Back-to-back high quality seasons across Northern Australia have combined to deliver what some stakeholders are describing as once-in-a-lifetime fertility performance in the region’s breeder populations.

Right across the top half of the continent, a story is emerging of very high – in some cases, extraordinary – pregnancy test results and branding performance for the second consecutive year.

The general consensus is that while the strong sequence of seasons has been a key driver, other considerations – including greater use of preg testing, selection pressure on fertility, outcrossing into more fertile beef breeds and animal health management practises – are all being ‘allowed to express themselves’ in years like this.

The body condition of breeding cattle and the growth and development of replacement heifers has this year been described as ‘optimal’ across much of northern Australia.

In this two-part series, today and tomorrow, Beef Central looks at the northern fertility phenomenon, and the implications behind it in terms of herd rebuilding.          

Teys Australia general manager livestock, Geoff Teys, says he has heard plenty of anecdotal evidence in discussions with suppliers this year of ‘huge’ calving percentages across the north, with 85-90pc brandings commonly talked about.

He quoted the case of one large-scale Queensland Gulf country cattle producer who recently had 24 decks (around 500 head) of maiden EU-eligible heifers booked in for slaughter, in advance of mustering.

During mustering of the heifer paddocks, pregnancy testing showed 90 percent were in-calf, meaning there weren’t enough empties available to fill the consignment, and the booking had to be cancelled.

Episodes like this illustrate the high rates of fertility being delivered in beef herds across the region this year, especially as first round musters, delayed by earlier prolonged wet weather, wind-up.

The particularly high branding and conception reports will come into focus when MLA sits down with larger northern producers in coming months, in order to establish a picture for future national beef production forecasts. But big calvings this year will not be properly reflected in slaughter cattle turnoff until the 2014 year, analysts point out.

The current strong fertility performance is fortuitous, in that it comes on top of one of the worst seasons in living memory in 2008-09 in some areas of the north. A good example of just how bad things got that year was provided in this earlier Beef Central article, where Georgina Pastoral Co’s Peter Hughes discussed the impact of the drought on the company’s 17,000sq km Lake Nash/Georgina/Argadargada aggregation on the Barkly.

While Lake Nash is in reasonably reliable 300mm (12 inch) rainfall country, in 2008 it received just 9mm of rain for the year. That necessitated the uplift of 37,000 head of cattle, either for sale, relocation to other company properties or delivery to feedlot. 

“It takes years for regions to recover from such events, but with two, or even three good summers in a row in many northern areas since then, it is providing a strong chance to recoup those losses,” MLA chief analyst Tim McRae said.

Mr McRae said he had picked up similar anecdotal reports about high calving and conception rates this year, which did not surprise him, given the quality of the current season, on top of another one last year.

“The 2011 year for some producers was really about getting breeders back in good nick, whereas this year, those better-conditioned cattle are really being allowed to perform, in terms of branding rates, calving percentages, and other productivity measures,” he said.

“We are probably seeing figures this year right at the top end of the practical range for extensively managed northern herds. But it contrasts with 2008-09 when branding and marking rates were appalling, so for many producers, they are still only getting back to level- pegging now,” Mr McRae said.

“We saw the impact of those low calving rates in the rates of kill hitting the market in 2010 and 2011, so it takes some time to take effect. Likewise, it will be 2014 before the impact of current higher calving rates is seen in slaughter cattle numbers.”

“But for a lot of northern producers, it’s very welcome news,” Mr McRae said.

According to ABARES September quarterly Agricultural Commodities Outlook issued this week, on the supply side of the equation, Australian herd growth is now expected to slow on the back of two very wet seasons, underpinned by reduced demand for restocker cattle.

ABARES estimated national herd growth in 2011-12 at 5pc, but forecasts this to slow to 2pc in the current 2012-13 year, as more herds again approach a fully-stocked status. That would take the Australian beef herd to 30.5 million head in the next year or two. Currently the national herd is around 28.5 million, already the largest in 35 years, since the pre-beef slump days.

MLA expects the herd to continue to grow out to 2015, but at diminishing rates, reaching about 31.5 million by that date.

Another industry stakeholder witnessing the pattern of high fertility this year is Elders’ senior livestock production advisor for northern Australia, Brent Peacock.

Servicing branch clients from Katherine east across the top of northern Australia, he has seen a big impact on calving rates and preg testing rates this year, which he puts down to the ‘accumulation’ of good recent seasons.

“Where dry cows have been preg tested, some of our clients have been lucky to see 5pc empties this year,” Mr Peacock said.  

“That’s coming even on typical tropical north Queensland low-digestibility grasses, in poor soils. It basically comes down to that extra 30 days of wet season experienced last summer – steady rain at the start of the wet, from November. Those cows were going into the wet 20kg heavier than they otherwise might be, and all the data shows that for every 5kg increment in bodyweight, producers can expect a pay-off in calving rate and fertility.”

“The result is really a build-up of the last three good northern wet seasons. They come out of the 2010-11 wet heavier, and were further advanced going into this year’s wet,” Mr Peacock said.

Similarly, branding rates from last year’s conceptions had also shown a spike.

“Our clients are getting a lot smarter, with a lot more preg test musters happening now,” he said. Better nutritional management was also playing a part.

“With preg testing, they know what they have coming at them the following year, and are starting to supplement strategically, paddock-by-paddock, to get the best possible cost-benefit in terms of calving performance. The blanket approach to dry and wet season supplementation across an entire property is now rapidly disappearing, and it is being reflected in results.”

“An extra 30c/breeder in a particular paddock can produce a strong outcome in conception rates.”

But in some cases, it actually meant less supplementation, not more, Mr Peacock said.

“I have clients who have gone from using 130 tonne of lick a year to 48 tonne – just because they are preg-testing on the first round, segregating, and managing each group individually, rather than as one mob.”

He said the trend towards more outcrossing in northern indicus herds was also being reflected in this year’s fertility performance.

“Producers dabbling in Charbray bulls and other options over recent years has been reflected in performance in those heifers and young cows under four years of age now. It’s in years like this that those cattle with some genetic potential for greater fertility is being expressed,” he said.

“It shows up particularly in groups like those joiner heifers – the maiden heifers that have had their first calf, and are trying to conceive again with a calf at foot. They are notoriously hard to get them back into calf, but there has been some great results this year.”

One successful strategy used to achieve this has been to send those first-calf heifers south onto better country on the Mitchell/Flinders grass downs, mating them while down there, and bringing them home to calve-out.

“The extra weight on their backs from spending time down on that blacksoil downs country has delivered some extremely high conceptions in this class of breeder. Some of that has come from younger people challenging the conventions of the older brigade, and trying something different,” Mr Peacock said.

“Forty to 60 percent of those first-calf heifers back in calf has been common this year, from typical numbers often as low as 10 percent. In some cases, the re-mate rate has gone from 45 to 85pc, depending on the country type.”  

Tomorrow on Beef Central:

• Pastoral companies, vets specialising in preg-testing and other report on the 2012 first round branding and preg test performance and the reasons behind them;
• Elders’ national livestock manager Tony Gooden discusses the marketing implications for breeders as northern commercial herds again approach full stocking rates.