Hardy crosses thrive at Bingara

News story from 'Climate Change, A NSW Department of Primary Industries special feature', in The Land, October 2008

Bingara beef producers Phil and Annette Butler have been farming their 1000 hectare property fronting the Gwydir River for more than 20 years.

"We are on the north west slopes between the improved country on the Tablelands and the richer soils of the Plains," said Mr Butler.

"Years ago we ran sheep and a few Herefords and did some cropping - mainly wheat.

"In 1980s, eye cancer in the Herefords led to us bringing in bos indicus content, and we started cross breeding Santa Gertrudis over the Herefords.

Around the same time, wheat was becoming unprofitable and we dabbled in pasture improvement with phalaris and subclover but they proved a bit unreliable.

"We have found the native pastures stand up better to hot and dry conditions.

"The better groundcover and water infiltration means we capture and hold the soil moisture more readily.

"The result has been that we now have a fairly resilient system of bos indicus cross cattle on native pastures

Mr Butler said the Santa-Hereford cross females have proven to be tough and adapted to the harsher, hotter and drier conditions.

"In my experience the Santa cross females are a hardy animal with better weight gains and fertility than the straight British breeds on native pastures," he said.

"Resilience of the system is the biggest thing last year before Xmas we were suffering from severe drought but after a bit of rain the native grasses responded very quickly and set us up well into February.

"With native grasses and bos indicus content in the cattle, we feel we have a far better buffer against the climatic conditions than we would have with straight bred cattle on improved pastures," he said.

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