Angus fits the bill for Waterloo family

Over the past 20 years he believes introducing the Angus breed and applying different husbandry methods into the family enterprise has helped support this means.

The Butler family relocated from Kenya, East Africa to Western Australia in 1965 to pursue Graham's father's desire of becoming a dairy farmer.

His father, Pat, initially worked on a South West dairy farm in Waterloo and learnt from many local producers to develop a good grounding in the industry and how to manage irrigated pastures.

Guidance from State agricultural advisers and the reliability of the milk quota prompted the Butlers to purchase their first dairy farm in Bullsbrook in 1966.

They quickly expanded the dairy enterprise by developing an irrigation system using below ground water and soon they had other properties nearby which they began fattening Angus weaners on.

Unfortunately, their Bullsbrook property was soon deemed unsuitable for a large dairy system and with the dwindling number of suppliers and factories unwilling to pick up their produce, they decided to purchase 235 hectares in Boyanup.

The advice that they could irrigate from the Preston River on their new Boyanup property was incorrect and without access to water, the outputs outweighed the returns.

They soon found themselves on the lookout for more irrigated land.

With a lucky break, the Butlers were offered a property in Waterloo at a very reasonable rate and today they own the 106ha of effective grazing land and have called Waterloo their hometown for 46 years.

Following his father's passion for livestock and the land, Mr Butler at the age of 21, was appointed general farm manager of his family's dairy operation.

"Two years out of high school my dad became sick with a mosquito born virus and was told he had to stop all physical work," Mr Butler said.

"The reins were quickly handed to me and while I had always enjoyed the farming life, steep learning curves and many mistakes were initially made."

After a few years of rest and re-educating himself by completing an accountancy course and computer programming classes, Pat was able to perform light duties on the farm again.

While Mr Butler was still in control of the daily running of the property, his father now willingly assisted with the farm accounts and the irrigation system.

Not only did Pat run the irrigation system, but he designed the water system they still use on the home property today.

By the early 1980s, Mr Butler, together with his parents purchased a property in Yarloop.

However, after five years the 180ha property was sold as their young Angus-Friesian crosses were frequently stolen.

"We got out and I didn't know what to do, but with dad's accounts knowledge he invested his money and mine into the stock market," Mr Butler said.

"At the time I wasn't interested in investing in the stock market, but today I'm fortunate for my dad's influence and the person who was prosecuted for stealing our cattle and prompted us to sell the property.

"I now firmly believe in having off-farm investments, as the share market has been a great driver of profitability for me."

In 1995 Mr Butler's mother, May, sadly passed away and he and his father continued to milk Holstein females at Waterloo until 2002.

With the death of a close friend, at the age of 39, he realised life was too short and with no future plans and enough money in the stock market, the herd was sold within a month.

In the phase of get big or get out, the Butler's females returned $1300 a head with the dairy herd being split between two WA enterprises.

A year on, the Butler family had cut and stored a lot of hay and got back into cattle with the purchase of 80 crossbred beef cows from Scott River and 160 heifers from Esperance.

These females really taught Mr Butler how to handle cattle properly.

"They were very nervous types and I was advised numerous times to just fatten and sell them," Mr Butler said.

"But I didn't, and mated them to an Angus bull.

"It was a very interesting calving season indeed."

After a bad accident at calving time, Mr Butler took the advice he was originally given and sold the flightier breeders and continued to grow the self-replacing herd.

He also learnt that good electric fences were vital to running a beef operation.

The Boyanup property was sold in 2007 and the returns were invested in the stock market.

Mr Butler met his wife, Emy, in 2010 and together they now manage 380 head of beef cattle, 170 cow and calf units, and have been using Angus bulls for the past 18 years.

"My dad is 90 and actively stopped farming only four years ago," Mr Butler said.

"He still lives happily on the property with us and loves his cows."

The Butlers have stuck by the Angus breed for some time now because of the great and continued promotion of the product nationally and internationally.

"We originally took to the hardy breed from Scotland because my mum was from a Scottish background," Mr Butler said.

Today the Butlers purchase their Angus bulls from three local studs, Little Meadows, Blackrock and Black Market.

The bulls are joined in the first week of May and this coming mating season Mr Butler is applying a shorter six-week mating period for the heifers, opposed to the mature females who will get eight weeks.

Mr Butler said the reason for the shorter joining period was wanting to retain a tight calving pattern and the fertility up in the herd.

"I'm always looking for those curve bender bulls which have lower birthweights, a short gestation length, a carcase weight of more than +60, good docility and structure," he said.

"I stick to these principles because the last time I had to pull a calf was three years ago, as it was breach."

Calving begins the third week of February and both the heifers and mature females calve at a similar time.

For as long as Mr Butler can remember he has run six older females with the first calvers, believing it helped support the heifers calving, their mothering abilities and keeps them calm.

"We select 35 heifers as replacements each year and majority are selected from the younger female herd," he said.

All calves are paddock weaned onto the family's 40ha irrigation paddocks in November and December at seven to eight months old.

Females that have done it tough throughout the season or are too old and poor-quality types are also put on to the green irrigation to fatten up for market or to prepare for next year's calving season.

Mr Butler said the irrigation system his dad redesigned when laser levelling came back in the 1980s, was still used to irrigate one third of the property.

"Through utilising water wastage from the initial runoff from the irrigation paddocks, we are able to redirect it to paddocks on the Collie river slopes," he said.

"The only downfall is that there is a lot of salt which comes from the dam and it's unfortunately increasing each year."

Deep ripping the irrigation paddocks to remove the salt has been a continuous job since they purchased the property.

In April the family spreads 25kg/ha of ryegrass mixture from Bell Seeds and atomic ryegrass on the irrigation paddocks that have been grazed hard.

They then mulch the paddocks, deep rip and after the first rains spread 100kg/ha of urea on top.

"This aids in the breakdown of the kikuyu, mulch and gets the ryegrass off to a good start," Mr Butler said.

The process allows them to have quality feed off the irrigation land during winter for the young replacement heifers and breeders prior to mating.

"Our goal has always been to produce more kilograms of beef per hectare rather than more kilograms per animal," he said.

"Since I began farming, I have strip grazed our paddocks every 12 hours, however this season I have applied the simpler method of grazing growing paddocks for less than three days and I look forward to seeing the economic cost between the two."

The Butlers have always supported the local Boyanup Saleyards and annually sell their yearlings at 14 months of age directly through Nutrien Livestock, Waroona agent Richard Pollock.

The Butler's yearlings are sold in the first week of April, when numbers are often lower and local graziers are looking to restock over the winter.

"Last April we received over 400c/kg for three of our drafts which was top dollar at the time," Mr Butler said.

"Through years of irrigating with the system dad implemented, to investing in good electric fences and breeding Angus cattle that are low maintenance and have minimal calving problems, we have designed a farming enterprise which now makes life that little bit easier."