Exceptional bulls catalogued for Dulverton Angus online sale

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SELECTING cattle for value determining traits, backed up by an extensive type and structural assessment, is allowing Dulverton Angus to produce bulls with longevity that can make a big impact in stud and commercial herds.

The Glen Innes-based breeding program was established by stud principals Greg and Sally Chappell in 1981, with a goal to breed high performing bulls who can lift production.

The herd began with foundation females from Tulagi stud, with more added from The Basin and Naranghi studs in the mid 1980s.

Mr Chappell's career in meat science has helped the stud develop high standards for both maternal and carcase characteristics, with stayability, feed efficiency, eating quality and beef yield being high priorities in selection.

Visiting the US in 1982, while Mr Chappell was a recipient of the University of Illinois scholarship provided by Angus Australia for winning the national judging final, helped the couple with their development of Dulverton, and the lessons learnt there are still in play at Shannon Vale.

He studied meat science, focusing on eating quality, but they also visited many Angus ranches, feedlots and commercial breeding operations.

In the 1980s Mr Chappell worked for the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation and AUS-MEAT.

He was a consultant to the Meat Research Corporation in the 1990s, where he was heavily involved in the development of the domestic beef grading system, now known as MSA (Meat Standards Australia) grading.

"The meat science exposure has been extremely beneficial to our progression," Mr Chappell said.

"There is absolutely no other reason to produce beef than to satisfy the eating quality expectations consistently and price competitively."

The Dulverton team is meeting this by selecting for the essential production traits of stayability, fertility, calving ease, calf rearing ability and structural soundness.

These are combined with feed efficiency; eating quality which includes tenderness and marbling; and beef yield - getting the correct proportions of bone, muscle and fat.

"These are our value determining traits, but as Breedplan does not calculate a stayability value, we use the Igenity Beef data system so that we can include the all important traits of stayability and carcase-measured marbling, which is a more accurate indicator of the all important consumer requirements for juiciness and flavour than intramuscular fat percentage," Mr Chappell said.

The Dulverton breeding program is well-known for high-performing cow families, including the Mandys and Annies, which are well-represented in the stud's best performing bulls.

Implementing strategies to achieve weight gains in the females - a joining weight of 320 kilograms at 14 months, calving weight of 460kg and mature cow weight between 560kg and 600kg at five years of age - has improved longevity in the herd.

"These strategies also contribute to the longevity of our herd, which continues to be a trait of major concern to us given that one of our foremost goals is to provide Dulverton sires that are capable of working for at least four breeding seasons, while the average Angus bull works for two or three seasons."

Among the stud's most successful cow families are the Mandys and Annies.

Beef consultant Dick Whale has worked with Dulverton for many years and has helped the Chappells develop an Igenity index, another selection tool for buyers, along with Mr Whale's genetic type summary (GTS) system.

This extensive evaluation covers structural soundness traits of feet, rear leg structure, pastern and foot angle, as well as descriptive traits such as stature, capacity, body length, muscle score, doability and sheath.

Dulverton bulls are known for their impeccable structure and the ability to work in natural service for a minimum of four years, with high conception rates.

Absolute functionality, which Mr Chappell describes as the ability of the sire to settle females in calf at pasture, is a big priority.

One of the stud's 2024 sale bulls, Dulverton Tavistock T235 (lot 2) is proof of the stud's work in this area, recently settling 29 of 29 two-year-old breeders with calves at foot, during a tough joining season at Shannon Vale.

"T235 was only 15 months of age, and as a rule we only expect our yearlings to run with about 25 females over the joining period.

"He also achieved a grade 7+ in the GTS, so his structural functionality correlates with his absolute functionality."

T235 is by Landfall New Ground N90 from Pathfinder Galaxy G476 daughter Dulverton Penny N210.

His Igenity genetic predictions of seven for weaning weight, eight for average daily weight gain (ADG) and eight for yearling weight are spot on upon inspection of his actual growth performance, Mr Chappell said.

"T235 was weaned at 231 days weighing 346kg (ADG of 1.5kg per day) and his yearling weight was 528kg (1.46kg/day).

"T235's ADG from weaning to yearling weight was 1.4kg/day, a very commendable performance given the harshness of winter through early spring."

Another star lot is Dulverton Tivaci T093 (lot 1), by Baldridge SR Goalkeeper, a son of SydGen Enhance. Both bulls have worked very well in the Dulverton herd, with Enhance producing the 2023 top and second highest selling bulls at Dulverton's sale.

He's a long-bodied bull with a score of eight for genetic growth on the Igenity Beef profile, with a weaning weight of 378kg and average daily gain of 1.54kg per day, and a yearling weight of 554kg, with an average daily gain of 1.47kg/day.

"It's not often we produce or source bulls with T093's length, visual muscle score and doability," Mr Chappell said.

"Eight is our preferred top-end Igenity genetic growth prediction score.

"It is possible to put too much growth into production systems given the need to work within the constraints of the environment and the need to balance growth with other economic drivers such as fertility.

"Tivaci T093 scores a 10 for Igenity tenderness and 10 for Igenity genetic carcase weight, a maximum, yet able to be accommodated as the 10 is two points above his yearling weight indicating T093 has the ability to improve genetic beef yield, his growth potential being channeled into usable product within the carcase."

Dulverton has catalogued 85 bulls for its May 22 sale.

With a goal to reduce workload for the team, the Dulverton sale will be online only this year, but all sale bulls will be available for inspection at the stud's open day on Monday, May 20.

The auction will be hosted by StockLive, with pre-bidding commencing at the open day, meaning buyers can place their maximum bid and let StockLive do the bidding for them.

The auto-bidding will run in conjunction with the prices being bid in the live auction, so if a buyer's maximum bid is passed in the live auction they'll need to be online to bid above that price.

All lots will have pre-recorded videos for buyers who can't attend the open day to inspect livestock.

Colin Say and Company agent Shad Bailey will adjudicate the live auction, fielding bids from the floor in the Remembrance Room of the Glen Innes RSL club for buyers who aren't able to bid online.

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