outstanding herd of 100 Angus females is proof of this.
When driving through the paddocks you can't help but appreciate the large frame, roomy females and sappy, shiny-coated weaners he has on show.
As a second-generation farmer, beef has always been in Wally's blood and the Angus breed hasn't been far behind.
Wally's parents, Will and Nancy purchased the current 245 hectare Querijup property in the early 1970s and were some of the first to run cattle in the district with Angus cross and Angus-Hereford cross their chosen breeds.
In the mid 80s Wally began purchasing portions of his parents' farm but struggled to make ends meet.
Consequently he decided to go mining and having only retired 12 months ago it has been a large part of his life and assisted in the success of his beef enterprise.
Wally said mining has taken him all over the State however his real passion has always been his cattle and the land.
"The easy doing nature and fertility of the Angus breed has given me the flexibility to work on and off the farm for many years," he said.
"With no debt I'm now able to enjoy my cattle more than I ever have and with the beef market as strong as it currently is, it should keep me out of trouble for a while."
Wally has two children Kym and Kenny and both have inherited the love for the land.
Kym farms east with her husband, while Kenny leases a neighbouring 485ha property which he crops and runs a productive prime lamb business on.
Despite having individual operations, Wally and Kenny have a great working relationship and often help each other get the best out of the stock and the land.
"The last few seasons I have focused on pasture management and with the support of Kenny I have soil tested, re-seeded and fertilised some paddocks and the feed is now humming along," Wally said.
"With Marlock loam prominent and the use of a wetting agent on my soil, I have been able to produce some good grass crops."
With the time to solely focus on his cattle and pastures, Wally has recently decided to increase his herd to 130 head.
Wally often selects 15 replacement females annually but has selected out another handful this weaning season.
"All of my calves were paddocked weaned on December 12 and at this time I carefully selected my keeper heifers," Wally said.
"Temperament is my number one criteria, if they are speedy or look sideways they are gone."
Wally yard weans his youngsters for one day and the days following places them in an adjoining paddock to their mothers.
"With a hot wire between them, I find it's less stressful on the calves," Wally said.
Wally's Angus herd stems from Keston Vale bloodlines and in his opinion the genetics were the best-kept secret.
"They were quiet cattle, awesome breeders and I had a great relationship with Diana, Micheal and Ross Fryer-Smith."
Since the Fryer-Smiths took a step back from the seedstock business, Wally has purchased his genetics from Mordallup, Monterey and last mating season joined a number of his mature cows to a Little Meadows sire.
Wally said he looks forward to the Little Meadows calves hitting the ground shortly and is very keen to select some top replacement females from the new genetics.
"Often I purchase one to two bulls annually and select larger framed sires with plenty of visual appeal," he said.
"They must have an excellent temperament and a good spread of figures with milk being a priority."
In May the bulls are joined to the females and despite the majority being mated with in the first six weeks Wally will leave them in longer as he believes a late calf is better than no calf at all.
The majority of the herd begins calving from late February and are managed in their age groups.
"I cull my breeders as I see fit and still have productive 13 to 14 year-old females roaming my paddocks," Wally said
"While they are producing a good calf and are in good condition they will stay."
Wally believes his herd always does well in tough conditions.
"If I have a slow start or hard year they always seem to hold their weight, look good and breed well," he said.
"In my opinion Angus is the best looking and performing breed out there."
Wally said a nice, even line of blacks always looks much better than liquorice allsorts.
"Angus cattle convert their feed so much better than any other breed and always produce a good calf which is extremely marketable," he said.
"At the end of the day that's all I want."
When it comes to selling his weaners, Wally has a great relationship with Landmark agent Ben Cooper who markets the majority of his calves in early January at the Landmark Boyanup weaner sales.
With quality weaners that are well recognised Wally topped the January 4 sale with a line of 35 Mordallup bred steers.
The top eight steers, weighing 461kg, returned an impressive $1474 per head, while the complete line of 66 weaners averaged 387kg at 340c/kg and made $1311 per head.
More often than not, the weaner heifers are purchased as future breeders and like their male counterparts, recently made good money at $1417 per head.
"I couldn't be happier with the prices I received," Wally said.
"They penned extremely well and due to the season and pasture growth they were in great condition."
Wally said he's excited for the times ahead.
"With new genetics coming through, the beef market at an all time high and the Angus breed in popular demand, there's lots to look forward to," he said.
