Big enterprise brings what customer wants Amelia Williams, The Land Allowing for flexibility and following customer demand has been crucial to the success of the largescale cattle operation run by Karl Graham. Mr Graham, with the help of Antony Glynn, runs two stations 800 kilometres apart. Mr Glynn manages Champion Station, Blackall, Queensland, which is Mr Graham’s cross breeding operation consisting of about 3500 females. A majority of the females are Brafords and Mr Graham said they were joined to Droughtmaster, Angus and Charolais bulls. Mr Graham, with his son Jake, manages Jimbour Station, Jimbour, Qld, where they have 250 predominantly Angus females. Eventually, Mr Graham said they would turn the herd at Jimbour Station into an all black herd to keep up with the market demand for the breed.
Jake Graham, with father Karl, manages “Jimbour Station”, Jimbour, Queensland, where they have 250 predominantly Angus females,
“Black cattle are just more desirable in the market place, you’ll always get a premium for them,” he said.
Seasonal conditions usually dictate which markets the Grahams target their cattle for, so Mr Graham said being able to be flexible has been an important part of the business.
Having the two properties has been a way for the Grahams to double their options when it comes to feed and marketing. Mr Graham said if Champion Station was having a good season, cattle could be finished and sold there, or they were transported to Jimbour Station. It wasn’t until six years ago that Mr Graham introduced Angus bulls into his crossbred operation. Crossbreeding has been a cheap way to gain good growth for the Grahams obtained by the hybrid vigour the cattle produce. Mr Graham said crossing the Angus cattle has kept the good growth they look for in their calves and assisted in making them more marketable. “We’ve got to a point where we seem to have struck a good balance,” he said. “Whatever colour they are, they seem to be performing fairly well.” 2
Angus Bulletin - Summer 2016
“We go for whatever we can sell and wherever we can sell, depending on the day.” They have started selling their cattle through the feedlot trade, which Mr Graham said was a necessity because of the season. Despite this, the cattle, which usually consist of steers and cull heifers, have been going really well in the feedlots and Mr Graham said it’s started to link them with direct markets. “Because the cattle have been doing reasonably well with the feedlots, we’ve started to build relationships with feedlotters and companies who use certain feedlotters,” he said. In the Royal National Agricultural (RNA) Ekka Feeder Steer competition, the Grahams entered two pens and placed 11th and 14th out of 88 entries and were mostly beaten by stud cattle. The cattle were entered in the 100-day export class and put on 2.82kg a day.