Yarloop farmers sing the praises of Angus cattle

After experimenting with Simmental and South Devon cattle, Mr Jenkins is certain that Angus is the most suitable for his livestock enterprise and has been breeding them for the past 30 years.

Located at Yarloop, the fourth-generation farmer farms alongside his wife Henryka who is part of the Farm Weekly's sales team and has been for 15 years.

The 263 hectare property, Toolleen, named after Mr Jenkins' great-grandfather's birthplace in Victoria, is nestled along the Yarloop hills and poses as prime cattle country for his Angus breeders.

Since buying the property in the 1980s, Mr Jenkins has cleared the majority of it himself and has built various sheds and the family home, as well as planting numerous spotted gum trees.

Since the catastrophic Yarloop fires tore through the town and its surrounds in 2016, Mr Jenkins has counted his lucky stars that his breeding herd and remainder of the stock genetics didn't perish.

With 80 per cent of his property burnt during the blaze, Mr Jenkins has continued to outfit the whole property with electric fencing.

His breeding herd comprises 200 quality breeding cows, their progeny and five Sheron Farm Angus bulls.

With both undulating and more harsh hills a big part of the property, Mr Jenkins said the Angus breed handled the hillier country the best.

"Angus are very hardy and suit the land well, especially when we usually have long dry summers," Mr Jenkins said.

"The breed can also be marketed very well, the market has changed over the years and Angus always seem to fit in somewhere."

Mr Jenkins' keen eye for beef cattle suggests that Angus fits well in the feedlot sector at the moment and their early maturity means they can be sold earlier in the year too.

"There are also more and more Angus studs around now and more bulls to choose from," he said.

The ideal breeder for the Jenkins herd is an average size cow, with good milk genetics and a good conformation.

A traditional natural breeding plan is used when joining cattle at Yarloop and has been the way to go since Mr Jenkins started breeding his cattle.

Good milk figures are also highly sought after when selecting bulls.

Visual appraisal and estimated breeding values are taken into consideration when purchasing bulls and Mr Jenkins likes to look for something that doesn't have any extreme outstanding traits.

"I like something that has base figures," Mr Jenkins said.

"Something with average to good growth and a calving ease that isn't too high or low is perfect.

"This means all of my bulls can serve my first calvers or my mature breeders."

Mr Jenkins has been purchasing his bulls from the Sheron Farm stud, Benger, for some years now and prior to that from various other Angus studs.

"I try to buy one to two bulls a year, so I'm covered in case of any natural breakdowns in the hilly parts of the farm," Mr Jenkins said.

His aim is to have one bull servicing about 30-40 cows each, so that they are not servicing such a large herd alone.

The heifers and cows are joined in separate mobs within a week of each other during joining season.

"Bulls will go in with the heifers on July 20 and go in with the cows on the 26th," Mr Jenkins said.

"The bulls stay with the first calvers for five to six weeks and with the cow herd for eight."

"I also supplementary feed my first calvers in March, trail feeding with Milne Feeds EasyBeef pellets."

Pregnancy scanning is an asset in terms of accuracy, feed and money saving.

"I can't imagine not pregnancy testing, every dry cow you keep is a pregnant one you don't keep and a calf you miss out on," Mr Jenkins said.

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Taking place in November every year, he said the most recent joining season had good scan rates.

"The heifers had an 80 per cent average, due to the amount of time the bulls were in," he said.

"The cows received a 91pc in calf rate too and have been in the 90s for years."

Any cattle that are pregnancy tested empty are sold at the Boyanup Saleyards so that the cattle numbers are kept at a manageable level over summer.

The aim of this breeding pattern is so that all calves are dropping in May through to July so that calves have green feed for a while.

Calves are marked as soon as they are able to be yarded throughout the calving period.

"I vaccinate them six weeks after calving with a double vaccination of 5in1 and they will receive the same treatment as yearling and I will treat all my cows annually too," Mr Jenkins said.

Weaning at the Jenkins farm takes place in late October and is split into three different sections, with a third of the calves being weaned at once.

"I manage to have weaning done in three weeks, so I aim to wean a mob a week," Mr Jenkins said.

"I wean them early so that the breeders get a rest over the summer."

During and after weaning, Mr Jenkins will trail feed Milne Feeds EasyBeef pellets to the weaners to get their rumen operating properly and train the calves to graze.

"I only give them about 300 grams each, every third day so they get used to feeding on grass and a small pellet ration," he said.

"If they start to lose condition post-weaning, I will increase their pellet intake."

Mr Jenkins said since he had been using the pellets over the past few years, it has encouraged the calves to eat dry feed and for him to be able to handle them easier.

The heifers inheriting Mr Jenkins' desirable breeding traits will be retained and the best of those heifers will go into the self-replacing herd.

"Out of the whole heifer progeny I keep, I will rejoin about 60pc of them as self-replacements," Mr Jenkins said.

The remaining weaners are kept on the property until September the following year and sold as yearlings.

"Basically when the breeders are having their new season calves, the old-season calves will still be on the property getting ready for sale," Mr Jenkins said.

"The old-season calves will then go on to be sold at the Boyanup Saleyards as yearlings."

Due to some of the country that the cattle graze on at Toolleen, it makes rotational grazing a difficult task at times.

"Due to the hills and larger paddocks, we don't have a set rotational grazing plan," Mr Jenkins said.

"We use it as more of a weed control if anything, once the cattle eat down the capeweed and other various weeds, they will be moved."

Mr Jenkins said this basic rotational grazing worked well for them as it was too labour intensive having small paddocks in the hillier parts of the farm.

An experiment with various new seed varieties has seen an improvement in the pasture since Mr Jenkins began planting seed over the past few years.

"I started experimenting when all of the new varieties came about," he said.

"I'm seeding a ryegrass clover mix that's been building up and improving my pasture."