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Dragon Breath Angus is a stud established in 2002 on the banks of the Hunter River at Stanhope, (near Branxton) in NSW.
Based on a foundation herd of predominantly Booroomooka, Kenny’s Creek and Lawson's bloodlines, the herd is focused on meeting the demands of breeders looking for quality bulls with the muscle that will make you money at the sale yards while not compromising on calving ease traits that makes them suitable for joining with heifers and cows alike in any straight breed or cross breed program.
In order of importance breeding within our herd is focused on:
1. Calving Ease
The biggest and best means nothing if you cant use a bull safely on your heifers. Vet bills, dead calves and having to get up at all hours of the night to pull calves can be expensive. This is why our primary focus is on maintaining a breeding herd with history of having calves that come out early and easy.
2. Temperament
Quite cattle put on more weight, cut less dark meat and cause less headaches. Making mistakes in this area can mean generations of problems and potential danger. That's why we prefer to wait and receive feedback from other studs rather than using "the next big thing" with no track record on temperament.
3. Fertility
For us fertility is more than having a bull with a large scrotum. Its about having cattle that find it easy to be in the right condition to breed year after year. This means the structural correctness, ease of maintaining condition as well as scrotal size is important to us.
Showing our cattle helps keep us on our toes. Fertility testing and vet assessment prior to sale means our bulls are on the money when they leave our farm.
4. Visual Muscling
Very few farmers get paid on EMA or Marbling scores, however a good visual topline and high muscle score can go a long way to delivering a good payday in the local yards. Visual muscling combined with calving ease is not easy, but we believe it is a challenge worth aiming for.
5. Use of Australian Sires
It is stating the obvious but the environmental and feed conditions are not the same in Australia as America. Many breeders shy away from locally bred sires fearing that they will not make as much money as the latest and greatest to come out from the USA.
Our thoughts are a little different. An Australian bred sire has proven their genetic value under Australian conditions and while this does not guarantee success, we believe that it generally improves the odds. We have also found that some of the Australian sires offer a combination of traits and characteristics that are not available from overseas sires.
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