Is the glass half full or half empty? We are responsible for creating about 130 cattle lives each year, and we insure every single steer and heifer are never short of quality feed and clean water. As humans, we mistakenly assume cattle have an understanding of their length of life, which they don’t. They might [...]
This ranges from between 2 and 3 years of age, and is dependant upon weight gains, fat levels, physiological maturity and the markets at the time.
After an animal dies it undergoes the rigour process where the muscle keeps working. With the heart no longer pumping, the muscle relies solely on ‘muscle glucose’ (MG, or energy) to feed it during this phase which requires 64 units of MG. If the muscle runs out of energy before the rigour process would otherwise [...]
The cattle are sent to the Cowra Abattoir, which is located about 270km (four and a half hours drive by truck) due west of Sydney. As we often find ourselves as the conduit to consumers of information regarding the processing of our beef, we felt it imperative to have an informed understanding of the whole [...]
The cattle are not sheltered/sheded during winter or at any other time as they often are in European countries, so they have the same natural day lengths as we enjoy. Every paddock has very adequate natural shelter in the way of trees, so cattle can always choose to reduce the effects of the elements (sun, rain, wind [...]
The property is 760 ha (1,880 ac), of which about 500 ha is good grazing country and the remainder is timbered and of lighter soil. We can have anywhere between 200 and 400 head of cattle in our charge at any one time, but we have two exclusive local assignment options (certified) so we can maintain the [...]
We have been practicing Rotational or ‘Time controlled’ grazing on Gundooee for about 13 years, and in that time have seen great change in both soil health and plant species. The main principle is to allow the plants to maximise their stored energy reserves (in their roots) to re-grow more- vigorously after a graze period. The vigorous growth creates more feed than [...]
Traditionally we have always produced our own calves. The past 12 months has seen an occasion for us having to purchase in cattle from another farm (not far from Gundooee – who fortunately operate essentially the same way we do), but this is only an interim measure.
At Gundooee we keep a tail hair follicle sample of every animal sold. If there is ever a question that the Gunddoee beef you have purchased is not in fact Gundooee we can send samples away for lab testing.
The ultra-sound fat-testing procedure for the cattle uses the same principals of sending out and receiving sound waves to learn what is under the skin as it does for human applications. It is easy, accurate, and painless for the cattle. The qualified assessor comes to the farm about three times every year and choose the testing site just forward on [...]