ADINA Grazing, the farm of John and Val Locke, is only a stone's throw from one of Western Australia's most beautiful coastal locations.
Situated at Merivale, Esperance, the farm is in a prime tourist location, right on the edge of Cape Le Grand National Park and just a few kilometres from the world-renowned, pure white beaches of Lucky Bay.
The farm is the most southern farming land in the Esperance District.
The picturesque and productive farm has enabled John and his wife Val to follow their passion for producing Angus cattle, which have been at the centre of the farming operation at Adina Grazing for more than 55 years.
John was originally farming in Bruce Rock, where he operated a wheat and sheep enterprise together with his parents and brother.
John explained how they wanted to grow and increase their farming operations.
"We wanted to expand and couldn't buy any of the neighbours out," John said.
"So we applied to the Land Board in 1961 and we were allocated three lots in Merivale that made up the original farm.
"It was too far away from anywhere and wasn't developed at all so no one was interested, so we ended up with it.
"However, it was reputed to be some of the best cattle country in the district, so we thought it was a good opportunity.
"It was tough to start with - we started from scratch to clear the land, there were no roads, we had to make the first road in.
"It was slow progress, we had to chain it one year, burn and clean up the next year and then plough and seed it the following year.
"Once the pasture was growing, then we could fence it and then we could start buying in cattle from there.
"It was about five or six years before we could start making money from the place."
John and Val moved to the farm in 1966 and from modest beginnings have now built up a substantial herd of 2000 Angus breeders, which are managed with their son Rod and his partner Tanya.
John's interest in Angus was sparked in the late 1950s when Angus were winning all the carcase competitions.
"The first bull that we purchased was only a year old and we thought he'd be too young to work," John said.
"But he pinged off all these cows and produced some good calves."
The first breeders on Adina were purchased from dispersal sales and were a mix of Shorthorns, Herefords and Friesians.
Angus bulls were the preferred choice to use over the differing breeds of females since the farming operation began.
"We soon learnt that the breeders that we were using were not suited for the aim that we were trying to achieve," John said.
"They were too hard to put the weight on and some were not good doers, they put their energy into producing too much milk and were hard to get back into calf.
"We started to move out anything that wasn't black.
"Once we started to keep a couple of hundred heifers put to the Angus bulls, the whole mob straightened up pretty quickly and we started to see much better results."
John is a firm believer in the positive traits of the Angus and how they fulfill the requirements for modern day beef production.
"They suit our ultimate aim of producing good quality, appropriately weighted calves for the feedlot," he said.
"They are easy to keep, good doers and well suited to our environment here.
"There is no problem with them in the Esperance climate.
"People say they are black and they will get hot, but when they are in paddocks with shade they will go and lie out on a sandhill, it doesn't seem to bother them."
The southern coastal location of the Adina Grazing home farm averages rainfall of 700 millimetres per year, with usually some good summer downpours to sustain summer pastures.
Recently, the rainfall has been 200mm less than the average, which has impacted the pasture availability.
"The Angus are still doing OK, they're very good doers and can hold their weight well," John said.
Val is fond of the temperament of the Angus.
"We breed them to be very calm, they are good in the feedlot and they like them to be calm and good to handle," she said.
The Lockes have in place strict criteria to maintain the quality of the cattle that they produce, ensuring they achieve their aim of breeding well framed cows that are easy keepers and have good maternal instincts.
"As long as they continue to perform, hold their condition and get pregnant each year, then we will keep breeding with them," John said.
"We have some cows up to 14-years-old and as long as they continue to perform, then that is OK."
Close attention is paid to the Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) when selecting which heifers to keep as replacement breeders, with emphasis placed on the traits for low to moderate birthweight.
"We have had big improvements with calving ease," John said.
"I am a big believer in that if you're not getting live calves on the ground, then you are making work for yourself.
"I like to see EBVs that indicate good growth right through to the 600 days, but I don't like the mature cow weight to be greater than the 600 day weight, so you aren't getting these massive cows.
"I'm also not a fan of huge milk figures, I don't believe in this country we need it.
"That's what we found with the Friesians, they'd turn themselves inside out feeding the calves and then wouldn't get back in calf themselves.
"It's also good to see we have made improvements in intramuscular fat coming through, it makes for good eating."
During the initial establishment of the Angus herd, bulls were sourced from Epasco Farm, Esperance, until Epasco ceased its stud operations in the mid 1980s.
The herd was then based on Te Mania genetics, with Blackrock, Allegria Park and Lawsons Angus genetics introduced in more recent years.
"For the past two years we have used genetics from a bull called Rennylea Kodak," John said.
"He has very good figures, his EBVs are very good.
"We do fixed time AI in our breeding program then back up with Lawsons Angus bulls.
"We are careful that we don't introduce traits that we don't want," Val said.
"Calving ease, low birthweight, high fertility and good intramuscular fat are some of the figures that we look at when choosing bulls.
"With the heifers from last year's drop, we are very happy with the results that Kodak has produced."
Calving time at Adina Grazing is during March as it is suited to the local environmental conditions.
"We were doing it earlier in February," John said.
"But we were having a few losses with heat stress on calves.
"The other reason is that it delays the time that we need to start feeding hay and cuts down on their feed requirements."
The cream of the steers and the cull heifers are selected in the first draft and are destined for the feedlots that supply the grainfed market.
The remainder of the steers are put onto barley stubble and then are sent to the feedlot after a second draft.
The Lockes maintain a self-replacing herd, keeping numbers at about 2000 breeders.
Each year they replace 300 cows with heifers to keep the numbers stable and replace the empty cows.
"We pick a selection of the best bulls from the bull drop to use over the heifers," John said.
"We work on about 20 young bulls to cover 400 heifers.
"The young bulls only work for six weeks and all of them are treated twice for Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR)."
In addition to the Adina Grazing home farm comprising 2674 hectares at the Merivale location, the Lockes also farm cattle on four other properties totalling 2072ha in the Condingup area east of Esperance.
Twelve months ago the Lockes purchased the former Banjawarn feedlot.
The property also known as Dunns, is east of Esperance and comprises 788ha.
Dunns is the oldest farm in the district and John said they were selectively feeding mobs of yearling bulls at the property "to get them really poking along".
In addition to the cattle operation, the Lockes crop 1500ha of wheat, barley, canola and oats for hay.
Every second or third year lupins are also grown, with some of the barley and lupins retained for supplementary feeding of the cattle.
"When the heifers are calving, we pour water soaked lupins over their hay," John said.
"They very soon catch on how good a bucket full of lupins is.
"It's the lolly trolley and a good form of protein for them and helps the heifers to maintain condition."
John has a lifelong love and dedication to the Angus and is an enthusiastic advocate for the breed.
In 2012/13 the Locke family provided 10 2012-drop heifers for the Farm Weekly-WA Angus Society Heifer Competition which assisted to promote the breed and their suitability for beef production.
In 2015, John was bestowed with the 25 years membership award from Angus Australia.
When the topic of retirement pops up, John is quick to dismiss the thought.
"Don't mention the word, retirement," John said.
"I've never really wanted to do anything else."
