LAST week three bull select workshops were held at Great Southern and South West studs, providing attendees with the opportunity to gain a better understanding of how to make good decisions for their business during the up-coming bull sale season.
Venturon Charolais stud, Boyup Brook, Kingslane Red Angus stud, Benger and Koojan Hills Angus and Melaleuca Murray Greys studs, Manypeaks, hosted the events in conjunction with Western Beef Inc, Accioly Livestock Industries Services (ALIS) and Southern Beef Technology Services (SBTS).
Farm Weekly went along to the Kingslane event which was very well attended.
The workshops went into detail about estimated breeding values, indexes, their accuracy and how they can be applicable to a commercial enterprise.
Bulls were also on hand to demonstrate the difficulty in visually assessing the EBVs of an animal which, judging by the amount of incorrect guesses as to which out of two bulls had a better growth rate, very effectively demonstrated the need for consideration of both visual traits and EBVs when making a bull selection.
Catriona Millen and Boyd Gudex, SBTS, travelled to WA from Armidale, New South Wales, to deliver the workshops after being approached by Western Beef, formerly Beef Improvement Association.
Jeisane Accioly, ALIS, said the idea for holding the bull select workshops in WA came about because Western Beef wanted to put together business oriented events where information could be provided to help producers make their beef businesses more resilient and professional.
“This is important especially at the moment because the beef industry is in a good phase,” she said.
“This is about capitalising on opportunities, learning as much as possible and improving where possible.
“Hopefully people take away the information from these workshops and use it to do their homework when they’re looking at buying this year’s bulls, setting up a strategy to suit the needs of their operation and filter effectively the bull choices out there.”
Other projects on the go that have been put together by Western Beef include hay and silage workshops.
Western Beef chairman Ken MacLeay said the group was looking to see if there is a space for similar workshops to assist producers in the future.
