Metcalfe family feature sons of Koojan Hills Trident T288

The Metcalfe family of Koojan Hills Angus stud in Manypeaks welcome cattle producers to their On-Property Angus and Murray Grey Bull Sale to be held on February 23.

This year’s offering of bulls, including 85 Angus and 18 Murray Greys,— were bred with a focus on commercial outcomes.

Stud co-principal Chris Metcalfe said last year his family supplied more than 2300 cattle off-grass to the supermarkets.

“Our average Meat Standards Australia index was 61.78, well above the national average of 58.81 and we have seen demand for our cattle increase as a result,” he said.

“Our genetics are performing in the commercial beef production world, and we will continue to source Koojan Hills bred cattle for this reason.

“We’re using the resulting carcase data to help refine our breeding decisions in conjunction with our maternal breeding objectives.”

Mr Metcalfe said his family’s grass-fed steers had a target aim of 300kg in carcase weight with an eye muscle area of about 75cm2 and P8 fats between 10-12mm.

“The steers’ sisters need to be fertile, docile, structurally correct with good udders and good doing ability,” he said.

“A bull who ticks all these boxes is Koojan Hills sire Trident T288 who has 14 sons represented in this year’s catalogue.

“T288 is perfectly suited to our grass-fed system — his progeny are feed efficient, they scanned exceptionally well in October and his daughters are just as good as his sons.

Mr Metcalfe said T288 sons would be heavily used in his family’s commercial program.

“There is a range of T288 sons available including several suitable for joining heifers to some powerful cow breeders,” he said.

“More than half the bulls in the catalogue are suitable to use over heifers.

“We collect birthweights on every animal born and have full control on our calving ease for the benefit of our commercial herd and our commercial clients.”

The Metcalfe family will conduct a stud field day on Friday, February 13.

Their bull sale will be interfaced on Auctionsplus.