Juggling carcase quality with unreliable seasons to capture grass fed premium

Victoria’s Gippsland region has long been noted as the home of steer finishers and backgrounders targeting the premium grass-fed domestic markets with Hereford steers and heifers.  

Under these pasture-fed, antibiotic and hormone-free programs, there is no price differentiation for whiteface cattle meeting all the carcase weight and eating quality specifications.  

Herefords Australia took a deep dive into finishing cattle for these premium grass-fed brands during the 2026 Stud Beef Victoria Beef Week.  

Stan Walker, Charellan Poll Herefords, Pearsondale, is a member of the Gippsland Performance Herefords group and says commercial producers are seeking carcase weight and reduced days to slaughter in their Hereford herds accredited for these markets.  

Group members agree continual selection for low birthweight can have negative consequences for growth and meeting grid specifications so advises producers to have a balanced approach to birthweight. 

Stan encouraged producers to seek out bulls combining high growth and shorter gestation lengths. 

“I still look at a BREEDPLAN EBV for mature cow weight of +60-80kg – I don’t want to see extremes in that figure but a moderate framed, efficient and functional female able to reproduce under all seasonal conditions,” he said.  

“We had a very dry season, and the cows were able to quickly bounce back in condition to 650kg plus. As soon as there is a bit of grass, away they go.” 

David Meikle, Tarwin Poll Herefords, Meeniyan, agreed, saying bull selection for positive rib and rump fat allowed the breeding herd to draw on fat reserves in adverse seasons. 

“In our cold and wet winters, the fat cover on the cows gives them insulation to keep warm and allowing them to be out grazing instead of huddling together,” he said. 

“This gives us reliability and doability in cows that steam away in the spring.” 

The Gippsland Performance Herefords Group members have targeted an IMF EBV of at least breed average or above to lift meat eating quality in the commercial progeny targeting grass fed programs. 

“We have set a minimum figure of +1.5% for IMF in the sires used and as a breed we need to be able to build that IMF. It will not only benefit eating quality but also the fat reserves for doability,” David Meikle said.   

Each year Group members enter steers in Australia’s only grass-fed steer trial at Lardner Park, Warragul, to quantify their genetic selections and use the comprehensive carcase feedback to refine their breeding and management decisions. 

“All of the current drop of heifers are over +1.0% for IMF, and we will be seeing how that translates into the carcase data in the Lardner trial results. The MSA Index is an important indicator of eating quality and IMF is a key to meeting those specifications,” Stan Walker said. 

“Most producers in this region are selling accredited Herefords direct to processors including Greenham Never Ever and JBS. Those processors are strict on the cattle being pasture fed and containing no antibiotics or growth hormones but there is no price differentiation between the breeds. 

“The days of the big four-year-old bullock are gone, and the processors want a carcase of around 300kg with the right amount of fat at a low ossification.” 

He pointed to the importance of selecting for positive rib and rump fat in bulls to produce progeny that are sustainable and having doability under dry seasonal conditions. 

David Meikle is also a member of Gippsland Performance Breeders, and looks for muscle and butt shape, and a moderate frame score in bulls to produce progeny for the grass-fed market. 

“These calves will finish off grass at 600-700kg liveweight at two years of age, and an earlier maturing animal will be able to meet that criteria. In the past, animals would be finishing at two to three years old, but the breed has genetically reduced the days to slaughter interval with the benefit of lower ossification scores.” 

David finishes his own steers, surplus heifers and cast for age cows on river flats and sells them to the Greenham Bass Strait brand. In dry seasons the weaners are sold to backgrounders and steer finishers at the Victorian Livestock Exchange store market. 

“The steer finishers are looking for a medium frame score, softness, muscle and butt shape as an indicator of muscularity and grass finishing ability,” he said. 

A regular competitor in the Lardner Park grass fed trial, David believes it gives him a real-world grounding in how his cattle compare to others within the breed and between breeds. 

“I’m pleased to say Herefords hold their own if not do a bit better. Commercial and seedstock producers are missing an opportunity by not being involved in the trial,” he said. 

One of the Tarwin steers achieved an impressive average daily weight gain in the 2025 trial of 1.94kg off grass.  

“He is a high EBV animal for growth so that confirms what BREEDPLAN was telling us in the first place, that he should go onto grow well. The trial feedback generally does confirm a lot of what we see in BREEDPLAN. I enjoy how the trial does compare the breed to others in a critical way and Herefords have certainly stacked up over the years. It has allowed us to use performance figures to make improvements over time.” 

When it comes to crossbreeding, David said commercial producers were using Herefords to achieve a 10 per cent increase in weight gain through hybrid vigour or heterosis. 

“Hereford bulls are being used to inject docility into these herds and take advantage of the growth and weight for age benefit. 

“The black baldy female has been used in this region for decades for their good maternal traits and doability.” 

The Hereford breed’s Sustainability Production Index is designed for commercial self-replacing herds targeting the domestic market and with a strong focus on sustainability.  

It specifically focuses on grass finished steers with a 300kg carcase weight, and 10mm of rump fat at 20 months of age.  

David recommended using the index as another tool during bull selection and says breed’s indexes are handy when drafting bulls on a percentile basis in a sale catalogue. 

Ross and Bernie Broadbent, Heyfield, transitioned from dairying to 180 autumn and spring calving commercial Hereford, Angus and black baldy breeders, running on irrigated river flats.  

Quality Hereford heifers were sourced out of the 2020 Mountain Calf sales, AI’ed to Injemira Fortune M152 and backed up with an Allendale bull. 

The couple like the docility and weight gain in the black baldy weaners with sales at the Victorian Livestock Exchange resulting in 560c/kg last September for heifers. They are finishing the spring drop purebred Hereford steers to heavier weights off grass.  

Last year they sold yearling pasture finished Hereford steers direct to Australian Meat Group Dandenong and were pleased to receive the carcase feedback for analysis.  

“Receiving the kill sheets gives us the incentive to direct more cattle into that market as it quantified our carcase quality,” Bernie said.  

“We attended the 2025 Lardner Park steer trial open day and intend to enter Hereford, black baldy and Angus steers this year to do a comparison out of the same drop.” 

“We want to keep improving our cattle and use the carcase feedback to help our breeding decisions and turn them off as quickly as possible,” Ross added.  

Bill Lack, Willack Poll Herefords, Dawson, said the Hereford breed suits the unreliable seasons of Gippsland with its inherent flexibility to meet not only grass-fed markets but also grain.  

 These options also extend to the regional dairy industry with farmers increasingly seeking out Hereford bulls to value add to their bobby calves, supply the vealer market or target heavier steers finished on improved pastures for the lucrative grass-fed grids.