Stud with a commercial focus set to host inaugural Beef Week open day
Wannon Pastoral Angus is set to host its first-ever Stock & Land Beef Week open day today, almost 30 years after it was first started in 1996.
Run by brothers Hamish and Robert Mackinnon, Hensley Park, since 2017, the stud has driven on the performance of its cattle with a keen focus on genomics and breeding data.
"We would like to show what we've got because we've been working on this stud as a family since 1996 and we've got a lot of depth of breeding in the herd," Hamish said.
"It's backed up by the good figures as well as really good types and quiet docility and we're ready to showcase it."
He said the brothers planned to expand their stud operation in the years ahead and Stock & Land Beef Week would help them on that journey.
"We've got existing clients for our historical turnoff of 40 bulls but we're looking to go to 80 bulls a year and we're looking for our next client base," he said.
The Mackinnon brothers run 700 cows in total, 150 of which are seedstock and 50 are used in an embryo transfer program.
Te Mania and Rennylea genetics have been used throughout the stud's history, with Landfall more recently, and any animal that didn't make the stud grade is moved into the commercial operation.
Now, all cows and heifers are given one chance at artificial insemination, with 50 per cent put to top Australian bulls and 50pc to top US bulls, and calved in the spring.
The embryo transfer program meant the stud was now close to registering 200 pedigree calves a year, with numbers growing.
Hamish said only proven cows were flushed.
"We only flush three-year-old cows and above, so they've had to have had a calf unassisted as a two-year-old, then they've had to get back in calf again and calved again, then we flush them," he said.
"I'm not interested in the figures until they've had two calves because then I know they're going to get back in calf again."
He said calving ease and fertility were high on the priority list of clients.
Since 2018, every calf has been genomically tested at birth, with stud selection based from there and the animal's performance under commercial conditions with limited feeding.
"That gives us the power to identify those high-performing cows early on in the piece," he said.
"I believe [performance figures] drive profitability because there are so many aspects of an animal that you can't visually appraise.
"You need to record the data and the highest performing animal rises to the top."
Hamish said every client of the stud looked closely at breeding data.
"Everyone looks at figures now, our clients, even the older guys," he said.
"The main one they look at is calving ease.
"They want calving ease genetically and then they'll visually appraise the animal as well."
He felt the Angus cow, ideally 650 kilograms, was the best suited to the western district.
"It's the perfect animal for this region," he said.
"I think they turn off the most beef per hectare and they are the lowest-cost animal because of their ability to conceive at one-year-old, calve unassisted at two and then re-breed in the same timeframe, and then go on to have a calf every year for the next 10 years."
The stud will have sale bulls and first-calved heifers on display during the open day and looks forward to welcoming existing and new clients.
