To keep themselves out of trouble when they finally retired from the dairy industry, Heather and Russell Crichton from Cohuna thought they might try their hand at breeding a few Wagyu.
Twelve full-blood cows later they were well on their way.
The couple said the Wagyu breed was no-fuss, fertile, easy-calving and, as an added bonus, great for the freezer.
“When we left dairying, we didn’t want to retire and breeding up a herd of Wagyu has been pretty rewarding for us,” Mr Crichton said.
“We have grown the herd to around 150 head and we have decided due to age, to back off a bit.”
They are hosting an online reduction sale via AuctionsPlus on Thursday, November 28.
The Crichtons have primarily focused their breeding on producing a line of polled Wagyu with strong milk production, great marbling and good size.
Mr Crichton said his desire to produce a polled line originated from an animal health perspective and came about after a visit in 2011 to a Wagyu open day hosted by breeder Barbara Roberts-Thompson.
“I came home from that trip determined to breed a line of polled Wagyu cows and I said to myself I know how to do that, so I am going to,” he said.
With the help of friend Don Harris, Mr Crichton went out and sourced the best polled Angus semen he could find to AI his cows.
“It takes four generations to go from first-cross to a purebred, so I acquired some polled semen from the Hammond family in Tasmania who run Robins Island Wagyu and away I went,” he said. The Hammonds had imported the semen from the US.
“I never wanted to de-horn another Wagyu calf so polled progeny was my priority, but I also wanted my cows to be a good size and great mothers with a lot of milk.”
Mr Crichton said the arrival of Australian Breeding Values in the early 1980s while he was dairy farming was a game changer for the industry, and he has always used genetics to breed better stock generation after generation.
When it comes to Wagyus, Mr Crichton always breeds for milk first, marble score and then carcase weight.
The Crichtons are proud of their breeding program and what they have achieved, in particular two bulls: Super Poll and Captain Marble.
Super Poll T144PP is a homozygous bull who weighed in at 670kg as a two-year-old. He has an EBV CWT of +35, EWA +3.2, MS +1.9 and a breed freedom index of 300.
“This makes Super Poll a bull that would fit into any breeding program and is why we used him in an AI program and mated him to all the cows that are in the online sale,” Mr Crichton said.
“We used him over two rounds and he exceeded a 90 per cent conception rate and as an added bonus there will be no need to de-horn any of his calves.”
Captain Marble is a leader in the polled breed with a +3 for milk and easily slips into the top four per cent of the Wagyu breed, including a top three per cent for marble score.
He has 48 registered progeny — one purebred son with a milk score of +3 and MF +50 and a tenderness score of nine out of 10, along with several daughters in the top five per cent breed feeder index.
He weighed 770kg in October.
Mr Crichton said he and Heather were not looking to stop breeding all together — they were just looking to downsize and ease their workload.
Brock Fletcher from McKean McGregor said the Crichtons had one of the biggest polled Wagyu herds in the country.
“This sale is a great opportunity for breeders to jump in and purchase a quality line of polled Wagyu,” Mr Fletcher said.
“The cows are in great condition and every calf born will have a polled calf.”
The Crichtons will host an open day on Friday, November 22 from 10am to 1pm at 284 Cohuna Estate Rd, Horefield.
The online sale will start on AuctionsPlus at 4pm on Thursday, November 28.
The sale includes 80 cows, all in-calf to Super Poll, and eight bulls.