GWALIA - SUSAN CHISHOLM
NSW - ADELONG

NSW Angus producer Susie Chisholm carefully selects genetics aimed at the commercial market, writes KIM WOODS, in The Weekly Times, February 23, 2011.

Made for Japan: Susie Chisholm, who has been part of the Team Te Mania program for 16 years producing Angus cattle on her property at Adelong in NSW. Photo courtesy: The Weekly Times

THERE is no doubt Susie Chisholm loves her cattle.
She's also a stickler for figures.
The petite grandmother from Adelong, in southern NSW, runs one of the most finely-tuned commercial Angus herds in the nation.
Susie inherited a herd of 150 cows when her husband, Tony, died 24 years ago.
Her personal goal to mould the herd into an elite, performance-driven enterprise gathered momentum when she joined Team Te Mania in 1995.
More than 30 commercial herds are involved in the team, leasing bulls from Victoria's Te Mania Angus stud, and chasing the premium Japanese B3 market.
Susie now runs 550 Angus commercial cows on the 809ha property, Gwalia.
Last year she bought 129ha fronting the Murrumbidgee River at Gundagai to background the weaner steers.
Susie comes from tough stock -- she grew up mustering cattle on her family's 32,000ha Bow Park station at Julia Creek, in northwest Queensland.
Tony Chisholm was a Northern Territory bushman with a love of yarn spinning who captured her heart.
Since his death, Susie has carried on with the help of part-time employee Carol Morris and local contractors.
She runs a tight ship, with 240 heifers calving over 10 days in July.
``I have the calving down to a fine line -- the paddock is flogged out to remove clover and green feed, then the heifers are fed straw at the point of calving,'' Susie said.
``The straw draws calcium out of the skeleton and encourages proper muscle function in calving.
``We artificially inseminate the heifers at 15 months of age with a 69 per cent conception rate last year.
``Follow-up bulls are used for two cycles with any heifers scanning empty sold.''
Under the Team Te Mania program, Susie leases progeny test bulls for three years.
``I have 17 bulls on the place -- they are progeny tested to find the elite sires and this suits me beautifully, they are magnificent bulls,'' she said.
Susie ``spikes'' her heifers during ovulation to increase their submission and conception rates.
``I take the date of joining to the AI or bull, go back 65 days before that and feed the heifers crushed barley and hay in the yards for a few days,'' she said. ``On the 42nd day out from joining, I repeat that process and again on the 21st day.
``By stimulating the reproductive system, we had 225 out of 240 heifers come on heat (on the first cycle).''
At birth, calves are weighed, tagged and the males castrated.
At weaning they are weighed, vaccinated against pestivirus and chlostridial diseases, and scanned for fat depth, eye-muscle area and marbling.
The calves are yard-weaned at five to six months, and fed crushed barley and hay daily.
Steers are sold to Rangers Valley feedlot, in NSW, with feed and carcass feedback passed on to the Agricultural Business Research Institute.
The data is used to generate Breedplan estimated breeding values on the Gwalia herd.
The most recent consignment of steers sold last month at 460kg liveweight for 205c/kg.
The steers spent December marooned on a small island at the Gundagai farm when the Murrumbidgee River flooded.
Susie lost fences in a flood during spring, and again in December, when a wall of water rushed down the Adelong Creek.
It came after years of early weaning and hand-feeding young stock during the drought.
Summer rain has resulted in the pastures of phalaris, ryegrass, clover and fescue bolting.
Susie said she was looking forward to obtaining feedback on a team of five steers entered in the NSW Beef Spectacular trial at the Jindalee feedlot.
Last year her team placed second on carcass performance and were the only steers to qualify on marble score for the high-end Riverine Premium beef brand.
This year's steers were selected on their ultrasound scanning figures for eye-muscle area and intramuscular fat.
``Being part of this trial is not only great for me but for Team Te Mania,'' Susie said. ``After all this time of flogging along, the results proved I'm on the right track.
``Using Team Te Mania, I have been able to fast-track the genetic improvement of my cattle.
``The sire linkages within the team give us high-accuracy EBVs -- we are reading the beast from the inside out.''
Susie said her 2009-drop heifers, to be sold at the Team Te Mania sale next Tuesday, were the product of ``24 years of hard slog''.
``I draft the cows into two mobs on the computer and join the best cows with the best bulls,'' she said.
``I had planned to sell older cows, empties and culls, but decided the heifers were the most valuable cattle on the place. There are not many opportunities to buy quality heifers -- the Team Te Mania heifers are really exciting stuff now.''
Close to the house is Susie's newest enterprise -- a small flock of black-headed Dorper sheep.
``I used to have 500 first-cross ewes but it was nightmare without yards and a shearing shed,'' she said. ``I just love the Dorpers going past my window in the morning -- they are the sweetest little things.''

Team Te Mania member since 1995
Breedplan recorded, Angus Commercial Register
Johne’s status MAP MN2
EU accredited
CattleCare accredited
Calving period - Aug-Sep

2009-drop heifers sold in the Team Te Mania Commercial Female Sale on 1 March, 2011. 
Sold for the sale high of $2,330. The total drop of 193 x July/August 2009 born heifers, PTIC, sold for an average of $1970.

Susie Chisholm et al.........  Gwalia weaners