THE Angus breed is an old classic for the Bowie family and its cattle operation at Bridgetown, having run the breed for more than 50 years.
"We've had Angus for as long as I can remember, we did run Herefords and we've had Murray Greys in the past, but it was my parents Jim and Elizabeth and my grandmother Agnes that really built up the Angus bloodline," James Bowie said.
The Bowie family started farming at Bridgetown 52 years ago in 1968 after James' father, Jim took a drive through the South West of Western Australia and found the area reminded him of Ayrshire, Scotland where his family had farmed for many generations.
Farming is certainly in the blood for the Bowie family with his wife Elizabeth also having a direct connection to many of WA's earliest farmers, including the Goyders and Egerton Warburtons who started farming as far back as the 1830s.
"We have some copies of letters from the 1840s and interestingly some of them even complain about the lack of rain in June around Mt Barker, so it highlights worrying about rainfall and the start of the season is nothing new," James said.
Three years ago James and his wife Katina took over running the Bowie operation after Jim and Elizabeth retired (at 85 Jim certainly deserved it having also completed 60 years of practising as a doctor, with the last 42 located in Manjimup).
James and Katina now run the farm with the assistance of farm manager Mat Fairbrass and three other employees, while James and Katina also have corporate roles in Perth.
Despite working in Perth, James and Katina remain in close contact with the farming operation through weekly visits.
James said he was fortunate that his parents went down the Angus route because they have become a very popular breed.
"I think they are a good classic beef breed," James said.
"They're very gentle in temperament, are very easy to work with and fortunately remain strongly in demand by consumers."
Improving their already solid Angus bloodline is now a real focus for the Bowies.
"We've been really fortunate in getting veterinarian Enoch Bergmann on board to help us with a new AI program that saw about 300 heifers inseminated last year," James said.
"With Enoch and our manager Mat, we are also now working really hard on the mating program to get as many heifers and cows pregnant in as tight a window as possible and quickly weeding out the less fertile types".
Mat also believes the Angus breed has many favourable qualities.
"It's what the Bowies have always run, they're just an easy doing type of British-breed female that handles itself well particularly in this environment," Mat said.
"The Angus breed also presents us with lots of market opportunities because they are very versatile."
The Bowies farm consists of 1942 hectares spread across 11 properties in the Bridgetown area and they run 750 Angus breeders.
"We'll mate an extra 200 heifers this year and the plan is to get to 1000 plus breeders within the next couple of years," Mat said.
When it comes to selling their cattle, the Bowies have a weaner target weight of 340kg plus.
"In the past, we've traditionally sold our weaners through the Boyanup saleyards, but we are targeting those feedlot type markets," Mat said.
The heifers are all joined in synchronisation, being artificially inseminated (AI) in the last week of May, before being put with a bull for a further five weeks and the cows are joined with the bulls for nine weeks from June 15 onwards.
Calving for the heifers occurs at the start of March and the cows start from March 20 onwards for weaning in December.
Over the years the Bowies have sourced their bulls from various studs including Monterey and Blackrock.
"We currently buy mainly from Blackrock and we've also been trying some Cherylton bulls over the last couple of years," Mat said.
Part of managing the herd means having to cull the females that are not up to performance standards.
"We do pregnancy tests and anything that is not in calf automatically goes and we only select the heifers we feel are fit for breeding," Mat said.
When reflecting on the past season Mat said it was challenging, especially with the late start.
"Water for the stock has been a bit of an issue for us at the moment but hopefully we get an early break and we'll just have to manage it as the season goes on," he said.
To mitigate any future difficulties as a result of the everchanging seasons, Mat has adjusted their calving cycle.
"We are trying to work with the later breaks a bit more and we'll just have to keep managing it as the season unfolds," he said.
The Bowies aim to grow all of their own feed on-farm.
"All the breeders are fed a 50:50 hay, silage ratio diet and we aim to produce about 4000 rolls of fodder a year," Mat said.
The cattle receive only the best care, with all the cows getting treated with injected drench and they also receive a 7in1 injection.
In addition, the Bowies also use Beachport Liquid Minerals, which is a mineral supplement that can be added to water or fodder to improve the overall health of their cattle.
"It's like any other mineral supplement but we just find this one works for us," Mat said.
"We use the white cap through the summer periods and we use the green cap at weaning."
Their calves are also injected with a 7in1 vaccine at calf marking and they have also started vaccinating their heifers with Pestigard.
