Welcome to “In the Herd” our spotlight on individual members and their British White Cattle journeys
Some of the Waikato Park British White herd. Photo supplied
Sharing – and caring about – British Whites
Lucy Lycholit and Sandy White have separate farming operations near each other on the fertile black clay loam plains near Donnybrook in Western Australia. A few years ago, somewhat to their husbands’ surprise, the two friends came up with the bold idea of investing in a few British White cattle, and “share-farming” them on their two properties.
Lucy and her husband Johl’s primary business is the equestrian sport horse stud Diverbrook Stud, and they also run 30 or so Murray Grey and Angus cattle, while Sandy and Dion White have the cattle operation R&R Pastoral about nine kilometres away, a total between them of around 160 acres.
The two women’s business is named Waikato Park British Whites.
They are currently the only members of the British White Cattle Society of Australia in WA, and despite a few setbacks at the start, the two have no regrets about their decision.
“We’re pretty impressed with the British Whites,” Lucy says. “They’re good. They’re a quiet and friendly breed, easy to handle – an important factor as we are both ladies and Sandy’s husband works away a lot so she has to handle them by herself.”
They chose British Whites after doing “some research” and studying photos of them: “The breed ticked every box,” says Lucy, including looks. “How can such a great cow for eating and milking also be so cute!”
And they’re turning out to be exactly as good as promised, she says.
Lucy was born in Oxford in the UK and it appealed to her that British Whites were one of the older British breeds and quite rare in Australia. “It seemed nice to be able to help with their conservation,” she says.
But there was a hard-nosed business plan underlying the emotion: “As well as having great traits as beef cattle, we like the fact that their meat is supposed to be more marbled than many other breeds” – perfect in fact for the paddock-to-plate business that the two women envisage.
They haven’t got around to applying the taste test yet. “We haven’t sent one to the butcher yet but we’ve done the research on the live weight,” and they’re more than happy with that.
“Along the way we have also noticed that they are very efficient compared to the Angus and Murray Greys. We’ve noticed how much more the Angus cows drink and eat as opposed to the British Whites.”
Their current herd is four cows and one bull. “We started off with two very well-bred cows. The older cow, Bree, was in calf when we brought her over from Victoria and Cody was a 10-month-old heifer. The resulting calf was a heifer we named Dana.
“We started off with Embryo Transfer using Bree and we managed to get two calves from that which were both heifers. Very lucky!”
Their luck didn’t hold: “Sadly, we lost Bree. She was a magnificent cow,” Lucy says.
They then turned to artificial insemination with mixed success.
After this, and because of the cost of importing embryos, the pair pivoted away from AI and bought a bull from New South Wales called Tookaze Vincent. “When his breeder, Kevin Radford, passed away and the family were selling the herd, we knew we had to have him, so we could continue the efforts made by Kevin on preserving the British Whites. It would’ve been horrible to see him go for meat.
“The family were really lovely and accommodating, as it takes a little bit more paperwork and time to get them over to WA, but seeing Vinny with his little herd here after all the effort was really rewarding and it seems as though he’s up to the job, even though he is only 18 months old.”
“If it all works, there should be nine of them next year, and now we’ve got the four girls we can do the same again. Grass-fed and natural all the way!”
Their aim is to get a herd that’s big enough to start selling the steers off for paddock to plate. “I think a comfortable number would be 25-30 head, which would replace our current herd of Angus and Murray Greys,” Lucy says.
Despite being the only members of the Society in WA, and a long way away from the Eastern states’ British White farmers, Sandy and Lucy have not felt isolated: “All of the members of the British White Society have been extremely helpful to us in setting up our herd, and I have no doubt that anyone else looking to help conserve the breed will also find help from them.
“They even assisted with finding the best livestock transport options for us to get them over here. It’s quite hard when you’re on the other side of the country and aren’t sure of all of the options. Falls Livestock were amazing both times.”
Lucy is also a qualified accountant, and has a standing invitation to return to work. But with her son, Opie, just turning one, and Vinnie, Cody, Dana, Elvie and Edna to look after, and the calves due in seven months, it sounds like she’s already got plenty to keep her busy.
