THE Angus breed continued its onward march in Australia's beef industry in 2013 with new data showing Angus Australia registrations rose 1.7 per cent to 68,657 head for the year.
This follows a 3pc increase in registrations in 2012.
Angus Australia chief executive Peter Parnell said it was a "great result" given that so many areas of NSW and Qld were battling drought conditions, and the whole cattle market was in a depressed state. Many on-property bull sale averages had also been lower than 2012.
Total Angus registrations continued to be more than registrations of all other temperate breeds combined, highlighting the breed's dominance.
He said that many positives for the breed included the premium across a range of markets, and momentum of Angus brands, particularly the natural grassfed brand Angus Pure fuelling demand for Angus.
And stronger interest from northern Australian producers for Angus and Angus-cross bulls such as Brangus, gave more marketing options with the progeny.
"Even though the whole beef industry is under a lot of stress because of the tough seasonal conditions, we are still seeing quite good demand for Angus relative to the other breeds," he said.
Export demand for Angus heifers remained strong, and more than 40,000 were shipped to Russia, Kazakhstan and China in 2013. It was providing a buoyant alternative market for commercial and stud Angus breeders to sell their young surplus females
"We had a big increase from the year before and the exporters are telling us that we can expect continued orders through 2014," he said.
"Those breeding Angus can often obtain a market premium for their weaner or feeder steers and now they have also got a greater market for their surplus females, which just adds to the premium for Angus."
Mr Parnell said he was pleased to see Angus breeders continuing with objective measurement, contributing to the breed's success, and performance-recording an increased number of cattle in 2013 across a wide range of traits.
Positive genetic trends for traits of economic importance included growth, marbling, meat quality and fertility.
The Angus Sire Benchmarking Program had its first intake of bulls in 2010 and had delivered its first full set of results for 35 bulls. A total of 140 bulls were evaluated so far.
The program gave valuable genetic information for more accurate DNA tests for hard-to-measure traits such as feed efficiency and identifying new elite sires in the breed.
* Full report in Stock Journal, February 6, 2014 issue.
Catherine Miller
Stock Journal's livestock editor and South East correspondent.
Stock Journal's livestock editor and South East correspondent.
