THE McLarty family has a long history in beef cattle with the family farming at their 'Blythewood' property at Pinjarra for nearly 170 years after their ancestors first settled the property in the 1850s.
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The McLarty family originated from Scotland and travelled to Pinjarra in 1839 and this year marks their 180th anniversary in WA.
Leigh McLarty and his brother Geoffrey are the fifth generation to farm the property and while some things may have changed, they still run traditional Shorthorns.
"Shorthorns have been the historical breed we've had here, they probably go back 100 years on the property," Geoff said.
Today the family operation stretches over 1620 hectares and the McLarty's run a herd of 1800 cattle including 600 breeders based mainly on the Shorthorn breed but with some Red Angus and Simmental infusion.
The McLartys have stuck with the Shorthorn breed over the years as they have stood the test of time.
"Shorthorns have always been good because they are a good base because of the marbling quality plus they're good mothers and overall good hardy cattle," Leigh said.
"They've always been a great base and they were traditionally here, they've served us well so there's no need to change," Leigh said.
The inclusion of Simmentals has helped to improve weight gain, while the Red Angus breed was added to assist with calving in heifers.
"We have found that by using the Simmentals we got higher growth rates and the Red Angus cattle are softer and suit more of a domestic market," Leigh said.
"They also help with ease of calving so there's a lot less assisted calving," Geoff said.
When it comes to selling their cattle any market is a good market and the McLartys have set up their herd to be adaptable to meet the ever-changing market demands.
"We find with our Shorthorn base that with crossbreeding you can target the market you want and you can do it fairly quickly, but the markets are changing all the time," Leigh said.
Being flexible with their cattle means the McLartys can chase premium prices in various markets.
"We sell to all the meatworks for the domestic market and then we also do live shipping, we just try and find the markets that are financially rewarding," Leigh said.
"There seems to be a big demand for the boats going to Vietnam and China," Leigh said.
When it comes to sourcing their bulls the McLartys are not afraid to look around for the ones which best suit their requirements.
When it comes to their shorthorns in recent years most of their bulls have come from the Crathes Park stud, Vass and the Talgarth stud, Bindoon.
In recent years they have purchased Simmental bulls from Paul Tuckey's Mubarn stud, Pinjarra, and the Cowcher family's Willandra stud at Williams, while their Red Angus sires have come from Kingslane stud, Benger and Jutland Park, Serpentine.
When selecting their bulls temperament and feet are the most important factors.
"Temperament is important and feet are important because of the sandy soil," Geoff.
"Then we just change to what we need in our cows," Geoff said.
"We are really trying to breed to suit the local market," Leigh said.
Once their cows reach 10 years of age they are culled and any females that are empty at pregnancy testing also get culled.
The McLartys grow their own pastures, which is a mix of clover and rye used for hay and also oats.
The McLartys have found to improve their pastures acquired the help of an agronomist and are reaping the benefits.
"By using an agronomist and making sure that everything's right, like using the correct amount of fertilisers, we have really improved our carrying capacity.
In addition to their own feed, some of the cattle that don't meet market requirements are put onto pellets.
"We just put them on Milne EasyBeef Feed pellets, it can be costly but it's a convenient way to do it," Leigh said.
The McLartys believe this value-adding and this allows them to chase higher prices for cattle that otherwise would be sold at reduced prices.
"You can have cattle that perhaps doesn't quite meet the markets, so we feed them for a period of time and then all of a sudden they jump into those markets and you can move them into a higher price bracket."Leigh said.
"It means the cattle that aren't quite finished now can be put on pellets and value-added so we can sell them later."
Joining occurs in June, with calving starting in March for weaning in December and the aim is to sell off their progeny at 18 months of age at 500-550kg.
The McLartys also trade some of their cattle.
"We trade quite a few cattle so we probably buy about 1500 steers of any breed each year and trade them through," Geoff said.
Last year the McLartys didn't put any of their heifers on feed which meant they had 300 heifers in the paddock.
Keeping the heifers away from bulls and trying to fatten them up at the same time can be tricky so the McLartys put four bulls in with 230 of the 300 heifers.
"We saw a bit of any opportunity to sell in a future sale and we just thought whatever gets in calf, gets in calf," Leigh said.
Much to their surprise, the McLartys found that their little endeavour had paid off and even exceeded their expectations.
"We ended up with 180 in calf, which meant we had a lot more females in calf than we needed".
"We usually only have 60-100 females.
As a result of the overflow, for the first time, the McLartys will have some of their cattle in the Landmark Boyanup Mated Beef Female Sale on Thursday, January 9.
"This is the first time we are putting some heifers in that female sale in January, we're putting 58 mated heifers of the three breeds and their crosses," Leigh said.
Their offering will be made up of Simmental-Shorthorns, Simmental-Shorthorn-Red Angus, Red Angus-Shorthorn and some purebred Shorthorn heifers.
