The Modern Hereford: Proven, profitable, and built for the future  

Key profit drivers in the modern commercial beef business of fertility, early maturity, weight gain, longevity, carcase quality and market flexibility are at the core of the modern Hereford.  

Rapid genetic gain over the past two decades has resulted in a reduced calving interval by more than two days while the breed has added another 30kg to the genetic potential for turn-off weights, and Herefords have made consistent genetic gain in marbling. 

This gives the modern Hereford the ability to reach slaughter weights at an earlier age off grass or grain, and consistently meet grid specifications for ossification, fat cover and Meat Standards Australia grading.  

The modern Hereford has evolved to Australian climatic conditions over two centuries – more years than almost any other breed. The white face has always been synonymous with hardiness, docility, longevity and quality tender beef.  

The Hereford breed is still one of the six largest cattle breeds in the country and is spread across all states and territories – adapted to climate extremes from the sub alpine areas to the deserts of central Australia. 

The relevance in today’s industry is not just due to tradition or the heritage value of the breed, the modern Hereford in Australia has continued developing and refining to suit a wide range of production systems and markets. Importantly the breed underpins profitable beef producing businesses.   

Managing a profitable business is not as simple as cents per kilogram, it comes down to a balance between kilograms of beef produced per hectare, the price received per kilogram, and the cost of producing it.  

In addition to each of these producers also need to be aware of the sustainability aspects of their business to ensure they can keep producing year after year.  

The modern Hereford has retained its traditional benefits of hardiness, docility and longevity as well as continued to improve a wide range of traits that help address each of these profit drivers.  

From a breeding program point of view the main traits grazing businesses can rely on to influence kilograms produced per hectare are fertility and growth rate.  

Hereford cattle are widely known as performing well for both of these traits, but importantly we can also demonstrate significant ongoing improvements for these traits.  

Over the last 20 years Herefords have shortened the average time it takes cows to return to calve each year by more than two days, this means more live calves on the ground every year building on the already high reproductive rates for the breed.  

At the same time the breed has also added another 30kg to the genetic potential for weight at normal industry turn-off ages.   

The traits influencing the price received per kilogram are best demonstrated by the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) grading system. The main traits impacting on MSA grading that we can select for within our breeding programs include ossification, marbling and rib fat.  

Ossification refers to the process of cartilage being calcified and turned into bone, it is used as an estimate of an animals age. In our breeding programs we can best manage it by selecting for higher growth to ensure cattle reach turn-off weights and younger ages.  

Considering the improvement in genetic potential for growth in the Hereford breed, weight for age has become one of our biggest drivers of MSA grading outcomes.  

Marbling is another big driver of MSA grading and consumer satisfaction. The Hereford breed has made consistent genetic gain for IMF levels over the last 20 years.  

Individual bulls within the breed have now been demonstrated to make improvements of between 0.5 and 1 Aus-Meat Marble Scores in the one generation.  

Data collected by Herefords Australia has demonstrated the average MSA Index for Hereford cattle perform well above industry benchmarks.  

Traits influencing our cost of production in cattle breeding businesses may not be quite as obvious as those driving production and price, but they are equally as important.  

These are the same traits impacting on things like welfare, efficiency and sustainability. The Hereford breed has been making ongoing improvements to Calving Ease and Birth Weight which both improves welfare outcomes and improves cost of production through few mortality losses.  

Mature Cow Weight has a significant impact on cost of production due to its impact on the additional feed requirements for maintaining larger cows.  

The Hereford breed has maintained the genetic merit for mature weight constant over the last 10 years while continuing to improve early growth rates.  

This means we are able to generate more revenue from improved early growth without increasing the cost of maintaining the cow herd.  

At the same time the ability of Hereford cattle to lay down fat to ensure cattle can maintain body condition in tough seasons has continued to improve.  

The use of Hereford genetics brings these advantages to cross breeding programs as well as the pure-bred herd.  

Using Hereford bulls over cows of other breeds brings the direct genetic impact for all of these traits as well as bringing in the benefits of hybrid vigour.  

This approach is being used to improve market compliance but has the added benefit of reducing the bull cost per calf born due to the longevity of Hereford bulls.  

The overall impact of all these factors, combining the traditional benefits of Hereford cattle with the gains in performance across the production system, means the modern Hereford is truly the backbone of profitable beef enterprises.