ADDING a bit of extra marketability magic to the breed mix in Alan and Sharon Penfold’s 200 head cattle herd

Salers x Murray Grey led steer

at Capel is the Murray Grey breed.

There aren’t any purebred Murray Greys on their property beyond the bulls they buy in for crossbreeding because the genetic base the Penfold family operates from is the Salers breed.

Murray Grey-Salers cross might not be a description you would see often written on saleyard cards throughout the State, but Alan is glad to be the first to say a grey bull over a Salers female produces a growthy, well-defined calf which can fetch good money at sale time.

“We got into Salers when they were first introduced to Western Australia about 30 years ago and went down the breeding path, but early on we realised we needed to do something different with our commercial calves,” Alan said.

“Back then we were selling our purebred calves into the Semini feedlot and Pete Semini said to me one day that I had to do something different with them if I wanted to really market them properly into feedlots.

“I was pretty arrogant about it back then because I thought the pure Salers were going to give us exactly what we wanted but he was right, they were too late-maturing and bad tempered and jumpy at that stage.

“So I went away and thought about it and thought that Murray Greys were good, all-rounder, well-tempered cattle which is how we ended up getting into them as a cross.”

Of the 200 head of breeding females in his care, about 50 per cent are pure Salers which Alan and his family have worked on over the year to remove issues with frame and temperament, but the other 50pc are crossbred, with Murray Grey blood the dominant influencer in the herd.

The first Murray Grey bull they bought was from Milton Moore at Blackwood, Boyup Brook, which Alan said started them off well.

“He was a really good bull and we used him over the Salers cows and the results really spoke for themselves early on so we’ve kept using the Murray Grey blood in our commercial herd and the bulls as a back-up for the AI program in the purebred Salers herd,” he said.

The commercial herd totals about 100 head and has various mixes and crosses of Salers, Murray Grey and some Brahman blood, but Alan maintains the best cross by far is the Murray Grey-Salers first cross.

“The pure Salers females are really good mothers and the first cross grey calves off them always grow very well,” he said.

A big plus when it comes to marketability is a Murray Grey sire will always throw a black or grey calf from a Saler dam according to Alan.

“At the saleyards, it’s clear that black and grey cattle sell so that’s a big plus,” he said.

Murray Grey genetics in the herd include Southend and Venturon blood.

“We’ve bought from young Harris (Thompson, Venturon stud, Boyup Brook) for the first time recently because we like his style of bulls,” Alan said.

“Temperament is really important when we’re selecting a bull because we’ve been working hard on that within our herd so we don’t want to take any steps back.”

Alan said the cow herd a bull comes from is an important factor for him.

“I always try to buy Murray Grey bulls that come from a really good female herd – with good milk and of course, quiet temperaments,” he said.

“And I think the only way to really tell that is to go and have a look at the herd for yourself.

“We also look for higher fat scores in the Murray Grey bulls we buy, as well as smooth coats because the Saler breed can be a bit hairy so we try to encourage as much smoothness in the coat as possible.”

Alan enters cattle into the annual Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge every second year to keep a track of how his cattle are tracking.

“I like being able to see the data that comes out of the challenge and it shows us that we’re on the right track,” he said.

“The Murray Grey-Saler cattle never perform badly in the challenge and it’s good to see we’re tracking steady from year to year when it comes to feedlot performance.

“It will be interesting to see how the calves we get from Harris’ bull go because he’s a much higher definition bull than the other bulls we used were.”

When it comes to selling calves, Alan said the calves go straight into the feedlot system after yard weaning and backgrounding.

“We yard wean all the weaners and then draft them into sizes,” Alan said.

“Our calf drop is on a fairly broad basis from April through May because I think it’s better to have as many calves on the ground as possible so we give them plenty of time with the bulls.

“That way we also have a few drafts of calves.

“The heavy weaners at 360-400kg, which we try to aim for about 50, go straight to the feedlot and the rest go onto feed until they’re ready.”

Alan said the Murray Grey blood calves stand out.

“They’re high muscled, quick maturers,” Alan said.

“We never have any problems selling them and they all go into the feedlot market in February with no problems.”

If you talk cattle with Alan, it’s clear he has a passion for both the commercial and purebred sides of his breeding operation.

“Obviously we’ve got a real interest in producing quality pure Salers for ourselves and for anyone who is interested in buying them, but as far as the grey cross goes, we’ve got a really good cross with that,” Alan said.

“I think in the South West you’d be pretty hard pressed to find a better cross than the Murray Grey-Saler cross, that’s for sure.

“I don’t plan to tell other people what they should do, it’s all about working out what works for you and your operation but we know the Murray Grey and Saler breeds work well together.”

 

I would like to acknowledge the writer of this article Courtney Walsh who is a Livestock Journalist and wrote this article for the “Farm Weekly” in Western Australia.