What do you get when you chose a Cadfor bull?
Experience
We have been breeding Murray Greys for 40 years. After a lifetime of breeding we are more enthusiastic than ever about the breed and about the quality of animals that we now offer the commercial cattle breeder.
A bull that is quiet and easily handled
All breeders want bulls that are safe and easy to handle. Temperament is so important in a bull and it is passed to his progeny. For decades we have culled all animals that are flighty or that kick. Cadfor cattle are a delight to handle with no stress for the cattle or the handler. If you have never inspected our cattle at close quarters please make arrangements to do so. Walk around the Cadfor herd in the paddock or among them in the yards to see how confident and easy going they are. You will be surprised and delighted at how our cattle will approach and follow you around.
Performance recording
We record and analyse all relevant performance traits including ultrasound scans for carcase quality. We make all this information, actual data (such as birth weight and growth rate) and Breedplan figures, available to allow you to assess how the animal will meet your requirements.
A high performance breeding program
Cadfor is very cold in winter, being above 800 metres and in a valley where we get frosts from March to November. In this region cattle make little growth in winter and most commercial cattle production is geared to producing store weaners for the sales in autumn. With a short growing season we need explosive growth from our calves to produce a finished product before the bulk of weaners hit the regional weaner sales in April / May.
In the past 10 years our spring drop weaner performance has gone from an average of 250 kg in April to 300 kg in February running on pastures.
We are always looking for the best genetics to suit the local climate and markets. If you have bought a bull from us you can be assured that we are already looking ahead to breed your next bull.
An endorsement of our program was given by Genetics Australia when they purchased Cadfor Genesis for semen export. Over 2,500 doses of his semen have now been exported to South Africa and South America with orders for New Zealand and the UK now under way.
Muscling
We were involved in the trial at Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute into muscling. We have been selecting well muscled bulls and can see the improved muscling in recent calf drops. Further information here.
A herd improver
We want our clients’ herds to make genetic progress. We endeavour to sell bulls that are better than breed average. It is very difficult to have animals that are better than average in all traits – sometimes a compromise has to be accepted. Bulls with low birth weight and high calving ease may not have high growth rates. Some highly muscled bulls have lower than average fat cover. We provide you with all data so that you can judge.
Reasonable price
We recall seeing a suggestion that breeders should be prepared to pay the equivalent value of four cull cows for a replacement bull. Given the current state of the cattle market we are pricing our bulls between $3,000 to $5,000. There may be cheaper bulls available but none of better value considering the quality on offer.
Commercially relevant cattle
The target market for our bulls is the local commercial cattle breeder. We aim to breed cattle that grow fast with good muscling off grass.
Our cattle are not pampered show cattle, they are pasture fed and paddock reared. We only supplement in winter or when pastures deteriorate and then with hay / silage and possibly a protein supplement. The commercial value of our cattle has been emphasised by the results in the Commercial Section of our local Crookwell Show where we have won the Supreme Champion Commercial Cattle award for four of the last five years. We won the Breeders Group award for each of the past years, also against all breeds.
Calving ease
Because calving difficulties have many causes, unfortunately we can not guarantee that all calves by our bulls will be born without problems. However, we can assure you that we do not retain cows that have calving difficulties nor do we keep bulls that have caused any such trouble.
We are conscious that many of our clients have small herds and run only one bull which has to be suitable for heifer joining. We try to give our best assessment of which bulls can be used with confidence over heifers.
We believe that the shape of a calf is as important as its size in ensuring a successful trouble free delivery. Calves by Yamba Waratah, for example, are often quite heavy but we have never had a calving problem with them – they are long and sausage shape. However, we suggest that such bulls are not used over heifers. Wallawong Sheffield’s calves are also slightly above average weight but are born without trouble because of their shape. Sheffield was used over heifers for the majority of his time with us.
Another issue in our herd is that some of our bigger cows produce large calves, again born without trouble, which get Breedplan figures for large birth weight and poor calving ease. Although we doubt that bulls from these cows will cause problems, we err strongly on the side of caution.
Quality Assurance
Cadfor bulls offered for sale are:
- Registered with the Murray Grey Beef Cattle Society
- From a Bovine Johnes MN3 herd
- Independently assessed for structure and temperament
- Free of known genetic conditions
- DNA tested
- Sire verified
- Tested free of pestivirus persistent infection (PI)
- Vaccinated against pestivirus, leptospirosis and clostridial diseases
- Transferred to the new owner with the MG Society
- Transferred to the new property on the NLIS database
Sale policy
We calve our cows in spring and autumn so we usually have bulls available in a range of ages. We scan our animals before sale and, because we do not normally do this before about 12 months of age, we like to keep animals until they are 12 months. This means, for example, our autumn drop bulls are not normally made available until the time of our Beef Week Open Day in July / August. If you see a young bull that you particularly fancy we will hold it for you until the scan results are available. Bulls currently available are found here
A guarantee
We undertake to replace any bull that is proven infertile or incapable of natural service or has a structural problem, excluding any problems due to injury, misadventure or disease which has occurred since leaving Cadfor. We will also replace any bull that has a temperament problem.
If a suitable replacement bull is not available we will provide credit equal to the purchase price less salvage value to be used. This credit to be used towards the purchase of another Cadfor bull. This guarantee extends for two years after the bull leaves Cadfor. In the second year the value of the replacement is reduced by half.
A choice of colours
We understand that some breeders have a favourite colour in Murray Greys. We try to offer bulls in a range of colours (silver, grey and black) to suit all tastes. However, it has been difficult to predict what we will have for sale. For example when breeding grey to grey the chances are that 25% of offspring will be silver, 50% grey and 25%. (See here.) Over time we have found those proportions to be true but in any one year it varies due to chance. Some years we have had a nice batch of black bulls, this year it is mainly grey bulls, next year we will have mainly silver. This has frustrated us somewhat, so in future we want a more predictable range of colours. We plan to breed silver to silver to get silver animals and black to black to meet the demand by local breeders for black bulls.
After sales service and help
We are always available to discuss any problems or concerns you have about bulls you have purchased or about your cattle generally. In particular we do look forward to getting feedback about how your bulls are performing as this helps guide our breeding strategies.
