Twynam brings decades of experience to cattle breeding and regenerative agriculture. We focus on animals that eat less feed while maintaining or gaining the same weight, with fertility, structure and eating quality central to our breeding decisions.
Our researchOur farming system combines multi-species pasture, intensive rotational grazing and biological mixes. Feed-efficiency measurements inform our breeding and selection decisions.
Regenerative farmingAgriculture has been part of Twynam's family business since 1969. Today, we breed and grow out animals at Wingello Park and Johnniefields near Marulan.
Agricultural heritage
Twynam's family agricultural business grew from a 100 hectare hobby farm in 1969 to over 400,000 hectares in 2009.
Our agricultural operations focus on beef production and regenerative farming.
We breed and grow out our animals on two farms near Marulan NSW – Wingello Park and Johnniefields.
Near Marulan NSW · breeding and grow-out
Near Marulan NSW · breeding and grow-out
Breeding & selection
A beef producer's biggest cost is feed, whether it is the land to be grazed or the grain and hay fed out. Our focus is to produce cattle that genetically eat less feed while maintaining or gaining the same weight. 20% gains in feed efficiency are achievable.
Whilst we concentrate on feed efficiency, we do not lose sight of the other attributes required for profitable beef production, notably fertility and structure. An animal must reproduce and be able to walk for many years.
The other key breeding objective of the Twynam herd is marbling. We've always believed that marbling enhances eating quality, which in turn encourages consumers to choose our product.
Our farming system
Our system revolves around minimizing artificial fertilizers and chemicals as much as possible, applying biological mixes, multi-species pasture and intensive rotational grazing. Our goal is to increase the carbon content of our soils. We have also implemented some swales to manage water flows, along the lines of Natural Sequence Farming (Peter Andrew's concept).
Research and development
There are four measures of feed efficiency that include:
Each measure tells its own story. We consider all of them in our breeding and selection process.
One of the challenges facing the industry is the limited amount of Feed Efficiency testing being conducted. Twynam is the largest tester of Angus cattle in Australia and the only stud that tests all its female as well as its male progeny. In 2024 we tested 900 animals.
The accuracy of EBVs (Estimated Breeding Values) for Feed Efficiency leaves a lot to be desired due to the very small amount of actual testing that is done, so we place a lot of emphasis on our own derived data. At present we are not submitting our Feed Efficiency data to Breedplan.
The heritability of these traits vary between 0.2 and 0.5. Very similar to many of the traits we normally select for.
Questions are often asked about the relevance of testing young animals on a grain-based diet. The science shows that:
There is growing global concern about the sustainability of beef production. There are arguments for and against. We do know that there is an 80% correlation between dry matter intake (DMI) & methane emissions. So any improvement in Feed Efficiency won't just help your profitability but will also help the environment.
Twynam is the largest tester of Angus cattle in Australia, and the only stud that tests every female as well as every male.
From our customers
"We've had great success with Twynam Angus bulls on our NT and QLD stations. They've thrived in tough conditions and produced high-quality calves for feedlot markets and replacement females. After purchasing stud females from the Twynam Angus reduction sale, they've excelled in our central Queensland operations, handling heat and parasitic pressure remarkably well, with top-tier calves. Having worked at Twynam for 10 years, I knew the rigorous selection process they apply, and this gave me confidence in choosing their genetics for the CPC stud and commercial herds."
Troy Setter
Chief Executive Officer, Consolidated Pastoral Company
The evidence
900
animals tested in 2024
Twynam-measured
80%
correlation between dry-matter intake and methane emissions
Published research
Basis: the 900-animal figure is drawn from Twynam's 2024 feed-efficiency testing records (Twynam Angus breeding programme). The dry-matter-intake to methane correlation is a general finding from published ruminant-nutrition research, not a Twynam measurement.
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