Nayook Angus producer Bruce Harington-Hawes steaks a claim with Gippsland Natural Beef

MOST farmers, Bruce Harington-Hawes reckons, like to produce a quality product.

Bruce and Del Harington-Hawes from Nayook who run an Angus farm supplying meat to Gippsland Natural Picture: Scullin Gregory...

MOST farmers, Bruce Harington-Hawes reckons, like to produce a quality product.

“The trouble is most farmers don’t get a reward for it,” Bruce said.

“They farm a premium product but don’t get a premium price.”

Bruce and his wife, Del, have a 70ha Angus farm at Nayook, in West Gippsland, leasing a further 76ha with about 110 breeding cows.

And after nearly a decade on the farm, and a lifetime working in the livestock industry in Western Australia, they’re now happy with the product they produce and the price they receive.

When Bruce moved to Nayook nine years ago he said he was determined to farm top-notch cattle.

He lucked in, buying first-grade genetics from Te Mania Angus, then near Colac, renowned for producing sound, quiet, with highly fertile cattle, calving ease, high growth rates and high carcass quality.

“There was a lull in the market and an opportunity to get Te Mania mated heifers for about $1000,” the 68-year-old said.

“We had the opportunity to buy top quality Te Mania heifers that farmers would not normally sell.”

There’s a lot of good cattle around but I particularly like these.”

After buying 65 breeders, the Harington-Hawes began selling weaner steers at Pakenham saleyards and feedlots in NSW.

“We were getting reasonable money but we thought they were worth a premium,” Bruce said.

So Bruce began chatting to neighbours and respected farmers and he came across premium label Gippsland Natural Beef.

Established in 1999 by a group of producers, with now more than 20 farms supplying meat, the Gippsland Natural brand was one of Australia’s first producer-owned beef brands to carry the Meat Standards Australia tenderness guarantee.

It is promoted as free-range, grass-fed, and with no artificial hormones or antibiotics and sold to restaurants, via home delivery, butcher shops and burger chains.

Bruce was sold on the brand, signing up in 2012.

It’s clearly paid off. Last year their beef was entered into the Melbourne Find Food Awards, where they received a bronze medal.

The weaners, both heifers and steers, are sent to Gippsland Natural around April/May each year and are a set weight of 480kg or 250kg dressed weight at about 14 months of age.

Once cattle are slaughtered at Radfords in Warragul they are graded and they receive a kill sheet with such details as fat depth, meat colour, marbling, breed content and ossification.

Whether their meat is graded as one, two, three or four, the couple still receive a premium for it.

The Harington-Hawes have a self-sustaining herd, joining in early May for autumn calving.

Up until this year they have used artificial insemination on their heifers, using Te Mania genetics, as well as US sires from Southern Cross Genetics.

And more recently they have used fixed-time AI, which involves advanced treatment to stimulate and synchronise ovulation to save time.

However, Bruce said they planned to drop AI due to poor results.

He said they calve in autumn because of local conditions.

“The winters here are too cold to calve down, it’s too wet and cold. In that way it’s not ideal country,” he said, adding Nayook occasionally received a sprinkling of snow.

They paddock wean calves, rather than yard wean, putting mothers in neighbouring paddocks to calves, as they find it settles the animals.

They drench at weaning and give a five-in-one injection as well as Multimin.

The farm was previously a dairy and the land had been “farmed hard”, which saw the couple renovate all 70ha when they first moved there, “starting from scratch”.

They have sewn a mix of perennial rye, coxsfoot and white and red clover, and in the past have leased some of the land to potato farmers as well.

While the cold winters mean they have to use supplementary feed for about five months of the year, the farm’s average annual rainfall of 1140mm means they have plenty of spring silage and hay to feed in the colder months.

“My love is livestock. I have an affinity and deep respect for animals,” Bruce said.

“These days farmers have to be smarter because it’s so competitive and we’ve become price takers.

“That’s why Gippsland Natural is great. They set a price and we work to that. I like that. If you produce good stuff you get paid for it.”