Brangus infusion working well for Keyes
Burdekin-based beef producers Jane and Chris Keyes' decision to introduce Brangus genetics into their herd three years ago has paid dividends.
Before they brought in Brangus, the Keyes had, since 2001, run a pure grey Brahman herd with Brahman bulls from the Roxborough and Wilangi Brahman studs, purchased at the February All Breeds Bull and Female Sale.
They wanted to keep their birth weights low, improve weight gains and breed an insect resistant animal that could handle the North Queensland heat and walk long distances.
"With this in mind we decided Brangus would be best suited to our operation, while allowing us to get more inline with current market trends," Mrs Keyes said.
Along with purchasing some commercial Brangus heifers three years ago, the Keyes purchased a Diamond Valley Brangus bull named Nitro, from the February All Breeds, from Matthew Sirett to go over their Brahman cows and Brangus heifers.
"Our kids help muster and work the cattle through the yards so we cull heavily for temperament. This being the case, when we were looking for a Brangus bull, a quiet temperament was one of the most important qualities and the Diamond Valley Brangus Stud was a standout."
Mrs Keyes said the Diamond Valley bulls display great depth and length, have clean high sheaths, are polly and have a naturally quiet temperament.
"These traits have passed through to progeny as we can now see in our current crop of Brangus weaners sired by Nitro."
She said Mr Sirett was passionate about the Brangus breed and was great to deal with throughout their search for their first Brangus bull.
"His follow up interest in Nitros performance showed his dedication and passion in breeding bulls that suit both stud and commercial operations in Queensland."
They'll be retaining their Brangus females into the future and are looking to purchase another Brangus bull from the February All Breeds Bull sale to keep improving their herd genetics.
The Keyes moved to the Burdekin area in 2010, with their children Jack, Grace and Charlie Rose, to take advantage of the irrigation opportunities, which has sustained their commercial breeding herd throughout the drought years.
They run their operation on 728ha in the lower Burdekin dry tropics (brigalow belt area) on a mix of sandy loam and black soil country, native grasses and some improved seca, verano, pangola and pastures. Their irrigation areas consist of Rhodes grass and pangola that they rotationally graze and use to produce hay in the dryer years.
"Our breeders are rotated through the irrigation paddocks from September through the wet season to around April. With the security of irrigation we leave our bulls joined all year round until we can reach full capacity. This rotation allows our dry land paddocks to spell and regenerate over the wet season."
As they're running a relatively small herd the benefit of irrigation has allowed the Keyes to achieve a 94 per cent calving rate.
"This year we've received 102mm through January 26 and with the predicted rain on the way we're hopeful that 2022 will be a great season."
The Keyes currently sell their weaners at the Charters Towers Saleyards between 220 to 300kg liveweight.
"In the future we want to improve on weights at the younger weaner/sale age and produce a consistent line of animals that attract buyers from backgrounding and feedlot operations."
Article & Images courtesy of Queensland Country Life
