Why a bank manager took a leap of faith for this producer

More cattle, more land and another stud — the beef world is expanding for The Weekly Times Coles 2021 Farmer of the Year Marc Greening.

When Marc Greening won The Weekly Times Coles 2021 Farmer of the Year title, it was another vote of confidence in the integrated beef operation he runs in southern NSW.

It must also have been reassuring for his bank manager, who was one of the first to recognise and appreciate Marc’s vision to become a force in the commercial and stud beef industry.

The operation started 21 years ago with a single property at Book Book, NSW, and since then has grown as the enterprise reached its continually evolving targets.

“My bank manager recently told me that all those years ago, he nearly got fired for pleading the case for my vision,” Marc said.

But that vision to grow, underpinned by a flexible and simple system, has been a success story not only for the bank manager but for Marc.

He may be best known for running the successful Injemira Hereford stud, which set an industry-leading sale average of $20,565 this autumn and is the only whiteface stud to have held the mantle for the highest priced bull, the highest sale average and the highest gross at the same time.

Marc also runs an Angus stud, spacing out the sales to hold his Hereford offering in autumn and his Angus in spring.

Add to that a grass-fattening operation turning off up to 3000 steers and heifers a year and it sets off a remarkable business model that gained the eye of judges in The Weekly Times Coles Farmer of the Year Awards.

Marc Greening, Injemira, at his property Quambatook, near Holbrook. Picture Yuri Kouzmin

TOP TURNOVER

The stud and commercial beef enterprises are run across six properties, which total more than 4000ha at Holbrook, Book Book and in the Oberne Valley of NSW.

The aim of the commercial operation is to have “1.6 stock turns a year”, Marc said, or the ability to turn off 1.6 steers for each hectare of country in a calendar year.

But the system is not based on pushing country, with only moderate fertiliser use on the rye-grass, clover and phalaris pastures.

“Moderate but essential inputs means that in dry years, you are not exposing yourself from a cash flow and profitability perspective,” he said.

“We have our peak amount of feed in late winter, spring and early summer.

“This is when we have our peak stocking rate to utilise that grass.

“We don’t over fertilise or push the country because what’s the point of growing a heap of extra grass that costs you money to grow if it can’t be efficiently used? Always ask yourself the question, ‘will this input make me money?’.

“We don’t supplementary feed our commercial stock – it’s a simple system, which essentially means we stock heaviest when we have the feed and have sold almost all of the steers when the peak feed levels are gone.”

The effort that Marc goes to with the Hereford and Angus studs, breeding high-performing genetics, is not purely for his clients benefit thanks to his commercial fattening enterprise.

BEST BUYS

Marc buys Injemira-blood cattle to feed into his finishing operation, which means he knows what he is getting in terms of performance.

It’s a win-win for both parties – Marc understands the genetics of the cattle he’s buying and his clients have his bidding support when selling cattle.

“They know that I will be in there bidding, but often I don’t get them and while I want to be able to buy them, it has to make sense financially for our commercial operation,” he said.

“When I do get my clients’ cattle, I know the genetics and the potential performance of them, and I can also provide feedback and bull buying assistance to those clients to help them finetune their operation based on how I see their cattle perform – real world information is king.”

Ideally, steers are bought in at 280-340kg liveweight, and are landed on to one of the six properties to be finished.

They are immediately drafted into weight ranges and mob sizes of about 300.

The keep-it-simple philosophy reigns supreme here too. The lightest steers are sent to paddocks furthest from the yards as they will be the last to finish to target weights.

There is no formal rotational grazing program, but steers are moved around in their large mob sizes to manage feed levels and maximise growth rates.

Weight gains average 0.78kg a head a day year round, peaking at 1.5kg a day during peak feed periods in spring.

Steers are usually retained for six to nine months with the majority turned off into the premium grass-fed market, to the Coles Graze brand.

Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

To fit the grid, the steers must weigh between 220kg and 330kg dressed weight and carry 5-18mm of fat. The ideal animal for Marc is of a moderate maturity pattern with strong carcass shape and finished as a milk tooth with a 300kg carcass.

Marc aims to supply a B-double load of steers every week during late winter and spring.

GRID LOCK

Hitting the grid with the right cattle is key to ensuring a strong working relationship with Coles, Marc said, and he is thorough in his selection of what makes it on to the trucks.

Each steer is weighed, allocated 5 per cent shrinkage due to transport, and then given an assessed yield of 54 per cent.

He then goes through those steers one by one to draft out those which do and don’t have the right maturity pattern and desirable fat coverage.

There are two options for the cattle that are not deemed suitable for Coles Graze. This year, due to the excellent season and large amount of feed, Marc will grow them out to bullocks and sell as three-year-olds.

This is a financial decision too, as it is more profitable this year to retain these steers and grow out than sell and swap over for higher priced, light steers. In other years, these steers might be sold to a feedlot or a processor with higher weight tolerance.

“They will come through next year at $3500 but so what?” Marc said.

“I sold their brothers for almost as much 12 months earlier – that is how the modern grass-fed market has changed the way producers think and the style of cattle bred.”

Farmer of the Year 2021 presentation. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

The flexibility of the system is key, Marc said, in ensuring it could remain simple and relatively low cost despite supplying one of the industry’s premium brands.

“We will turn off anywhere from 1000 to 3000 steers and heifers depending on the season,” he said.

“We are not having to supplementary feed – running dry stock (steers) means that if the season turns really tough, we will buy less or we can sell off and protect the feed we do have for our stud cattle, so those numbers are never under threat.

“That is our drought management policy.”

Working alongside the finishing operation is the stud, and the necessity to maintain stud herd numbers regardless of the season to supply clients with bulls and generate revenue from this part of the business.

Even if steers are bought and are destined for the domestic grass-fed market, there are options if the season turns bad. Two of the properties are EU-accredited and steers from these are eligible to supply various feeder markets.

A percentage of the heifers bought from clients are also joined and sold as PTIC heifers, with anywhere from 200 to 400 females sold annually. Marc said this was a great way to diversify income streams and create cash flow when slaughter cattle were not being supplied.

Yet the goal is always to maintain a steady flow of grass finished steers into the Coles Graze brand and produce bulls – either Hereford of Angus.

“It was great to be recognised in this year’s Farmer of the Year Awards, as sometimes you are so busy that you don’t have time to see what’s been achieved,” Marc said.