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An exciting paddock-to-plate venture, that began six years ago between James Millner and his Hong Kong-based cousin, Sam McNiven, has grown to provide a range of countries with quality, grain-fed Australian beef.

The Rosedale Ruby Beef brand, from the Providore Global Company, provides a hormone growth promotant (HGP) free product described as “pure Australian free range beef”.

About 80 per cent of product is exported to a range of countries, including China and Hong Kong, the Middle East, Japan, Singapore and other areas of south east Asia, with recent European Union (EU) accreditation allowing for some shipments to go into the EU, Mr Millner said.

The program has now expanded, with about 600 cattle a month being processed under the brand, an impressive increase from the 50 cattle a month with which it began.
Mr Millner said the paddock-to-plate story is increasingly important for end consumers.

“They want to know where and how the cattle were raised,” he said. “We decided on high quality grain-fed beef because it is a niche brand to get out of the commodity market, which protects us — if we can keep producing a high-quality product that people are happy with, we can pass on the price.
“There is good growth and demand for good quality Australian beef products”.

Cattle to be fed and processed under the brand are sourced from the Millner’s commercial operation, as well as through other private paddock sales, including the purchase of clients’ cattle.

“Feeder cattle are taken in at 400 to 500 kilograms and fed for 110 to 120 days at the Tallawanta Feedlot near Moree. They are processed at Northern Co-Operative Meat Company, Casino, where we are targeting the 300kg to 350kg carcase weight,” he said.
They source the best cattle around, taking both crossbred and purebred cattle.

“We feed both steers and heifers, but heifers generally have to be 50pc European breed content for us to take them,” Mr Millner said.
“A Charolais/Angus is an ideal beast because it is a HGP-free product. This cross offers hybrid vigour.”

All cattle processed through the Rosedale Ruby Beef brand are Meat Standards Australia graded which ensures the quality and consistency of the product.

The Millner family are avid supporters of steer and carcase trials across the country, in which they have had numerous successes over the years.

“They are a big part of promotion for our stud and our product. It is good to test our product on a level playing field against other cattle out there,” Mr Millner said.

FORGET about paddock to plate: the Millner family have the beef industry wrapped up from source to main course.
The family, from central NSW, juggles running one of Australia’s biggest polled Charolais studs with a growing commercial enterprise and, more recently, a paddock-to-plate brand that is feeding the growing Asian appetite for quality beef.

The centrepiece of the operation, run across 6500 hectares in three districts at Blayney, Dubbo and Coonamble, is the Rosedale Charolais stud, founded in 1970 and the oldest registered Charolais herd in NSW selling more than 150 bulls a year.

The Rosedale herd comprises 400 registered Charolais females and 1200 predominantly Angus and Shorthorn commercial cows.

The stud cows are run at Blayney with the commercial herd split between Dubbo and Coonamble. It’s a strategic move aimed at drought-proofing the operation, according to brothers James and Robert Millner, who are in charge of the stud and commercial operations respectively.

The Rosedale herd is at the cutting edge of the industry with the use of science and technology paramount to the business. Breed pioneers when it comes to the uptake of Breedplan performance recording, the Millners have also used hybrid vigour as a way of lifting growth rates, and profits, both within their own herd and those of their clients.

In the commercial herd, the best 50 per cent of the steers and heifers are fattened on oat crops and lucerne silage, and sold to the Coles grass-fed program, with the remainder sent to a northern NSW feedlot where they are finished for the Millners’ Rosedale Ruby beef brand.

Rosedale Ruby started as “an exciting side venture” five years ago and has exceeded all expectations.

Throughput has grown from 50 cattle a month in 2012 to 600 now. China and Hong Kong are the biggest export markets for Rosedale Ruby, with Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Switzerland and the Middle East also prominent.

It is this worldly outlook, backed up by superior genetics, marketing and product, that makes Rosedale Charolais worthy winners of The Weekly Times Coles 2017 Beef Farmer of the Year.