LIMOUSIN is the breed of choice for the Hare and Walker families' cattle operation at Bindoon.
Results achieved over the past 40 years means they won't be moving away from the Limousin breed anytime soon.
John Hare and his children, Andrew Hare and Debra Walker, operate their Limousin cattle operation in conjunction with a family business in Perth, Tuart Hill Truck Sales and THT Marine, which John's parents established in 1949.
While the family now runs cattle on their 688 hectare property this wasn't always the case.
Initially a sheep operation, it wasn't until the 1970s that a cattle herd was established after being given a bull, which they named Leroy.
From that single bull the family has grown its cattle operation significantly and today they are running 140 Limousin breeders.
John said the bull was given to them but they didn't really want it.
"My wife was against cattle and we were in sheep in those days," John said.
"We tried to give it away but no one would take it, so we decided to put it in a paddock out the back where there was plenty of feed and water."
Despite being in a good paddock it wasn't long before Leroy the bull went in search of some friends, breaking into the neighbouring paddocks including those of Goodchilds.
John said the Goodchilds were opposite their property and they had extremely good cattle and Leroy ended up among them.
"I got a phone call from Goodchilds telling us to get him out," John said.
"I realised then that this bull was going to give me more heartache than pleasure."
However despite this rough start into the cattle industry not only did Goodchilds tell John to get the bull out but they also provided some advice including the need for females to run with Leroy.
That became the real starting point for the Hare family's commercial cattle operation.
John said his friend from Ethel Creek station sent down a dozen cows and we wondered what we were going to do with them.
"We put them down the valley on our property and all of a sudden we were in cattle," John said.
Despite an unorthodox start into breeding cattle, the family soon learnt that their herd was shaping up to be a pretty good line of cattle on the back of some comments from others in the industry.
"I had someone come up and look and they said you've got a very good line of cattle," John said.
But they didn't like Leroy and told John to put him on the truck straight away.
"They told me never be scared to pay for good bulls, because bulls are the making of your herd, so that's what we did and we've been buying good bulls ever since," John said.
While the family now runs a herd of Limousin breeders this wasn't always the case and it took a lot of trial and error with different breeds before the Hare family discovered the Limousin breed.
Debra said originally they ran Shorthorn cattle which were all from the North West but they were a bit flighty, so they moved them on.
Over the years a few different breeds of bulls have been trialled including Murray Greys, Herefords and Angus in their herd before buying their first Limousin sire in the late 1970s.
John first came across the Limousin breed when he attended a field day in the Eastern States and it was here that the breed sparked his interest.
He said at the field day there was a tent advertising Limousin cattle.
"I had never heard of the breed before then, so I thought I'd better have a look," John said.
When they first started to look at building their Limousin herd the family found a breeder in Bindoon, where they sourced some crossbred Limousin.
"We tried these bulls and we could see the improvement in the calves straight away.
"We'd tried everything else and I can say there's not one other breed that holds a candle to Limousins."
After trying the breed and seeing the results, the Hare family decided that Limousins were the breed for them and went in search of a local herd to source their bulls.
In their search for Limousin sires they came across the Williams family's White Lakes stud at Toodyay and they were impressed.
While the family's early sires were purchased from the White Lakes stud, in more recent times the Hares have sourced sires from the Lyster family's Lysgorran stud, Boddington, the Morris family's Morrisvale stud, Narrikup and Kevin Beal's Shannalea stud, Albany.
A major reason the family has continued with the breed over the years is its good marketable traits and the type of calf produced.
Andrew said the progeny from the breed was excellent.
"It's their double muscling which really makes them a standout," Andrew said.
"The butchers like the extra kilos they get from them.
"They are well-muscled animals and carry a bit less fat than other breeds."
Calving occurs on the property in the middle of January and runs through to early May.
The family aims to turn their calves off as baby beef in late November/early December.
Another benefit the family sees with the breed is its easy calving ability.
"In all the years we have been running them we have had very few calving problems, as they are an easy calving breed," Andrew said.
"When selecting our bulls we do go for the ones which show easy calving traits as we know if you buy the right bulls and put them to the right cows and heifers, you can reduce your risk at calving."
When it comes to marketing their calves, the family aims to sell them at 350 to 400 kilograms live weight.
Initially sold through the saleyards, the calves are now bought by butcher Michael Princi.
Andrew said when they sold them through the yards there was one particular butcher that would buy them all the time and it was Michael Princi.
"Obviously Michael was impressed by the calves as he approached us to see if he could buy direct from the farm," Andrew said.
"That was about 30 years ago now and we are still selling our calves directly to Princi Butchers every year."
As for quality, Princi Butchers can't speak highly enough of the calves the family produces.
Pasqual Princi, Princi Butchers, said they're very good cattle and the family does a very good job with them.
"They are extremely good quality, we can't believe the yield we get out of them on our feedlot, it's all meat which is what we want," Pasqual said.
Running a quiet herd is very important to the family, when selecting their bulls the Hares first look at temperament.
"The stud breeders have done a lot when it comes to temperament over the years and the Limousin cattle are as quiet if not quieter, as anything else on the market," Andrew said.
When it comes to maintaining their female herd, fertility is a priority as is structure.
As a result, when pregnancy testing occurs in early December anything not in calf is culled, along with any older cows showing faults.
The cows which are culled out are replaced by about 20 replacement heifers every year which had been bred in the herd.
When it comes to grazing the property Debra said they run the stock on half the property through the winter months while the other half of the property is locked up to grow feed for the summer.
"Also in winter we rotate the cattle through the paddocks weekly to give the grass a chance to grow," Debra said.
In terms of providing supplementary feed to their cattle, the Hares lease another property to share crop for oats and hay.
Similar to many other producers, the past season was a dry one.
"It has been a bit dry but we are lucky to be in the area we are in, so we have managed to do OK," Andrew said.
Between the farm and the Tuart Hill Truck Sales and THT Marine businesses, it can be hard to manage their cattle.
But they have it down pat, with cattle being regularly checked by members of the family or staff from the business.
Andrew said on weekends the family worked on the farm while during the week a staff member would attend to farm matters two or three times a week, depending on the season.