Welcome to “In the Herd” our spotlight on individual members and their British White Cattle journeys.
Father and Daughter team believe British White’s grass finished meat quality is key
Craig Cross with his Nanthes Park herd
Craig Cross was a self-confessed “townie”, with no experience of cattle breeding when he moved from Alice Springs to northeast Victoria in 2011 and bought 150 acres of farmland in Indigo Valley. But unbeknownst, even to him, he had a superpower up his sleeve.
That great business asset came in the form of his daughter, Tabatha, aged eight at the time, who took to the cattle game like a duck to water. Today “Tabby” plays a key role in not only the family’s Nanthes Park stud, but in the industry across the region. Tabby started showing cattle when she was 13, is now a judge and also the administrative supervisor at the huge Northern Victorian Livestock Exchange at Barnawartha.
She has been instrumental in one of Nanthes Park’s guiding priorities – to keep a keen eye on the stud’s cattle in order to continually improve the quality of the stud’s breeding stock, by culling any calves or weaners that are not up to the highest standard, and constantly focussing on refining the genetic pool.
Starting predominantly with Ravenswood and Darnum Park Genetics, Craig says “we have invested heavily into a semen and embryo collection from our cattle to not only preserve the breed’s genetics but make them available to more producers”. His goal is to get the word out about the quality of British Whites, and encourage more people to take them on.
Still, British Whites remain a niche market, he says. “The small national herd size doesn’t allow for the breed to be commercially comparable to other larger breeds, so it’s important to focus on their key traits such as fertility, temperament, eating quality and doing ability. They are what makes the breed stand out in the industry.”
The first cattle they purchased were three British White cows from Darnum Park. Since then, they have grown the herd to what it is today, 50 beasts altogether, 20 of them breeders and calves.
Nanthes Park has been so successful that a few years ago they were unable to meet the demand for their heifers, and buyers had to go on a wait list.
While Craig appreciates British Whites’ cute looks and manageable temperament, his commercial priority from the get-go centred around the breed’s edibility. “British Whites have a great place in the paddock-to-plate, direct to consumer market,” he says, and the original intention to run a paddock to plate operation was a prime consideration in choosing them. “We were looking for a moderate framed breed that was easy to manage and produced quality grass-fed beef,” Craig says.
Performance in the beef market remains a number one principle: “Our objectives are to breed quality cattle that produce a top-quality grass-fed meat product. Over the years we have been selective in structure, fertility and carcass attributes in our cattle. Looking to the future we want to continue to breed British White cattle that can perform in the current beef industry, while continuing to advance our genetics.
Consumers of Nanthes Park produce comment favourably on the flavour of the meat, Craig says, and an important part of the British White story is that they do really well on grass: “If you’ve got good grass, you’ve got great beef.
“British Whites are a later maturing breed and hence we like to grow our steers out to 18 months on grass. Our steers for our direct meat sales are two years old and 500kg live weight.”
He sends his animals to a nearby abattoir, and the meat goes to the local butcher, who sell half sides to buyers on agreement at a flat rate per kilo, regardless of the cut.
Craig and Tabby are grateful to be a part of the British White Cattle Society for a number of reasons.
“The work that Society members have done with their paddock-to-plate businesses to promote the breed and the quality meat has been great to see evolve over the years,” he says.
And the connection with other Society members has even been vital to the survival of their business. In 2015, with bushfires burning across the farm, Ian and Debbie Holmes of Ravenswood stud took Nanthes’ breeders off their hands and cared for them until they could be safely returned. And last year, with the drought intensifying, Denis and Janet Brooks of Karingal British White stud were similarly open-armed, looking after a number of cows and saving Nanthes from having to sell them.
“The Society has always been welcoming and supportive of new breeders, and we have made some great friends along the way,” Craig says.
“It’s been a great journey so far,” adds Tabby, before heading off to get on with her day job.
