First-gen beef breeders gain insight from US trip to chase dreams

Jake says winning the 2023 Arthur Rickards Young Breed Leader Award, which provided $10,000 towards their trip, was the push they needed to chase their dreams in expanding their Phillips Cattle Company business.

"It was not about finding the next Angus sire, it was a self discovery mission, we know this is where we want to go to but we have no idea how we are getting there," he said.

Over five weeks in January and February the couple and their three year old son Angus travelled across the United States attending the National Western Stock Show in Denver, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Conference in Orlando,Florida, as well as numerous breed societies, universities and cattle ranches.

Mr Phillips- Angus Australia's extension manager and Mrs Phillips - an agriculture teacher at Naracoorte High School - can't thank their hosts enough for their wonderful hospitality and for sharing their stories and showing them their businesses.

"For five weeks we were able to study our industry. when do you get that when your phone isn't ringing and you are not responding to emails?" he said

"We had pages and pages of notes and take home messages but in the end we summed it up in three words: cows, culture and character."

The Phillips family says visiting the ranches of two inspirational first generation seedstock producers were among the highlights of the trip, giving them the belief it could be done with hard work and hustle.

The first of these was Aaron and Sheyna Strommen, Strommen Ranch, North Dakota who have grown their herd in the past 15 years from six cows and no land to 300 females along with cooperator herds.

Mr Strommen, who was a semen company rep and Mrs Strommen, a graphic designer, now farm full-time, marketing 150 Angus bulls a year and also invite their clients to be part of a successful PTIC female sale.

The other family, Kevin and Lydia Yon, Yon Family Farms, Ridge Spring, South Carolina, have grown their business from 100 acres and 100 cows to running 1400 cows. Their three children are all working in the family business which now includes pecans.

Mr Phillips says these couples did everything they could to be in the best position to take advantage of opportunities as they arose.

" They worked in the industry and lived and breathed it, they were people orientated and dedicated themselves to learning the art of breeding, marketing and relationships," he said.

"You could say they had some luck but I think there could have been others given that same opportunity that wouldn't have done what they have done with it."

Since returning home the couple have already started concentrating on getting the best cows in their herd.

" We realised that what we are doing is not going to get us where we want to go, the days of having average cows being mated to popular bulls and crossing your fingers and hoping to get a good calf are behind us," he said.

"That strategy is not going to work because our consumer knows more about our product than ever before and the market sets price based on quality parameters."

Mr Phillips acknowledges there is more affordable land available in the US for beef production within a few hours of an abattoir or airport than in Australia and they have greater access to low interest rate loans.

But most evident was the greater acceptance of shared ownership of livestock.

"The US are really willing to build partnerships between producers such as we co-own these feeder cattle or you feed our bulls on your farm and we split the proceeds, we saw that every day yet in Australia I can count that on one hand," he said.

He says US farmers known for their patriotism are also much more likely to want to leave a legacy helping the next generation get their start if they don't have children of their own wanting to be part of succession plans.

"In the US if they can retire but still share their passion they will rather than just cashing in so the challenge to Australian farmers is who can you help on the way out?"

Instead of throwing their hands in the air about not having the money to buy more land, Mr and Mrs Phillips have already began having conversations with a couple of people they are keen to work with.

They are still working out what the business venture may look like but believe replicating their best cows using breeding technologies and ensuring they are selling six or eight or more calves from each cow each year will give them the best returns. They also want to market these cattle at a younger age.

"We had ideas of what we knew we needed to do but we now need to have that clear plan and execute it as best we can and surround ourselves with the right people," she said.

Mrs Phillips says the strong teamwork they saw in many successful livestock businesses has made them want to work together more into the future.

"They had a strong vision which you could see in their cows, they weren't trying to follow anyone else's story," she said.

The ambitious goal the couple who currently sell about (how many) cattle each year have set themselves is to offer 30 cattle each year, including bulls, females and cull cows and increase this by 12 head per annum.

"Part of that is about making sure we get 80 per cent of income from 80pc of the cattle. One thing in Australian seedstock we don't do a great job of is expecting 80 per cent of our income to come from 40pc of calves from a bull sale - that is not for us," he said.

"Our plan is to offer bulls and heifers across probably four times of the year."

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