Hazeldean realises gene dream at Cooma with Merinos, Angus
HAZELDEAN has not only survived the test of time, but is a leader in the use of genetics, writes SARAH HUDSON.
WHEN James Litchfield received his Order of Australia for services to Merino sheep and beef cattle breeding in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours, it was a case of better late than never.
“We started measuring genetic differences in Merinos in 1954 and performance testing Angus in 1962,” the 91-year-old agricultural pioneer said, adding he was uncertain why he received the OAM six decades after he first initiated the work.
“Genetics in livestock was very young then. I first read about it in Friesian dairy herds in Ireland and to me it seemed obvious. Rather than just depending on visual attributes, I was convinced genetics was the right way to go, even though it was controversial at the time.”
LITCHFIELD FAMILY
COOMA, NSW
THREE generations run the Hazeldean Merino and Angus operation spread across more than 15,000ha
RUN 20,000 Merinos and 4300 Angus cattle
ARE big believers in performance recording
CONDUCT annual bull and ram sales
As the fourth generation to run his family’s Hazeldean property outside Cooma, in the NSW Monaro, James’s hunch on genetics was right and today the Litchfields are recognised as leaders in both the Merino and Angus sectors, as well as Senegus cattle.
After all, how many farms can boast they were officially selected to launch Breedplan in 1985 or claim to have one of the largest individual Merino gene pools in Australia, measuring performance longer than any other stud in the nation?
And while James handed the reins to his 61-year-old son Jim 25 years ago, and Jim’s 26-year-old daughter Bea has stepped up into a management role in the past three years as a sixth generation on the property, breeding innovation has continued.
Since Hazeldean was first founded in 1861, it has grown to encompass two properties on the Monaro — Hazeldean and neighbouring Myalla — which total 13,000ha.
In 2013 the family bought 1010ha at Springdale, near Tumut, a higher rainfall region; and in May this year — with drought starting to hit hard — added the 1215ha Nowendoc, in New England, which has an average annual rainfall of 1010mm, well above the Monaro’s average of 550mm.
They also run a joint venture at Gunbowie, where the annual Hazeldean bull sale is held.
To service annual Hazeldean Angus and Senegus bull sales in Queensland the Litchfields send cattle north for preparation about three months in advance.
BET ON BLACK
HAZELDEAN Angus was founded in 1927 by James Francis Litchfield, who also established the registered herd in 1952 — and today the mob totals 4300, half of which are stud cattle, including Senegus.
For the past 35 years, no female has entered the herd unless she has conceived as a yearling, calved unassisted at two years of age and bred back to calve again at age three.
Bulls are selected on structure, high fertility and positive reproductive performance including calving ease, low gestation length and low days to calving. The bulls must have low to moderate birthweights, high growth and positive carcass traits.
Jim said beef cattle breeding profitability showed reproduction was the most important trait, followed by growth and thencarcass quality.
“The ratio of importance of these traits is nine, three and one. Reproduction is nine times more important than carcass andgrowth three times more important than carcass,” he said
Artificial insemination begins in October and thanks to the good work of a technician, they have returned to using embryotransfers, followed by natural mating in November.
About 400 bulls are sold every year, with the first aged 15-18 months sold in South Australia, followed by a sale in May atHazeldean, and two Queensland sales in August, finishing with a two-year-old bull sale in Hazeldean in September.
RAM RAID
HAZELDEAN Merino stud was established in 1865 and has been using measured performance longer than any stud in Australia. Ithas been at the forefront of use of ASBVs since their introduction, with stud rams selected on fleece weights and fibre qualitysince 1954.
More recently, with the introduction of genomic DNA testing, Hazeldean Merino has been able to increase the accuracy of selectionof top sires.
Total flock size is 20,000 sheep, including 3000 ewes crossed with Border Leicester or White Suffolks for a first- cross lamb.
The flock is joined in March with AI, followed by a ram.
“We rely on progeny testing young rams and then collect semen from the best and use that widely through the flock,” Jim said.
Ram lambs are identified at marking, weighed at weaning and at 10 months of age are visually classed before fibre testingand fleece weighing. Body weights, scan data and scrotal measurements are also recorded. Then at 14 months rams are reassessed — stud sires are identified and sale grades are established, and culls are removed.
Merino ram sales are held in October and November.
Ewes are identified at marking and shorn at eight months, before being individually classed, scanned and hip sampled at 17months.
Breeding ewes are shorn in January, average 18 micron, with a 70 per cent yield — although Jim said this varied accordingto the season, and adult ewes produce an 8kg fleece.
WEIGHT AND SEE
HAZELDEAN has far heavier fleeces than the average, and the wool is also much finer than average.
“Trials show increases generated by Hazeldean rams over other ram sources have been from a low of 49c per head differenceto a high of $10 per head in the first generation,” Jim said.
Hazeldean also specialises in production of seedstock for the wool industry, selling up to 900 semen straws annually to thedomestic market.
Stocking rates on the Monaro are generally five sheep to the hectare — higher with improved pastures — and Hazeldean thisyear has sold commercial heifers and older age group cows earlier than normal, given the drought.
Livestock in the Monaro feed on a mix of improved and native pastures, alongside fodder crops that include 500ha of triticaleand oats annually.
With drought the cost of grain has skyrocketed and they have fed animals cotton seed.
Jim said native vegetation laws on the Monaro were a “vexed issue”.
“Once a pasture gets to the stage of being more than 50 per cent native you have to have approval to spray it out,” he said,adding that serrated tussock and African lovegrass were the two most invasive weeds.
“When we improve native pastures and establish phalaris, lucerne and clover, over time the natives reinvade and once theybuild up over 50 per cent we can’t do anything.”
PRODUCTION GOAL
JIM said they wanted to see a good outcome in terms of preserving endangered flora and allowing farmers to improve productivity.
With an eye permanently on innovation, Jim said he could foresee a future where facial recognition technology was adaptedto agriculture where robots could detect weeds.
“Robotics is changing farming.,” Jim said.
“There will be robots in the field like a creepy-crawly in your pool, identifying and spraying weeds.”
Bea — who earlier this year visited China with 15 other young farmers as part of an Australian Wool Innovation young woolgrower tour — said that technology was so fast-moving it was critical to be discerning.
“There are so many apps and farm management systems around now. Dad has been great because he lets me dabble and trial,” Beasaid.
“Sometimes the benefits of technology can be outweighed by the time it takes so you have to ask around and trial what works.
“I think the DNA space has huge potential. It’s not that accurate yet, but there’s now scope for individual animal DNA testingrather than just relying on pedigree, so there’s less wastage in a breeding program and a greater rate of genetic gain.”
Jim said all three generations had a “similar mindset” to farm management, “open-minded, rather than being wedded to any oneparticular theory”.
“I think the DNA space has huge potential. It’s not that accurate yet but there’s now scope for individual animal DNA testingrather than just relying on pedigree, so there’s less wastage in a breeding program and a greater rate of genetic gain.”
Marmon Hill tops the chops
Few know the secret to successfully breeding prized first-cross ewes better than South Australia’s Ian Farley. And here he shares what he knows and how he got there.
Fruits of family labour pay off
The bank was set to foreclose when Helen Aggeletos took over her family’s citrus business in South Australia’s Riverland. Read how she turned it all around.