JOHN Lovison has been breeding Blonde d’Aquitaines for 11 years and says his biggest satisfaction is hearing from happy customers.
“The aim is to sell good commercial bulls that produce and make people money,” he said. “My greatest satisfaction is that buyers come back and say they have easy calving cattle and have topped the market.”
Based in Newborough on the outskirts of Moe in Gippsland, Mr Lovison started his Lovande stud with one Blonde bull and four heifers.
“We used to breed vealers for the Warragul market and like all fledging studs, we’ve built up our numbers,” he said.
Mr Lovison and his wife Di continue to run a small commercial herd alongside their stud Blondes, and says the Angus-Friesian and Angus cows produce “beautiful calves” when joined to Blonde bulls.
“We’ve done the Lardner Park steer trial for a few years now and we always do well with yield and we were the only ones to get full marks for feed efficiency,” he said.
“We can grow our crossbred steers out to 650 kilograms at 16.5 months of age.”
He says the feed efficiency of the breed replaces the hormone growth promotant (HGP).
“If you were to put a Blonde bull over any sort of cow you would get an extra 40-50 per cent growth,” Mr Lovison said.
Above all, the Lovisons chose the Blonde d’Aquitaine breed for its good temperament.
“Di and I looked around at a lot of breeds,” Mr Lovison said. “But we found that they’re quiet and Di can get in among the cattle and bulls without any worries.
“They are placid animals and placid animals give better meat.
“I also like the fact there weren’t too many people into Blondes when we started; and they’ve proven to be a good feature for us.”
Mr Lovison says despite the misconception, Blondes are “exceptionally easy calving”.
“They have fine, oval bones; that’s how they get their high yield,” he said.
“Calves hit the ground long and skinny and couple of weeks later they pop like popcorn.”
In the early days, Mr Lovison says it was difficult finding the genetics.
“Blondes have really picked up over past 10 years and we now have a great genetic base here and some no one else has,” he said.
Genetics have been brought in from across the country, including Western Australia, Queensland and NSW.
“We’ve used Nelson and Nicodeme over cows we bought from interstate,” Mr Lovison said.
“With the style of bull we’ve got, we have good growth
rates and quite exceptional calves on the ground this year – I’m rapt.”
Mr Lovison now has about 70 head, polled and horned, including 30 breeders and replacements and says he has a paddock full of bulls available, from 15 months to three years old.
“Right from the start, from the calf on the ground, everyone is making the highest profit,” Mr Lovison said.
“From easy calving, to quick growth rates, good weight gain and right to the butcher.”
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