ON FARM NORTHERN CATTLE When it comes to beef breeding in extensive pastoral country, Merv and Jenny Wortley are leaders in their field. The couple (pictured), who manage ‘Ruby Plains’ and its outstation ‘Sturt Creek’ in the Kimberley, combine best practice management with extensive experience to achieve an enviable breeder cow mortality rate of just 1.32%. MLA Research Coordinator Geoff Niethe, who toured the Kimberley recently as part of a Northern Beef Extension Officer Mentoring Program (see storyon page 19), was impressed when he crunched the enterprise’s numbers through the MLA breeder mortality calculator. “We segregate first-calf heifers and manual back-up. The company has “In all my years of analysing herd data pregnancy test them into calving specially-made books for keeping the and scrutinising breeder productivity in groups, so we can target cows that are paddock records and they’re returned northern beef pastoral operations, I’ve out of season with lick and put them in to the office where the information gets never seen a mortality rate this low,” better paddocks for the hardest parts entered into the system. he said. of the year.” Geoff credited the result to textbook “My advice is the more details you write herd management supported by Merv and Jenny also wet-season for a paddock, the better.” ■ meticulous, long-term record keeping. spell paddocks to build up their fodder reserves. LESSONS “Turn-off numbers, such as the number The secret to great bookkeeping LEARNED of stock that are actually counted on to a truck, are usually the most According to Jenny, it’s not rocket accurate data reported for any breeding science: “Just do it.” > Cow nutrition has the most enterprise,” he said. influence on herd mortality rate. “We use a computer program that head > Good record keeping relies on “These figures should be closely aligned office set up for us and we make sure finding a system that works for with the number of animals branded we record numbers and enter them into you; have back-up options in and, in the cases of uby Plains andR the system,” she said. case of technology failures. Sturt Creek, after taking into account “Every movement is recorded in and > There’s no substitute for best final closing numbek out of paddocks. We record weanings,rs, around 95% of practice management. the stoc branded were trucked off the brandings, deaths, pregnancy test property in thepast five years.” results and vaccinations.” Merv and Jenny Wortley Geoff said another quick guide to E: rubyplains@kidman.com.au breedermortality rates is To reduce the workload associatedthe percentage offemalessold as a proportion with data input, every animal has aof the MLA’s breeder mortality total turn management tag and corresponding-off if the size of the herd is calculator – mla.com.au/tools stableAtRuby Plains, it was 50%. National Livestock Identification > Animal Health and Nutrition . System button which is scanned into a Calculators > Breeder According to Merv, the primary cause Gallagher TSi system. However, if this of cow mortality on the property is system isn’t available, cattle are still Mortality Calculator nutritional stress and, to manage this, manually counted. Want to learn more about the a combination of strategies to preserve fundamentals behind successful and manage cow body condition According to Jenny, the main northern cattle breeding? Get are employed challenge to robust record keeping is along to an MLA Breeding EDGE . technology failure. workshop. Upcoming events will “We have a controlled breeding program be held at: Katherine, NT, and so calves are born approaching the wet “Our largest time loss is when the Cloncurry, Qld. Information: season and lactation is matched with TSi freezes, so we always keep a mla.com.au/events peak pasture growth periods,” he said. spare,” she said. “And we use a lot of 21