The first flush of bulls from Robert Mackenzie’s investment in premium stock are showing strong bloodline traits.
The first line of bulls sired via artificial insemination from Texas Iceman have proven that the “genetic type is so strong, you can tell the calves a mile off. At three months they just stand out,” said Mr Mackenzie.
‘Macka’ set a then-breed-record price of $225,000 when he purchased Texas Iceman R725 in 2021, and has been a power bidder since, paying a record $140,000 for the unjoined yearling Angus Heifer Circle8 Rosebud in 2022 and a new all-breed record for Texas ThunderstruckT383 for $360,000 last July.
The Macka's Angus team is on a mission to be a premier seedstock breeder with a focus on a low carbon emission animal. The philosophy is "pedigree, performance and phenotype". The core of their ambition is targeting fertility and maternal traits with a focus on feed efficiency, docility and carcasse attributes.
Alongside their record busting Australian seedstock additions, Macka’s Angus has formed an exclusive partnership with Rawburn Aberdeen Angus in Scotland, which has bred six of the highest 10 bulls ever recorded in the UK for Terminal Index and nine of the highest females ever recorded in the UK.
According to the Rawburn Aberdeen Angus website, Rawburn Makka Pakka recorded a 400-day weight of 820 kilograms with an actual birth weight of 44kg, while Rawburn Roxburgh X382 only required 3.14kg of dry matter to gain one kilogram, compared to 4.38kg for an average UK bull.
Shortening the days on feed means less methane, and Mr Mackenzie believes that as the supply chain becomes laser-focused on Scope Three emissions, they will increasingly preference animals with lower emission profiles.
“At Macka’s Angus, we started off with focusing on sustainable agriculture and becoming carbon neutral. Last year we were lucky enough to achieve that. Now it is looking forward and producing an animal that is more sustainable and produces a high quality product time in and time out.
“There are so many sections of our operation that are driven by customers and increasingly by policy. There'll be times where the industry is going to have to show that we're sustainable or carbon neutral. That's why we jumped in so early.”
Director Robert Mackenzie with son Jack Mackenzie.
Feed efficiency meets good fertility
Mr Mackenzie believes the Rawburn feed efficiency numbers will be complemented by the recent purchase of Texas Thunderstruck. Mr Mackenzie’s son, Jack, said a big appeal of Thunderstruck was the family data that showed the sire Poss Rawhide was in the top 50 out of 80,000 in the US for feed efficiency.
The other standout was the fertility quality of Thunderstruck's maternal pedigree — the Texas Omnia cow family. Jack said that while structural integrity was key, the fact that “over the last 28 years of that bull’s maternal background, not one cow missed a natural calf each year.”
That fertility quality was also a highlight from Rawburn, Mackenzie senior said.
“If you look back at the pedigree of the Rawburn herd, they've got consistently great breeding females.”
Maternal traits a key to success
The big bull purchases may have received the headlines, but Robert Mackenzie believes the key to a successful cattle enterprise are females.
“Sometimes I think a lot of people forget how important that female is. But the females here in our operation are paramount for our success,” he said.
“They've got to be able to get in calf straightaway, have a good calf, rear a good calf. That’s how you increase that probability and predictability.”
The addition of Circle8’s heifer Rosebud S669, bought via AuctionsPlus in September 2022 for $140,000, was about chasing eating quality.
“She had all those Angus traits, including top 1% for IMF, so hopefully will be a great addition to the program,” Robert said.
Macka's Angus heifers at Woko Station near Gloucester, NSW.
A happy animal is a healthy eater
Docility is another trait highly valued by Macka’s Angus, one that not only works for weight gain but for marketing.
In promoting his boxed beef program, Robert discovered that customers loved the storytelling element, and a cheerful herd made for fertile Instagram fodder.
But there is also a science behind the smiles and it was a quality that drew Macka’s to Texas Thunderstruck.
“Structurally, he looked great and ticked all the boxes. He had a great temperament. That's what we want to breed, that docility, that's a key trait to take through the herd.”
A 2020 survey of 1200 producers by Angus Australia found that temperament was the most important trait when selecting a bull, and the peak body believes that along with improved eating quality, a docile animal has lower production costs and improved feedlot performance. The trait is highly heritable.
Highly adaptable
While the cattle call the lush, rolling pastures of Macka’s Woko Station near Gloucester home, the Macka’s Angus team believe the stock will perform well in all types of conditions.
They have already sent some of the progeny around the country to very positive feedback.
Jack Mackenzie was happy to see such encouraging results.
“It's pretty exciting that where-ever they gone, you can see these cattle from our program doing well.”
Macka's Angus will have a female sale interfaced by AuctionsPlus on 21 March. See details here
Robert Mackenzie will be speaking at the Genetics Australia conference on March 18.
