ONE of Australia’s most northerly Angus seedstock breeders is analysing tick burdens in his Central Queensland cow herd with some surprising results.

Bulliac Angus runs a cow/calf herd unit in ticky country north east of Alpha in Central Queensland, and for the last 24 months has been observing the tick numbers on each cow. The cows have not been conventionally treated for ticks in the last 12 months, as they are now under a Certified Organic management system.

It’s the opinion of Bulliac Angus principal Ben Hill that genetics plays an even bigger part than previously recogised, in tick numbers.

“We breed for slick-coated Angus and have done so for more than 30 years, but observation of the cows over the past 12 months shows that cows carrying certain bloodlines have zero ticks on their bodies when we inspected crush-side,” Mr Hill said.

The cows have held up well with high milk effecting doing ability in the environment as much as anything, but the tick burdens observed vary greatly across the group and between sire groups,” said Ben.

The assessment is currently being conducted in-house as part of the Bulliac breeding strategy with an aim to further collaborate with a more formalised research project.

“This group of cows are one of the most northern Angus herds with full genomics and parentage DNA on file for each and every animal, and our other breeding units as base line performance in more southern environments,” Mr Hill said.

“We utilise the very latest in genomics data through the RBVs (Research Breeding Values) and Angus GenetiQ, however physical observations are key to constantly evaluating just how accurate and relevant the data is.”

An additional extension of this physical evaluation against data has been the initial carcase trials conducted on carcases sired by Bulliac bulls using genomics testing post slaughter.

“We believe these trials on multi-sire joining groups on significant steer numbers will provide better information on the performance of our genetics in crossbreeding situations” Mr Hill said.

‘Genetic delivery systems’

Bulliac bulls have a solid reputation for being able to live in Northern Australia, and Mr Hill believes the team behind the operation, combined with client feedback allows for continual improvement.

“We set out three decades ago to prove that the right kind of Angus could not only live but produce high value commercial calves in the harsh Northern Australian environment. We condition our bulls to be genetic delivery systems.

“The right genetics for growth, carcase weight and fertility, presented to go out and work immediately without having to maintain more body mass than necessary. We have plenty of evidence of our bulls working post sale at younger ages, and then by three years of age being at least 900kg in paddock condition.”

Bulliac plans to sell bulls some bulls especially produced in the Central Queensland region for Northern producers keen to try Angus, but who have reservations about adaption to the environment.

“We have heard comments that there are no good Angus bred in Queensland, and yet here we are proving there are, with hard actual results. The environment leads to differences in how the exact same genetics will develop and our clients who are keeping their Bulliac breeding bulls beyond ten years of age, winning carcase competitions and topping the markets and on the box, could not be more satisfied. Its all about letting your environment decide what works,” Mr Hill said.

• Bulliac holds Australia’s final Angus Bull Sale for 2026 next Monday, 16 November at the stud’s depot at Wandaloo, near Miles, offering 37 bulls.

Source: OSS Advisory