FOR Pasha grazier Clay Scott, tried and true methods are worth their weight in gold - but that hasn't stopped him from casting an eye towards new opportunities, with a new venture into the stud world a goal in the future.
The Scott family are no strangers to making headlines, regularly paying six figures for top priced animals at stud sales around the state.
In 2021, the Scott family landed NCC Romano at an NCC (Brett Nobbs) sale with a $170,000 bid.
The following year, they added Carinya Wickham to their yards for $110,000.
The family has long had a reputation for paying record prices for quality cattle at stud sales - a tactic they believe pays off in the long run.
"We try to buy real sire types to breed our own herd bulls and believe this model to be better than buying herd bulls for a few reasons; you should be getting the best genetic gain from the higher quality bull, you're breeding herd bulls from your own reliable cow lines (and) you get the added bonus of using the heifer progeny as replacements," Mr Scott said.
Despite the hefty price tag, the bulls are being worked hard. Mating rates have been lifted from one bull to 30 females to one bull to 50 females.
It's part of a steady plan to one day move from breeding their own bulls to offering genetics further afield.
"I wanted to dip my toe in the stud world and get some registered cattle to go through the sale ring. With that there are opportunities for field days. I think you've got to do that to get your name out there," he said.
"That's definitely an idea going forward. We've never done anything like that. I'm looking forward to the day we do."
His parents, Owen and Lee, established Ruan Grazing over 30 years ago, with Mr Scott and his sister Emma and their partners taking up slices of adjacent blocks - with 90,000ha and 4000 cows over the three strongholds.
The family enterprise runs commercial Brahmans, with most headed to Gracemere saleyards or onto the boats and cull cows (usually due to infertility or temperament) sent to Thomas Borthwick & Sons.
Around 5-10 per cent of cows are culled each year, mostly for age or "being both and empty when mustered".
In 2014, a scarcity of water pushed the family to sell off most of their bullocks and fat cows.
After the drought broke, they began sending more and more young cattle to the boats as the live export trade ramped up.
The family currently sells around 3000 animals a year, a majority of which are younger feeder type cattle that head to the saleyard or to the boats.
"But depending on how the market plays out we'll most likely look at going back into growing fat cattle for slaughter," Mr Scott said.
Mr Scott, who joined the Brahman Breeders Association in 2017 and was voted onto the board in October, said while he can't fix the breed's stigma overnight or meatworks degrading, turning the market would likely increase the overall quality of Brahman across the state. It's a good place to start.
"The biggest threat going forward is probably more Wagyu in the north now. Brahman don't have the monopoly like they used to...(and) it's always going to be hard, just with the MSA grading," he said.
"Brahmans are copping a very rough deal at store sales right now. It's all buyer driven and it's up to us to change it.
"In the grey Brahmans at least I think it's a step back to take two forward. Grey cattle are nowhere near the quality of the red Brahmans at the moment, as far as horned cattle to polled cattle, but that's going to take time. Hopefully five to 10 years from now, we will be where the red breeders are."
While Mr Scott learned as much as he could from his father, there are certain differences between their approach to the enterprise, including his preference towards polls.
While many graziers are using genomics, Mr Scott said he only utilises the technology through necessity, using Brahman content testing to secure papers and DNA testing to establish strong polled lines.
"We've graded up a lot of cattle," he said.
"We're not EBV figures people. That will be the telling, the people who are very breed plan heavy, to see what that data does against the genomics...to test whether it's productive going forward.
"We're not using Breedplan figures as of yet. Without sounding too blunt, (we use) common sense cattle production. It's very much so (passed down). Dad was never in it too much...(and for me) it's not in the forefront going forward.
"Breeding bulls into the future will go that way, it already is. Where more buyers are wanting more breed-plan figures."
Mr Scott also prefers larger frames for weight for age and has not had any issues with the amount of calves produced despite the stigma of infertility.
Before the drought of 2018, Ruan Grazing was predominately focused on fat breeders with just a third of its current cow capacity.
After the 2019 drought broke, the Scott family, like many other graziers, did not have any dry cattle left and so had some country to fill.
"(We) decided to retain a very high percentage of the heifers. Then in 2021/2022, when the store prices were pretty well record highs, we decided it made sense to keep the cow herd pretty high to sell weaner type cattle straight to the yard or boat," Mr Scott said.
Reflecting on last year, Mr Scott said weaning weights were lower after the dry spell.
"We can't get used to years like 2021 and 2022 where we got that really good rain over winter. It's very easy to have a short memory," he said.
Last year's market slump also saw Mr Scott hold onto cattle until the new year, despite not selling a beast from June.
"We had some good steers (two weeks ago) at Gracemere - about 400kg coming back at 300c/kg. That's a win in this market," he said.
"It's a good time to be in Brahman cattle. The same thing is happening right now where the boat was coming with very competitive money compared to stores. Competition raises everything.
"The only negative is there are so many cattle right now. We probably need live export to really ramp up and take a lot of cattle out of the market."
While 2021 and 2022 were highlights, Mr Scott said the rollercoaster began in 2018, where drought conditions were "easily the worst" he had seen.
"The 2019 drought was brutal...but it was followed by 2021 and 2022, where cattle went very very high. The market was extremely strong. Records were tumbling everywhere. There was never a better time in beef," he said.
"We offloaded all the dry cattle. We tried holding onto every breeder...and we racked up a small fortune in fodder. It paid off and we hit the ground running the following year and the year after where prices not only came back but went extremely well.
"We were getting nearly $2000 for a weaner heifer."
Mr Scott said prices were not reflective of the positive season this year, but more rain could turn things around and reflect the positive outlook at the saleyards.
