Beef is on a high at Kunuma Angus stud at Adaminaby
IT’S snow joke that Kunuma Angus are mountain made, writes SARAH HUDSON.
DEAN Lynch joked that in running Australia’s highest elevated Angus stud at 1400m, his “bulls have skis”.
However, when it comes to the harsh reality of winter at Kunuma Angus stud at Adaminaby, in the southern NSW Monaro region, it’s no laughing matter.
“We can get snow drifts up to 1 metre and -10C, so the bleak, exposed conditions lead to natural section,” the 54-year-old said.
“The bulls in spring go onto a 1 per cent feed ration for two months before being sold, but we don’t supplementary feed the females in the herd and cull for doability.
“So when they leave here they do exceptionally well because they know how to do it tough.”
Dean co-manages his family’s sixth generation, 1620ha property with his 94-year-old dad Keith and son, Mitch.
While the farm was settled by the Lynch family in 1860, Kunuma Angus stud was established in 1983 and prior to that, the farm was Merino and mixed cattle breeds, including Murray Grey and Hereford, but “they weren’t able to sustain the conditions”.
About 20 years ago they sold their Merino flock after being one of the first farms to be hit with Johne’s disease.
In the past four years, though, they have re-established the Merinos through Cottage Park foundation stock, currently numbering about 1000 ewes.
AUTUMN GLORY
THE flock is joined in November for an autumn lambing (“lamb fatality is too high with a spring lambing”).
Micron is 18-19, with a staple length about 120mm and average fleece weight 6.5kg per sheep, with shearing in November-December.
“Dad actually had a slide show last night teaching Mitch about wool and he was saying the trick is to always breed a sheep that is growing a lot of wool. Don’t go too fine and lose body weight.
“In these harsh conditions a stronger type of sheep will do better.”
Kunuma has 500 stud cattle, run alongside 250 commercial stock.
“Due to wool being so good and commercial Angus not making as much, we are scaling down the commercial Angus and increasing the commercial Merinos,” Dean said.
“We’ll still maintain the stud but transition out of the commercial side and introduce more Merinos.”
The stud joins at the end of November, at first using fixed-time artificial insemination sourced from around the world, then followed by bulls from Paringa Livestock in Yea, and Rennylea.
IN THE FRAME
DEAN said when they first established the stud, Angus had a strong US influence, “growing big cattle frames quickly”.
In contrast, he said now they use Breedplan to annually scan males and females for such key traits as eye muscle area and intramuscular fat.
In addition they use Angus Australia genetic hair sample testing to determine how fast a calf will grow, its temperament, how big it will become and how quickly it will convert feed.
Although it costs $50 an animal to hair test and $20 an animal to scan, Dean said the technology provided security to buyers by benchmarking.
“With this technology we’re taking the likes of Wagyu head-on. We’re aiming to breed an animal that can do well anywhere, with fat coverage, and that produces a high-quality beef product.”
SET SALE
TWO-year-old stud bulls are sold either through the Kunuma Angus on-farm sale in late August, or in Sale, Gippsland, in late September.
Commercial calves aged seven to nine months are sold at the annual calf sales in Cooma in April, or alternatively are grown out to 12 months and sold to backgrounders for feedlots through AuctionsPlus.
Aside from harsh winters, the average annual rainfall in Adaminaby is 810mm and summer is usually lush and green; although a dry winter has seen the region drought-declared.
Dean added they haven’t reduced stock numbers and for the first time bought canola hay this year.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve done that,” he said. “The climate is definitely changing for whatever reason I’m not going to argue. Winters are not as extreme as they used to be.”
The Lynchs renovate about 80ha annually for cereal crops of oats and barley, as well as 60ha annually for pastures of phalaris, lucerne and clovers.
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