WITH the purchase of a property back on the mainland, an enhanced business model and the increased involvement of the next generation of family members, the Raff family is poised for continued growth within their Raff Angus Seedstock and Beef Breeding business.
Ten years after the Raffs made a dramatic move south from their historic home-base in southern Queensland to King Island, last year saw the family acquire a 303ha farm southeast of Wagga, New South Wales.
‘We knew that one day we would return to mainland. There are obvious difficulties promoting seedstock from an island in Bass Strait, however it takes business growth and the right timing before such a decision could be made,” Andrew Raff said.
The King Island aggregation has been retained in its entirety, comprising 1052ha of highly-predictable and highly-productive country. With 950ha of grazing land, the property is home to 800 Herdbook Registered Angus females.
About 80 percent of these females descend from those first foundation genetic lines from the stud’s foundation 1965 – now 60 years ago.
Today, about 25pc of the herd is sold for seedstock production, with the remainder pasture raised and finished.
New Wagga base
The new Wagga district property, Brooklyn West,’ is now home to Raff Angus’s showcase mature cow herd, and acts as the depot for sale bulls destined both for the annual Raff Angus Queensland bull sale (details below) and for private treaty bull sales.
“We had to get a footprint back on mainland and we had to regain control of the one percenters that seedstock breeding requires, for both bull management and preparation,” Andrew Raff said
Moving forward, the Wagga property will also be the location for female sales.
Our Point of Difference in a highly saturated Angus Bull market…
Raff Angus breeds Angus cattle to grow fast and weigh heavy with extra carcase weight, yield and feed efficiency.
“We want our cows to mature with good frame size and be big in capacity, with weight,” Andrew Raff said.
“Our herd must have strong skeletal structure with back-end width. They must have good coat types with fine skin and looseness; good heads with strong muzzles. Maternal qualities are paramount,” he said.
“We want our cattle to be profitable for all sectors of the industry –
- Profitable for the Cow/Calf Producer
- Profitable for the Backgrounder
- Profitable for the Grass Fed Bullock Producer
- Profitable for the Lotfeeder, and
- Profitable for the Processor.
Herd & Genetic update
The three generations of the Raff family involved in the business are beef industry enthusiasts and passionate Angus breeders.
“We strive to breed cattle of superior genetics whilst sticking to our core values and beliefs,” Andrew Raff said.
“The Angus Breed has at last moved away from a core group of inter-related elite EBV animals. We are aware of the industry’s direction and increased preference – right or wrong – of sourcing genetics that are reported favourably on paper by science.
“Whilst difficult in the past, we can now find some leading EBV performance sires that suit our breeding principles. These can be blended into our breeding herd to improve the balance of some key traits.”
For the 2025 calving season, Raff Angus has artificially inseminated almost 850 females, using a mix of ‘industry modern’ and ‘traditional Raff’ types.
This will result in a magnificent mix of genetics, which will be managed in large contemporary groups on a solely pasture-based diet within an environment that allows each to individually express their true genetic potential naturally.
Raff Angus commercial cattle provide valuable carcase performance data
Relentless quest for performance…
Calving – born easily and unassisted is obvious, however we expect our calves to be around 6pc of their mother’s mature weight at birth. We weigh everything at birth and know that almost always ‘a runt at birth is a runt for life’ and that this can have a diminishing generational effect on skeletal shape.
Pedigree – with 60 years of breeding we have placed relentless selection emphasis on ‘The Power of the Pedigree’. Maternal strength underpins the success of a herd’s breeding potency and its consistency of progeny. We believe good cows breed good bulls.
Phenotype – we like looking at our cattle and in our selection preferences, aim to maintain the basic functions and breed characteristic qualities of what made Angus cattle great. Our cattle must have length of neck with head carriage. Cows must be feminine and attractive. Bulls must be muscular and mobile. Foot and leg structure are not compromised. We aim to breed cattle that live long and stay sound.
Raw Performance – scales don’t lie. The heavier they are earlier means more market options and more dollars. We weigh everything from birth to 200/400/600 day. We weigh for mature cow weights both pre-calving and at weaning time. We measure frame size. We measure scrotal size. We continuously analyse Raw Data and use this as a major selection criteria with Phenotype and Pedigree analysis.
Ultrasound Scanning – we run big contemporary groups. This means meaningful raw data. Every year we ultrasound scan our entire heifer and bull drop to understand what their ‘under the skin’ performance is.
Carcase Data – almost all our yearling stock that are not sold as seedstock or for breeding stay on the farm and are pasture-raised and fattened. This allows us to access invaluable in-herd data from actual carcases hanging on the hook. During the past four years we have sold 670 prime yearling milk-tooth grass finished steers and heifers. Compared nationally within the Meat & Livestock myMSA dashboard, they have netted $365 per head more value to gross an extra $244,960 over the past four years.
Genomic Testing – five years after scientists mapped the bovine genome, we became early adaptors of this technology and tested our entire breeding herd in 2010. With thousands of samples now collected and analysed, it has become practice to take TSU samples from every animal at birth.
Parent Verification – with the advent of genomics we now manage a complete herd of Angus Seedstock that are fully Parent Verified.
Estimated Breeding Values – it is well documented historically of our beliefs and opinions on paper performance. However, the fact is that EBVs are an industry-expected form of animal analysis. Raff Angus measures everything measurable and submits all phenotype data into the ‘system.’ With the usage of ‘mainstream’ genetics recently, we hope that the ‘system’ can now fairly analyse an outcross genetic herd such as ours with improved accuracy.
The Future…
“This is a very exciting new era for us,” Andrew Raff said. “We have two fantastic staff around us and with increased family support with the third of our four finishing school this year. They are all becoming increasingly involved – this gives us enhanced enthusiasm and optimism.
“With the return of Raff Angus to the mainland, and our recent intensive genetic investment, we anticipate our herd will reach a new performance level, while maintaining our unique phenotype and pedigree design.
“We are excited by the opportunity such investments will make as we expect that it will attract a new audience and clientele base while supporting our existing and long-term clients.”
Key upcoming Events & Sales…
Friday 25 July – ‘Welcome back to the Mainland…’ Open Day
494 Brooklyn Lane, Book Book. NSW.
With the purchase of ‘Brooklyn West’ 40km south east of Wagga, we are delighted to host our first Open Day back on mainland after a ten-year absence. Sale bulls, stud sires, show heifers and our elite mature cow herd will be open for inspection.
A select lineup of females will be offered for sale.
Friday 15 August – ‘Boots on the Ground’ Annual Bull Sale
641 Moores-Bice Rd, Drillham, QLD.
- 85 Black Beef Bulls with both phenotype and pedigree variance to mainstream will be offered.
- This will be our 60th year of breeding and our 40th auction sale.
- Sale lots are – Fully Performance Recorded, Genomic Tested, Parent Verified, Passed
- Physical and Crush Slide Breeding Soundness Examination, Morphology tested.
- Vaccinated – Tick Fever, 3Day Sickness, Vibrio, Pestigard, Bovilis MH+IBR, Botulism & 7in1.
Sale features are certainly the first sons of Raff Rockstar R564. His tenth grand-dam was the foundation Doris cow from 1965. He has frame size with bone and extreme weight for age – key qualities his has transmitted to his sons.
For more information on either the Open Day or Qld Sale, see contact points below
Website: www.raffangus.com.au
Email: andrew@raffangus.com.au
Phone: Andrew – 0429 691 975
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raffangus/
X: #raffangus