FOR more than 40 years, Arthur Alcock has been breeding a hardy herd of Charolais cattle on his Arno Bay farm.
A 'true blue cattle man', Arthur has been on his Eyre Peninsula farm, Churinga, for nearly 60 years, and his passion for cattle still burns as strongly as when he began working with cattle in his childhood, despite the ups and downs of the industry.
As a youngster on his family's mixed farm, Arthur was always in charge of the cattle and his love of cattle grew.
His son Rowan now runs the 1400 hectare farm, and Arthur is still in charge of the cattle.
He runs 160 Charolais, what he calls the "best herd of Charolais on the West Coast".
Cattle are becoming a rarer choice on the Eyre Peninsula as downturns in price take their toll on the industry.
"In the '60's, you couldn't move for cattle. Then the prices dropped and people got out of them," he said.
"I have been with cattle all my life."
Charolais have been the only breed run on the farm for 40 years.
Before concentrating on Charolais, Arthur ran a mix of breeds, in what he refers to as a "Heinz special".
Then severe drought in the 1960s impacted heavily on his herd. The Charolais survived the dry seasons much better than his other breeds.
"They were less trouble, and I didn't lose one Charolais cow," he said
Since that time, the white cow has been his breed of choice.
He is now reaping the rewards of more than 40 years of careful breeding and selection, with prices for his animals regularly topping the Dublin sales.
With abundant feed this season the cattle are in top condition, and Arthur sells them at Dublin market at about 10 months. Last year, when he was short of feed and the cattle were not up to standard, he sold some to a local feedlot.
Some years he will sow barley for pasture, but usually the cows graze on natural feed.
With the bumper season across much of the Eyre Peninsula, the cattle are doing quite well on natural feed and are now "disgracefully fat".
* Full Livestock report in Stock Journal, December 9 issue.
