FOR the past 14 years, Trevor and Lynn Watson have executed a simple but effective management strategy at Eskdale South, 27km west of Esk.
The Watsons manage the 5000-hectare property for Max and Margaret Hoffmeister, running 1100 Santa Gertrudis-cross breeders on open forest country.
They have a simple formula for success which involves turning all progeny off as weaners through the annual Toogoolawah Weaner Sale in July. The sale traditionally attracts several thousand weaners from around the district and a huge panel of buyers from across Queensland and NSW.
This year, a pen of nine-month-old Eskdale South Santa Gertrudis steers achieved the equal top price to return $700/head at open auction.
Mr Watson said it was a great thrill to see the pen sell so well.
"We've come close to that in other years with our Charolais-cross steers, but we've never topped the sale with our Santas," he said. "It was a very exciting sale and in general, we've been really pleased with all our sale results over the past 10 years."
The Watsons' Santa and Santa- cross herd is predominantly based on Gyranda bloodlines.
Mr Watson has enjoyed a long association with Burnett and Louise Joyce and family at the Theodore- based Santa Gertrudis stud and was instrumental in introducing Gyranda genetics at Eskdale South when he first began working on the property 14 years ago.
"We like the Santa breed because they put a bit more bone into the herd," he said.
"They also have that doing ability, good temperament and are very good milking cows and great mothers.
"We've got a great relationship with Gyranda and believe they put a lot of emphasis on the things we value in their herd."
Mr Watson said the breeding program at Eskdale South also included Brahman and Charolais genetics, all aimed at breeding premium weaners.
"We have a line of Santa cows and we have been using Brahman bulls over them and then a line of Brahman and Brahman-cross cows that we use Santa bulls over," he said.
"We also have a line of crossbreds and we use Charolais bulls over those cows as terminal sires.
"We've been using the Charolais for the past 12 years and find that it is an excellent cross with the Santas and the progeny sell extremely well."
The cows are just starting to calve on Eskdale South after a joining period from October through to early March.
Mr Watson said supplementation is a vital part of his management strategy and the breeders receive some sort of supplement virtually all year round.
"In summer we use a high phosphorus lick and then we have a special 25pc urea custom mix for winter," he said. "We have been doing that for 10 years and I think it's well worthwhile.
"I would estimate that it would add another 10-12pc on our pregnancy rate."
Pregnancy testing is carried out annually, with the herd recording a rate of 89pc last year, across all ages.
"I think that was just a fraction behind other years but it was very dry here until February and it just knocked the cows back a little bit," he said.
"Otherwise, we've been very happy with our fertility rates."
Eskdale South also features some irrigation country where the Watsons generally plant oats to finish their cull cows each year.
Mr Watson currently has 36ha of irrigated oats in the ground and said it would be vital in helping to finish this year's cull cows.
"That has been a very successful strategy for us and we generally sell around 160 finished cull cows every year direct to AMH off the oats."
Water development has been a major focus at Eskdale South in recent years. The property has traditionally been watered by permanent creeks, several dams and some spring-fed gullies.
Mr Watson said he was aiming to secure the water supply by installing solar pumps on bores to pump water to tanks and troughs for stock.
"Some of our dams haven't been full for nine or ten years so this is just a way to help create a more secure water supply," he said.
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