Mixed-cattle enterprise finds more profit with Gallagher TWR-5

Brad and his family have run the 10,000-hectare BA Nangetty Enterprise in WA’s Midwest since 2004. The Mingenew Shire property, which has plenty of water from springs and gravity-fed dams, runs a mixed cropping and a livestock program.

“We have 300 Angus breeders and hope to get up to 1,000 one day,” Brad said. “We’re a partnership as well with ‘De Grey Station’ in the Pilbara and agist cattle from there. They have Brahman and are just starting to get some Murray Greys and Charolais so they can increase the fat content for the butcher trade. This is the first year for those Murray Grey and Charolais calves to drop, so it’ll be good see how they go.

“The cattle are all trucked down here after weaning, so weighing around 200 kilograms. We then grow them all out and aim to turn them off at 400-450kg. As well as the different breeds, we get a lot of different lines – could be cows to fatten up, or some old bulls, anything that isn’t export quality to go to Indonesia, ‘De Grey Station’ will send down here to us. At the moment, we have about 3,000 agistment cattle on the property.”

 

‘Very difficult’ with lack of detail

With cattle of so many different lines, ages and initial weights, Brad said it used to be very difficult to turn all livestock off when they hit the target weight.

“The gear we had before didn’t meet our needs. Because we have a mixture of cattle, we had to go through individual cattle and write everything down on a pad – every animal’s number, date of arrival, and so on. The cattle get mixed around a lot, so it was a real headache.

“We had a monitor before, but it didn’t have the right detail; when I’d look later, we might have just had the identification numbers. We didn’t know how long each animal had been here for because it didn’t have the date. So they could be here for 12 months and we wouldn’t know until we had to go through on paper to find out when we sell that animal.”

Brad said their previous equipment had a few inclusions, but “we wanted something a bit better; there’s a bit more technology out there than what we had – and we needed it”.

 

Seeking the best business fit

“So I did my homework to see what was out there and spent some time looking around.

“With Gallagher gear, we also looked at the TSi – and have used one – but it had more in it than what we needed. We saw the Gallagher TWR-5 Weigh Scale, Data Collector & EID Tag Reader at the Mingenew Expo: it has a touchscreen, is nice and quick, and has exactly the amount and type of information our business needs.”

Chris Pitts, Gallagher Territory Manager for Northern WA, helped Brad set up Animal Performance on the scales; it allows data to be viewed and tracked on multiple devices.

Brad said, “Before, I used to have my young daughter helping me on the dining table a lot of times, but it was a difficult job – not everyone wants to do it! Each animal had to have its identification number written down exactly right, so later on we could match that exact number to the animal that’s just left the place when we sold it. If it wasn’t exact when it was written down in the first place, then it wasted a lot of time.

“But now with the Gallagher TWR-5 Weigh Scale, we don’t have to do any more paperwork like that. It saves hours.”

 

Improved profit

Brad said, “It also means we can make a bit more money on the way because we know when animals hit their target weight. There are animals that put on weight, and there are animals that don’t. The ones that don’t, we want to cull early, of course.”

He said putting animals over the scales every two months gave a far more accurate picture.

“For instance, looking at the first Charolais weaners that came through, they weren’t as high as a Brahman, and, being a smaller animal, they’re a bit more stocky. But they all weighed 50kg heavier than the other breeds. You wouldn’t think so by visually assessing them, but as soon as they came on the scales, we could see they were doing alright and could tell them to send more down from the Pilbara.

“Also, 50kg is a lot, so if they’re at 450kg then we don’t need to keep them on – that’s feed we don’t need to be putting into them.”

Being able to differentiate between breeds also advantageous.

“The TWR-5 allows us to monitor the different breeds; we can record whether it’s an Angus, Murray Grey or Charolais cross, and then monitor how well the cattle are going individually and in comparison with each other.”

To better utilise grass, Brad said they were also using strip grazing, as advised by the Mingenew-Irwin Group, a local R&D grower-driven organisation.

“We bought three Gallagher Solar Fence Energizers and some portable electric fencing to do a bit of strip grazing. We move them along after a couple of weeks, and that seems to be benefiting the pasture. We’re looking at several different things to improve our business.”

As for the Gallagher TWR-5 Weigh Scale, Data Collector & EID Tag Reader with APS, Brad said: “This new Gallagher equipment is much better for our business – fast, accurate, easy to use, and particularly with the different breeds that we’re going into now, means we can run a better business.”