Forrest View Farm, Boyup Brook, supplies to its own butcher shop

A commercial builder by trade and the owner of new-found business, Our Farm The Village Butchery at Attadale, the Hawkins family supplies its own beef to the shop.

Why you might ask?

The answer is simple.

In this day and age, traceability and knowing where your meat comes from is paramount and Mr Hawkins can vouch that he watches and cares for his cattle from start to finish.

With a strong paddock-to-plate motto in mind, accompanied by his partner Amanda and daughter Lola, he built and opened his new butcher shop in May 2022 which is now run by experienced butcher Rob Corrie.

"We wanted the shop to be a true paddock-to-plate business where we look after the beef ourselves and people know where their meat is coming from and where it's raised," Mr Hawkins said.

The family's famous motto is to produce beef of high quality that is completely traceable, and produced in a low input and sustainable farming system.

Forrest View Farm has been owned by Mr Hawkins and his family since 2014 and is spread over 1000 hectares of cattle grazing country just out of Boyup Brook.

A week in the life of Mr Hawkins is somewhat made up of 60 per cent spent running the farm and 40pc with his family and at the butcher shop.

The property is home to a 345-head breeding herd based on Hereford and Angus genetics, along with 125 weaners at all times.

"We have downsized our herd from 600 breeders so that it's easier to manage and I can spend more time at the butcher shop," Mr Hawkins said.

The family owns eight Hereford bulls from Yallaroo Hereford stud, Busselton, and House Herefords, College Grove and uses AI semen from Wirruna Poll Hereford stud, New South Wales plus 12 Angus sires combined from Mordallup Angus stud, Manjimup, Lawsons Angus, Albany and Yea, Victoria, and Koojan Hills Angus, Manypeaks.

With Angus genetics only being introduced two years ago, Herefords have always been Mr Hawkins' breed of choice.

"Herefords are very docile and their temperament makes them easy to manage," he said.

The addition of the Angus bulls was to introduce more hybrid vigour into the herd.

"The Hereford and Angus components really complement each other and are a great mix in terms of hybrid vigour," Mr Hawkins said.

"The Hereford-Angus crosses are a better result for the butcher shop."

An ideal breeding cow for the enterprise is a short, early maturing, thick-boned animal that has compact features.

"A broad head with a compact muzzle and good eye set is really important," Mr Hawkins said.

He also said the concept of eye pigmentation in Herefords wasn't as much of a worry.

"What is really important is for the Herefords to have good eye hooding, it's crucial to shade and protect their eyes from the sun," he said.

Since the introduction of the Angus genetics in 2020, the breeding herd is now 70pc Hereford-Angus with the nucleus straight Hereford herd making up the remaining 30pc.

The breeding aspect of the enterprise is a mix of both artificial insemination and natural breeding.

Bulls are selected carefully based on visual appraisal and Estimated Breeding Values.

"I pay attention to birthweights, calving ease, growth weights and mature cow weight," Mr Hawkins said.

Mr Hawkins also said that feet are a big factor when selecting a bull due to the wet period at Boyup Brook.

"Bulls need to have sound feet and legs as well as a strong hindquarter due to our butchering aspect," he said.

The AI program takes place in mid-June, followed by joining the bulls on the first of July for eight weeks.

The semen straws used on the nucleus Hereford herd are sourced from Wirruna Poll Hereford stud in New South Wales with the cows then covered by Hereford bulls from Mr Hawkin's existing sire battery.

"We discovered when pregnancy testing that 64pc of the nucleus cows were in calf by AI," he said.

A select mob of 60 Hereford cull and older cows were trialled this year with semen straws from a Red Wagyu sire from Mazda Wagyu, Victoria.

"I picked a red Wagyu because the fat seems to have a better taste and it's more fast maturing than a black Wagyu and very well-muscled," Mr Hawkins said.

"Considering they were older cows we got a 54pc conception rate and they are due in April.

"All of the remaining cattle were scanned at a 93pc average conception rate in calf to the bulls."

After the breeders are pregnancy scanned, any cows tested not in calf are sent to the export market.

Calves begin dropping at Forrest View at the beginning of April for a shorter calving period due to the condensed nature of AI breeding.

"Last year we had everything on the ground within four and a half weeks," Mr Hawkins said.

Calf marking and tagging is done during calving with the inclusion of animal health treatments at the same time.

"Calves will have three doses of 7in1 before weaning, one at marking, one as a booster and one two weeks before weaning," Mr Hawkins said.

"Everything on the property will receive a 7in1, Eprinex drench and B12 and selenium.

"The cows get a dose every March, as close to calving as possible and we will drench them too."

Post-calving, the Hawkins family aims to keep 30-35 heifers as replacements to go into the breeding herd.

"The heifers will only enter the breeding herd when they are 350kg, we are strict on this as we don't want a smaller animal having a calf," Mr Hawkins said.

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"We want to make sure we keep heifers that have a full, clean white face.

"Some marking is okay at times, but I like to keep our Herefords true to type."

Weaning at Forrest View is season-dependent and is often postponed when there is a better feed season like the Hawkins have had this year.

"Last season we weaned in December and this year we are weaning towards late January," Mr Hawkins said.

Aiming to sell both grassfed and grainfed cuts in the butcher shop, 90-100 head of the weaners will be sent to smaller custom lotfeeders to be finished off before processing.

"The custom lotfeeders we send our cattle to are big on ethical treatment, which is something we take very seriously too," Mr Hawkins said.

The selected cattle will enter the feedlot at 350kg and spend from 80-105 days in the feedlot to reach a consistent 520-550kg liveweight before entering the butcher shop.

"An animal of that size will dress about 220-250kg carcase weight," Mr Hawkins said.

The remaining weaners will be grassfed at the Boyup Brook property over the summer and any dry or cull cows will be sold to the Coles and Woolworths supermarket trade.

"Due to it being early days, we aren't processing at maximum capacity at the butcher shop," Mr Hawkins said.

"Any excess cattle like this we sell to the supermarkets like we were prior to opening the shop."

The grazing aspect of the property is in rotation for seven months of the year, focusing mainly on the winter months.

The herds are moved in groups of 70-90 head and moved every seven to nine days.

In summer hand feeding frosted wheat is used as a substitute rather than being moved regularly.

"We will feed the wheat out two to three times per week, depending on what part of the farm the cattle are on," Mr Hawkins said.

"The break in season usually begins in April so we will start feeding silage rather than wheat so the feed doesn't get wet."

An additional feeding method is implemented over the summertime to ensure the condition of the cattle is maintained.

The compartment feeding method is used so that the cattle aren't using excessive energy and walking off the feed they are eating.

"My compartments are 8-10ha each and will hold a mob of about 60 cows," Mr Hawkins said.

"Although we don't do any conventional cropping on the farm, pasture improvement and feed crops do take up a substantial section of the property."

A total of 160ha of awnless variety wheat is grown so it can be grazed and turned into hay.

Additionally, various sections of the property are seeded annually with a vetch and ryegrass mix, also for feed purposes.

"Anything that is grown on the farm is either grazed out green, grazed out standing, dry or put into silage," Mr Hawkins said.