After three generations of farming, Victorian graziers Russell and Josie Buchanan believe they have achieved the perfect management approach for a successful beef operation, and they are doing it with the help of Limousin bulls.

The Buchanans reside at "Leddriegreen" Bena, in a 40 inch rainfall region. Their 300 acre property is in the hills where the soil is three to four feet deep in places. It is bluegum country that was cleared by hand more than a century ago and approximately one-third of the property is so steep that it has to be supered by plane.

They run six Limousin bulls over 140-150 black Friesian/Angus cows in six small mobs, rotationally grazing them across each mob’s own set of paddocks. Each mob is moved about every five days.

Bulls are put in with the cows on approximately May 22 for calving in late February to March. This is an ideal time for their country because the weather is perfect and the pasture is short. This keeps milk production down until the calves can utilize it.

As the third generation of Buchanan on the property Russell said he is now just about where he wants to be with his herd but it has taken much time and thought.

The property used to run Hereford bulls over Friesian/Hereford cows but they had the usual problems with eye cancers and feet. They began to restructure the herd by purchasing pregnant Friesian/Angus heifers at the annual Korrumburra special sale in February.

From the start Russell went for top quality. He goes in early on sale day, inspects all the pens and notes the ones that catch his eye. Then he goes back on his tracks and examines the animals in each pen closely, looking particularly at feet and temperament. He has acquired a bit of a reputation for judgement and other people now follow him around and note what interests him. He paid $980 for his last replacements.

His next move was a change in bulls. When the market specifications shifted in the direction of lean meat the Buchanans found their calves were a bit uneven and they were being penalised for the fat. So they went to Simmental bulls but they experienced diffficulty with high birth weight calves.

"The calves were beautiful but we had to pull too many and the losses were unacceptable," Russell said.

Since changing to Limousins Russell is content.

They source bulls from the Lardner and Wodonga sales. He is fussy about feet, walking away from bulls that have their feet trimmed by age two, and is rigorous about temperament.

"Because of our steep country we don’t want to be bringing mobs up unnecessarily to the yards, which are the highest point on the property. We need our cattle to be easy to manage and we need to be able to separate a bull out and walk him back alone. Bulls must be quiet," he said.

He has his own test which prospective bulls must pass. Knowing full well that Limousin bulls don’t usually like full frontal patting on the head from strangers he does it anyway and judges the response.

He has sold four of his bulls in the last six weeks for prices ranging from $1.25 to $1.85. At weights of around 900 kilos he has done well on his culls.

A few remnants from the Hereford and Simmental stock will be the last of the old breeders to go.

"It is hard to see where we could improve on our current set up."

Indeed, this seems accurate. After Christmas they bring up one mob per week and draft off the best for Korrumburra saleyards where they usually top the market. It has proven to be the most profitable method of marketing their cattle.

They have experimented with direct selling but found that the returns did not justify the effort and expense.

"We had to bring all mobs up to the yard at one time, draft out what they wanted, then redraft the mobs and return them to their own paddocks. Cartage was expensive and when it was all worked out the returns were not sufficiently higher than what we obtained locally to make us want to continue with that method of selling."

Calves are turned off at an average weight of 410kg with the best weighing 450kg. Heifers sell at the same price as steers, sometimes better. This year in February they got $624.47 for their ten month old calves.

By the time they’ve worked their way through six mobs and sold the tails the cows are close to calving again. They don’t get much rest but they don’t require much due to their condition in Autumn.

Russell cuts his own hay late by district standards because that suits his management of the cow/calf unit. At the time of this interview in late October many farmers would have already shut up for hay but the Buchanan’s cows and calves would graze one more time on the paddocks which were intended for hay. This is the maximum growth period for the calves which would have weighed a little short of 300kg at the time and will put on another 100kg before sale.

The Buchanans do not just strive for excellence in terms of their cattle. They are members of the Korrumburra Landcare Group and participated in the Powlett Catchment Management Project. They have planted nearly 6000 trees (local and indigenous species) in the last two years, reforesting the gullies and they intend to continue the project over the whole farm.

Reforestation of the gullies has many benefits. Firstly, it will make management easier, secondly, it beautifies the farm by restoring degraded sections to natural conditions, and thirdly it will enhance pasture growth by sheltering paddocks from the wind.