First time’s the charm

“Agriculture for me started when I was only a tacker, on a dairy farm,” Mr Andrew said.

As he grew up, he continued to be around it, becoming a weekend farmer, while working during the week.

“I had a lot of sheep, I had a bit of cropping, I liked the machinery, but I always liked the cattle,” he said.

“The first cattle I bought, which was back around about 2000-01, were Shorthorns.

“I instantly fell in love with them and have ever since.”

He said the best part of working with Shorthorns was their gentle nature, a trait not commonly associated with bulls.

“They’re very, very docile,” he said.

“When I retired from my full-time, construction industry-type work, I moved into this mixed farming enterprise and out at Earlston, we have commercial Shorthorns, and then I moved into stud Shorthorns.

“I just absolutely love them, cattle, but we also still do crop, as well as sheep farming.”

He entered his first bull this year, Migz Extra Special U8, in the 66th National Shorthorn Show & Sale in Dubbo.

“This is actually the first year I’ve ever made an entry in it,” Mr Andrew said.

“My boy won the senior reserve champion, so there was a champion above him ... then the bull ahead of him won the champion, and then my bloke got dragged in straight away.”

He said he had a feeling he’d entered a good bull, but the win was still a shock.

“I had a couple of top-end breeders say that’s a pretty damn good bull, Gary, and I thought, oh yeah, that’s nice.

“When we actually won it, and I went crikey, we actually had, I can’t believe this.

“After the win, some of the other breeders said to me, ‘are you coming back next year?’ and I said, I’m not sure, I’ve set the bar too high in my first year.”

The bull sold for $9000 at the sale following the show to Passmore Farms in Mulyandry, NSW.

Although he got the glory, he did have some special thanks for the people who helped him along the way.

“I had terrific support from some long-term breeders and that was extremely, very much appreciated, to get a bit of guidance and that.

“That’s a good thing about the Shorthorn group of people in society, and the mateship and people helping each other out.”

Looking at the industry as a whole, Mr Andrew said there had been a lot of focus on cross-breeding.

“I’m finding with the people that I mix with in our industry that a lot of it, the Shorthorns, are now being used for cross-breeding programs,” he said.

“There’s quite a big interest nowadays from the dairy industry because they have dairy beef calves and the Shorthorns themselves have absolutely fantastic maternal attributes, and they stack up growth wise as well.”

When looking at the eating quality, Mr Andrew said Shorthorns were top quality.

“One of the better things, bigger things if you like, of the Shorthorn breed, is their known eating quality.

“There’s some good marketing around the different breeds, but for those that really get into it and know about it, you’ll have your Wagyu and that is very nice and tender in there, but the Shorthorns have got flavour, and they’re great for marbling.”

Mr Andrew said his artificial insemination programs were doing well.

“I buy semen of top-end bulls ... and then I have an extensive embryo transfer,” he said.

“We did an embryo flush a couple of weeks ago, and then we did an embryo transfer where I prepped 34 girls and put embryos in 21 of them.”

His next focus is on improving his females, even though he’s seen great success with his bulls.

“I have a real strong focus on developing bulls, but I have a real focus on getting the females right because without the females, I can’t get the bulls,” Mr Andrew said.

When he looks to this time next year, Mr Andrew does see himself entering the next competition, even though a win on a first entry is a high bar.

“I’ll definitely be going back,” he said.

“I enjoy the whole atmosphere of it and I enjoy the people a lot, but it’s also good for me to go and see all the different bulls and understand where traits are going.

“People say, oh, you’ve got a passion — it’s a passion, but it’s a passion about learning and trying to improve.”