For Lincoln and Lisa Job of Marellan Shorthorns, playing the long game and making difficult (but beneficial) decisions has always been at the centre of their breeding philosophy.

The couple have cemented their place in the competitive bull breeding landscape of Central Queensland by having a single focus: breeding high-quality Shorthorn bulls, suited to use over Bos Indicus females.

Mr Job explained that “Our focus is 100 percent on the Northern Beef Industry,” leading them to make hard decisions in order to breed bulls that not only survive, but thrive in their environment, ensuring that the herd produces genetics that contribute to the betterment of clients’ herds and the Northern Beef Industry.

Queensland Tuff – Selection Pressure

For Lincoln and Lisa Job, the focus on extreme selection pressure (for British bred cattle) is essential. Selection pressure shapes your product.

“We have been able to accelerate genetic gain by putting more pressure on our cattle. We demand fertility and northern survivability. The cream rises to the top, and it is the cream of environmentally relevant Shorthorn cattle that we want to propagate,” Mr Job said.

It is this unparalleled selection pressure that has allowed Marellan Shorthorns to produce a unique product – British bred cattle that can survive – and prosper – through the ticks, heat, flies and humidity of the north. They recognise that bull survivability is paramount for their clients; the fertility, meat quality and performance gains from a bull will never be realised if he doesn’t survive – or fails to work or thrive.

“At the end of the day we believe it is imperative that we apply more selection pressure to our herd than our clients do to theirs. If we don’t, our bulls won’t provide genetic gain for our clients. And if there no genetic gain, they shouldn’t use them.”

Marellan Alliance (P), sells on September 24th at the Marellan Shorthorns “Bred for Bos Indicus Cows” Bull Sale

For the last 15 years the Marellan herd has been purely selected for suitability to the Queensland environment. Their cow herd is run on buffel country with large areas of black soil that increase the tick burden on cattle. Through careful selection of genetically advantageous bloodlines, Lincoln and Lisa’s breeding philosophy leads to lower tick burdens and higher heat tolerance, in their cattle; in other words, a unique line of Shorthorns that have proven that they belong.

This Queensland Toughness combined with good, old-fashioned Shorthorn Tenderness means Marellan Shorthorn bulls can offer the economically valuable traits of fertility, performance and meat quality to Queensland beef herds.

No Grain – Not Ever

Marellan’s long-term attitude towards sale bull preparation has caused the Jobs to go down an uncommon path; they operate one of the very few on-property bull sales where the bulls have had “No Grain – Not Ever.”

Their attitude is that “At the end of the day feeding grain to a sale bull so that he looks better for one day of his life is not our business model. Our business model is to bring about genetic gain in our client’s herds. Having an extra 150-200kg on a bull on sale day makes sense for that day only. But the long game is the only game that counts for us. Selling bulls with ‘No Grain- Not Ever’ is a little bit like a bloke wearing his favorite football shorts and t-Shirt to his wedding, it certainly takes away from the day, but it’s much more accurate indication of the future than a suit and tie.”

While Marellan bulls are given a very good opportunity to finish on grazing oats, they don’t get the opportunity to enter their clients’ herds without rigorous selection pressure.

Clermont Cattleman’s Challenge

This year’s Clermont Cattlemen’s Challenge, a 365 day trial, provided a great opportunity to benchmark the performance of the Marellan Shorthorn cattle.

Shorthorn X Brahman F1 Milk Tooth Bullocks. Part of the Marellan team in the Clermont Cattlemen’s Challenge. Click on image for a larger view

The results were outstanding, showing top-end performance. Paringa Gold had F1 Shorthorn X Braford Steers, whilst Marellan had F1 Shorthorn X Brahman Steers. The Paringa Gold steers placed first for weightgain on grass and third for Overall weightgain.

The Marellan steers placed second for weightgain on grass and second for overall weightgain.

Combined, the teams had an extra 25pc gain on grass as compared to the trial average (See Figure 1 below).

The grass phase was divided into two sections, roughly equating to a 171-day ‘dry’ phase and a 77-day ‘green’ phase. During the ‘dry phase’ the Paringa steers gained a whopping 42pc above trial average, and the Marellan steers were 25pc above trial average. During the ‘green phase’ the two teams combined gained 20pc above the trial average.

Figure 1

A similar result was seen in the feedlot phase. Overall, Marellan and Paringa gained an additional 11pc daily weight to the trial average (Figure 2), a particularly impressive achievement given that these two teams had less scope for compensatory gain due to their additional 25pc gain during the grass phase.

Figure 2

The overall weight gain (Figure 3) of the 365-day trial shows the environmental and performance gain of combining Marellan Shorthorn bulls with Bos Indicus cows. The slaughtered Marellan steer dressed at 365kg, milk tooth at 20-21 months. Of the steers that were sold at auction, the Marellan steers were equal top priced of the day.

Figure 3

Shorthorn Tender

The eating quality of Shorthorn cattle is well documented. “Just about every old ringer I’ve ever met says the best steak they ever had was from a Shorthorn” Lincoln adds.

“Their unquestioned meat quality allow producers with Shorthorn-infused cattle to access more market options; whether that be feedlot demand, fitting into the high-end of grass fed and organic grids, or allowing producers to increase MSA indexes regardless of their finishing system.

“Our clients are consistently achieving MSA index scores over 60 with cattle that combine Marellan Shorthorn Bulls with Bos Indicus females. We recently had a Shorthorn X Brahman bullock that had an MSA index of 65. We see ourselves as an ally to Bos indicus herds – Our bulls are produced to excel over Bos Indicus blood females.”

Economic Marbling

As markets mature, they tend to segment on quality; a characteristic beginning to emerge in the grass-fed sector.

Having cattle with high meat quality ensures market demand and consumer satisfaction, but according to the Jobs:

“The hard part has been to breed them with northern survivability. When meat quality and survivability go together it opens up whole new possibilities. The old model of marbling and meat quality only coming from the feedlot sector means that the economics of marbling are most often associated with higher cost systems. The emergence and growth of higher meat quality segments within the grass sector is going to create huge opportunities for the beef industry.”

Lincoln predicts that ‘Economic Marbling’, marbling with a lower cost of production is going to be a huge win for our industry. The great thing about the best Shorthorns is that they can be tremendous performers in the feedlot as well as able to fit into elite grass-fed markets.

Your Opportunity

The performance and meat quality gains from Marellan Shorthorns gives producers more market options, as well as increasing on-farm efficiency through fertility and performance gains from hybrid vigour. The F1 Shorthorn Female is a special product, and utilising them allows producers to tap into Hybrid vigor gains for the long haul.

Marellan Shorthorns will hold their on-property ‘Bred for Bos Indicus Cows’ Bull Sale on Tuesday 24 September at “Emerald Downs”, Emerald.

52 Bulls will be for sale, presented in working condition, semen morphology tested and ultrasound scanned. The bulls come back by independent genomics through Black Box. The comprehensive performance data analysis is done through BreedPlan.

This sale presents northern producers with the opportunity to benefit from the performance, fertility and market access that their Shorthorn bulls add in addition to the selection pressure that Lincoln and Lisa apply in the Marellan herd: “Queensland Tuff – Shorthorn Tender.”