Running a nucleus herd of Angus cattle alongside their large dairy production business has seen Narrikup farmers Ken and Bonnie Ravenhill reap the rewards, with the two enterprises fitting hand-in-hand at their property, Moonaralla.
With the name meaning 'plenty of', the Ravenhills are nothing short of producing top-quality beef cattle based on exceptionally well-bred genetics since they moved to the area in 1991.
The family started out with 300 beef cows and 90 head of dairy cattle in the early 1990s, before completely liquidating the beef herd due to land availability and switching to a 100 per cent dairy farm in the late 1990s.
As a result of a farm expansion and ongoing succession planning in 2000, the enthusiastic couple was able to take over the family farm and make it their own.
The Ravenhills now run 350 Angus breeders in conjunction with an 1800 head dairy herd across 1825 hectares with their four children Heath, Georgina, Tom and Lola.
The beef aspect provides a constant supply of young Angus replacement bulls to be joined with their dairy heifers.
"The two businesses complement each other very well," Mr Ravenhill said.
"Having large dairy cow numbers means needing a lot of bulls to back them up.
"Another benefit of having a beef herd is that when our dairy heifers get locked up on a full feed ration in early December, there is more than 1600 hectares of dry feed that needs to be eaten, which is what our beef cows do."
Synchronised artificial insemination (synchro AI) is the preferred breeding method for all Moonaralla cattle, using semen from Lawsons Angus to target the desirable markets and genetics for their herd, focusing on low birthweight and high growth rates.
All the beef cattle are synchro AI to Angus sires in early June, based on their age groups, and then joined with Angus bulls from Lawsons Angus and Limousin sires from Morrisvale Limousins, Narrikup, and Shannalea, Torbay, for six weeks to cover two more heat cycles, and for a six-week calving.
"The beef heifers will be artificially inseminated to Angus sires, and then backed up by the same bull to create consistent lines," Mr Ravenhill said.
"Roughly 60pc of beef cattle will get in calf to the synchro AI and then have two more chances of falling pregnant to a bull."
The cow and heifer mobs are all pregnancy tested at the six to 12 week gestation period, which has resulted in the Ravenhill's achieving impressive conception rates.
"For the past few years the cows and heifers have been conceiving at a 95pc rate," Mr Ravenhill said.
"Any cattle that are dry after the AI and natural mating services, will be marked as culls and sent to Harvey Beef for processing."
The calving season at Moonaralla begins in the last week of March and lasts six weeks.
"At the end of the calving season, we will mark the calves and vaccinate them with Ultravac 5in1 shot and vitamin B12 selenium shots," Mr Ravenhill said.
Leading up to weaning, the cow and calf units are continually rotationally grazed in strips of ryegrass clover mixed pastures, just like the dairy cattle, which is reseeded annually on 75pc of the farm.
"We are running two and a half to three cows per hectare on this feed," Mr Ravenhill said.
At weaning the following November, when the calves are about 200 to 230 days old, they receive another 5in1 shot and a Bovi-Shield vaccination.
The calves are yard weaned for five to seven days, before they are put out onto good dry feed.
"We select only Angus AI replacement male and females and the remaining natural bred calves that we decide to sell will be background fed for four months from November to the beginning of April," Mr Ravenhill said.
The selection process for the progeny retained is heavily based around the synchro AI program.
Since reintroducing the beef cattle back into the business, the Ravenhills have made a conscious effort to constantly improve their herd by utilising the data the Angus breed has to offer from Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs).
"We focus a lot on fertility, and we want to breed a cow that will calve easily, as well as grow quickly with good carcase traits that are easy doing," Mr Ravenhill said.
"Fertility is a big thing for us, it drives everything, which affects both our beef and dairy herd."
The AI bred heifers will be kept as replacement breeders, with the keeper bulls, while the naturally bred heifers, and all the steers will be lotfed onfarm at the Ravenhill's feedlot.
"We have been lotfeeding since the early 2000s, finishing calves off that way on and off over the years," Mr Ravenhill said.
"The progeny we want to sell will go into the feedlot as yearlings in mid March after they have been background fed for four months on dry feed."
The average entry weight into the feedlot is 320 to 380kg.
"The cattle will spend from 80 to 100 days in the feedlot on an adlib ration of wheat, barley, lupins, straw and silage," he said.
"We aim to sell everything finished.
"When the lotfed cattle reach an optimum weight of 520 to 580kg, they will be sold to the Coles supermarket."
