Mount Manypeaks is a picturesque backdrop for Davies family's Angus cattle

The mountain provides a picturesque backdrop and bears witness to the top quality Angus cattle produced at 'Oolburra' by Joe Davies and his wife Janet.

Recently, they have welcomed a third and fourth generation with their son Morgan joining the family business, along with his partner Aleisha Scanlon and their daughter Frankie.

'Oolburra', meaning mountain peaks, was bought by Mr Davies' parents, Ross and Sally in 1987.

The former Nyabing sheep, grain and wool producers made the move 200 kilometres south following Ross's semi-retirement.

"It turns out dad's semi-retirement didn't last long, he still had farming in his blood," Joe said.

"The place needed a lot of work."

Shifting from sheep to cattle production was a transition made easier with their lengthy history in the livestock industry.

Now, after years of hard work, the family's purebred, self-replacing Angus herd is based heavily on nutrition and genetics with structure, weight gain and meat quality also major drivers behind their breeding objective.

"The first thing dad bought was scales, because we're primarily paid by weight," Joe said.

"We've always kept this at the forefront of our breeding program because the best financial gains are derived from producing calves that put on the most weight in the shortest time."

Incorporating the Angus breed to Oolburra was a no-brainer.

"Angus suit the environment down here, they are an easy-doing breed and have great market ability," Joe said.

"With the science behind meat quality we have now, we're really using the estimated breeding values (EBV) to enhance our production and progeny."

The herd at Oolburra is made up of large, lengthy, roomy breeders known to have few calving issues each year.

"Dad got that right from the start," Joe said.

Assisting the passionate producers to achieve their long-term breeding goals, are bulls primarily sourced from Coonamble Angus stud, Bremer Bay and Koojan Hills Angus stud, Manypeaks.

"Over time we've gone to different studs if we see something we're interested in, to get the best genetics we can to complement our herd," Morgan said.

"When selecting stud bulls, we rely heavily on EBVs.

"We want a high growth animal, however carcase traits and meat values are important.

"We make sure to look at the animal's bloodlines, and after looking over the EBVs, we do a final eye test.

"Here we look for a structurally sound bull that will give us that longevity and do-ability.

"If it looks good in the flesh and matches up with the EBVs that's what we want."

To aim for a mid-February calving, the Davies family joins its herd annually on May 14.

"We put the bulls out for eight weeks with the main breeding cows and six weeks with the maidens," Joe said.

"Although we naturally join our herd, we hope to incorporate artificial insemination (AI) when our yards and infrastructure are up to date across all farms."

Since purchasing the property more than 35 years ago, the Davies family utilises pregnancy scanning as a crucial tool in its operation.

"We see great value in scanning, that way we're not carrying or feeding any dry cattle," Joe said.

"Towards the end of the year, all the calves are weighed, so we can get an idea on the best way to market them when the time comes.

"Getting an indication on daily weight gains is one of the best tools we've got."

Weaning is also the time for the selection process for replacement heifers.

"Generally, after weaning we will leave prospective retainer heifers with their mums and bring them in to class and assess them again," Joe said.

"As a rule, roughly 100 heifer calves are retained as future breeders annually.

"Obviously we are looking to add value to our cattle, so in the past few years we've kept our normal replacements and sold springer heifers off farm to various neighbours and producers sourcing quality cattle, which we've had great feedback from."

Although weaners are generally sold to private lotfeeders, Joe said depending on season and market conditions, they were occasionally kept and carried to higher weight ranges and offloaded to local grass finishers.

"In a normal season, the progeny weight weaning average is around 400kg," Joe said.

For livestock to reach their full potential at Oolburra, they are finished on quality pastures, hence why consistent pasture improvement has been a major focus and it shows.

"In the early days, the paddocks were full of bull rushes, roots, rocks and poor pasture," Joe said.

"A ryegrass, clover/kikuyu mix has proven to be the best in terms of yield and fast growth on the property."

To support the feed gap in most reason years, the Davies family has sown various summer crops such as millet and chicory.

"As pastures have been renovated and improved, an extensive water system was introduced to the property to put towards an irrigation system," Joe said.

"We've had to put that on hold due to cattle prices, but we are hoping to continue with that going forward.

"We're fortunate in the Manypeaks area to have a number of excellent cattle people who are always good to bounce ideas off and get sound advice from.

"Oolburra is an amazing place to live and work and from a family perspective, it's been great having Morgan and Aleisha home and we're excited to see what the future brings them and Frankie."