Through strenuous genetic selection and evaluation we are placing ourselves in the higher end beef market space.

Welcome to The Grove’s 39th Annual On-Property Bull Sale. Soph has informed me I am a week behind schedule in writing this year’s welcome to our 39th annual bull sale. I seem to have been at least a week behind all year!!

Sitting on our verandah I am looking out at water views for the 6th time since November 2021 that the mighty Condamine River has broken its banks. I am certainly not complaining about the rain we have received, as I am only too aware some have continued to miss the rain events we have had, and we truly wish we could share some with you, however, I guess this is how our averages come about. Looking back through historical data it certainly isn’t the first time we have experienced these conditions even if those in the media would like us to believe their narrative that we are on a one-way trip to chaos.

Just like the droughts, the wet presents itself with plenty of challenges. Our oats were planted in the perfect time slot and the strike was great. It has unfortunately regularly been sitting in 2- 4 inches of water ever since, thus this year’s sale team has been prepared on a high silage ration out in a buffel paddock which in itself is wet enough. What a world we live in today.

Constant battles with supply of essential items required for industry Australia wide. This situation has highlighted the plight we now find ourselves in by having sent manufacturing and value adding of our many resources overseas, to then buy back at much inflated prices. Doesn’t make a lot of sense when we are so rich in resources and knowledge yet the corporatised approach to business worldwide has seen us follow the path many of us now regret. HOWEVER, the same can not be said about Beef. We still produce the worlds cleanest, greenest protein source which through our world industry leading processing plants enables us to do the value add here in Australia if we so desire. It is this that makes us all at The Grove so proud to be part of this incredible industry. Again, the narrative of the noisy minority constantly being regurgitated by our incredibly WOKE media, bombards us with so called scientific data suggesting we, as cattle producers, are responsible for every bad thing occurring in the world today and that no one wants to eat meat anymore, other than the stuff that Bill Gates and his crew genetically engineer in a test tube and then add who know’s what to grow it into “meat”. What a joke this would be if it was not so serious and believed by so many.

But THE CUSTOMERS en masse have spoken! The meat aisles in all our supermarkets during Covid induced supply issues always saw the real beef sections empty and the Plant Based Meat sections fully stocked and discounted. IT MAKES SENSE - our customers want to eat a naturally derived product that is healthy to be included in their diets and what’s more - they enjoy it. Even the most non discerning supermarket buyer, carefully purchasing their budgeted weekly food items has chosen to pay a little more for the real beef experience over some factory-made combination of food enhancers, preservatives and artificial colouring. Who would have thought??? As an industry we must take pride in what it is that we do and become as informed as much as we possibly can so we can engage articulately when needed with those who seek to tear us down. We must continue to improve our practises to take ammunition away from those on the other side of the debate. Together with better genetic gain we can continue our path in producing and turning off our beef at a younger age with a lower footprint. If we incorporate new technologies as they become commercialised then we will truly place ourselves in a position to argue from the high ground to stop our governments here being blindsided by the narrative such as is happening in the Netherlands and NZ currently.

Sorry for the long-winded intro - I would now like to welcome you all to this year’s sale! It has again been a great year for those involved in producing beef. We have continued to see very strong prices which has seen some real generational capital improvements carried out on farm. The interesting thing we see is the continued push for higher quality beef throughout the processing sector. The customer is demanding a product that warrants them to repeat the experience. So our job is to provide them with their wishes to the best of our ability. By that I mean produce the best quality beef from the land and climatic conditions you are operating on allow. By aiming to score the highest MSA index possible from your production systems, it ultimately increases the chance of the consumer repeating the experience on a more regular basis.

As a seed stock producer and fellow beef producer we hope everyone has received a little of the pie but we also want you to keep your sights focused on the fact that as supply builds, the processors will be more selective so therefore it is imperative to maintain your goals of hitting the grid specs with high compliance percentages to maximise your returns. Recently we have seen a slight dip in the market, however with the drought in the USA there are positive signs that the market will make up the lost ground in the spring.

At The Grove we have not wavered from our breeding goals of breeding fertile cattle that have the ability to be turned off at numerous points along the supply chain with the inherent ability to produce a quality carcass at whatever point suits your management program. We believe the consumer is definitely heading more down the HGP free path, and whether this is right or wrong in our eyes, we feel we must produce an animal with the genetic traits to allow this production type. Where this differs to an animal that needs HGP’s to meet target markets, is the ability for the non-HGP animal to continue to gain kgs on grass or grain without hitting a brick wall and stopping. Anyone that has fed 100-day cattle for the HGP free market and has encountered the cattle that stop gaining but keep consuming at the 70 day mark understands the economic hit one takes. There is a real push in the industry to make our cow herd smaller and smaller in frame. Certainly, we would agree that the days of really large framed cows are behind us, though any herd using preg testing as a selection tool will have weeded out those types of cows anyway. However, there is a real industry push to make our animals much smaller in stature.

We believe we must keep forefront in our minds that weight and grade are still the main criteria that we get paid on. At this time of year every bull catalogue is full of “fluffy descriptions” about how and why their cattle are the best. At The Grove we have continued to benchmark the brothers of the sale bulls in the RNA Paddock To Palate competition. 2022 results are in and The Grove dominated the HGP free class, with Overall Champion and Reserve Champion Pens, Champion MSA Pen, Champion Pen of Six Carcases and 3rd in weight gain at the feedlot. We also received Champion Pen of Six Carcases in the HGP Class where they finished 3rd Overall. Congratulations to the Hinz family securing 4th place in the MSA meat eating section in this class. It is rewarding and reassuring that these results really back up our breeding goal of “Quality Beef and More Of It”. Congratulations to JBS, Rabo Bank and the RNA for making this industry leading competition take place. “Fed together, Dead Together” removes bias and allows the genetics to rank them in the industry.

This year’s draft of bulls are once again a very commercially focused set of young sires. They represent our breeding philosophy very well and we have full confidence in them helping you produce cattle which will add to your bottom line. They have all been inoculated for Ephemeral Fever (3 Day), Vibriosis, Lepto ( 7 in 1), Pestivirus, Botulism and been Blooded with 3 Germ (Tick fever). They have been crush-side examined by Dr Jemma Postle and Dr Kim Kelly with Morphology testing as well.

This year we have GDL and Nutrien acting on our behalf as selling agents and we are very pleased to be working closely with their teams and highly recommend you contacting your local representative to assist you in anyway to attend or purchase your bull requirements.

The Morgan families on “Myall Grove” would like to thank you sincerely for your support during 2022 and wish you all the very best with your future purchases.

Kind Regards The “Myall Grove” Morgan Families