The cost of a bull business: benchmarking lifts the lid on stud profitability

on 13th April 2026

Benchmarking lifts the lid on stud profitability

Across Queensland, a small cohort of experienced seedstock producers are partaking in a stud benchmarking group to compare what it actually costs to produce a bull and whether it stacks up.

Run by Ian McLean from Bush Agribusiness, the current group consists of Rosevale Santa Gertrudis, Gyranda Santa Gertudis, Triple B Brangus, Copley Brahmans, and Wahroonga Belmont Reds.

Each has different systems, different markets and different scales, but all are now putting their businesses under the microscope.

The group meets three times a year to share their business progress, goals, and challenges with everything uncovered.

For Gyranda Santa Gertrudis principal Peter Mahony, who is running about 1400 joined breeders and expanding, the answer of why it’s important to look at the numbers and compare comes back to a simple reality.

“If it’s costing you $5000 to produce a bull and you’re not selling above that, then you’re not making money,” he said.

It’s a straightforward calculation, but one that many admit they had never fully broken down.

A different kind of business

Mr McLean, who also works with producers across northern Australia, said the challenge for many stud breeders was that the business was fundamentally different to commercial cattle production.

“People know their businesses very well, but often don’t understand how it’s performing relative to others,” he said.

“Unlike commercial producers, who can turn off stock into the saleyards or feedlot system, seedstock operators are selling something that has to be marketed before it even reaches a buyer.

“They’ve got to build demand, build a brand and find a market for their genetics.”

That difference carries through to cost structures, labour requirements, and ultimately, profitability.

At Gyranda, Mr Mahony said the benchmarking process had allowed them to compare their system, which includes irrigated forage cropping, against others finishing bulls on grass or full ration.

“It does allow you to compare cost structures against other seedstock producers,” he said. “And see where your strengths and weaknesses are as a business.”

From cattle to costings

At Clarke Creek, Wahroonga Belmont Red breeder Robert Sherry has spent more than a decade building his stud, transitioning from a commercial base into a registered herd over time.

He said it wasn’t until he joined the benchmarking group that he started to properly question the business side of the operation.

“You don’t have to have a business degree to run a farm, but you’re running a multi-million-dollar business,” he said.

With around six years of data now behind him, Mr Sherry said the biggest change had been the way decisions were made.

“You just know your numbers and you assess what you’re going to do with a bit more of a business mind instead of just saying, I’m going to do this,” he said.

That shift, from instinct to analysis, he said was one of the biggest benefits of pulling apart cost of production in detail.

Mr McLean said where a commercial operation might run 1500 to 2000 adult breeder equivalents per full-time employee, stud operations often sit much lower due to the added workload of recording, handling, marketing and client engagement.

“Labour is still one of the biggest costs facing seedstock producers, so it’s important to be looking at how that fits into your business,” he said.

He said it was a difference that could significantly change the cost of every bull produced.

When the numbers don’t match the season

For Rosevale Santa Gertrudis principal David Greenup, who runs about 1500 breeders split between stud and commercial, the value of benchmarking has been in putting performance into context.

“You can get a false sense of security when prices are good,” he said. “Compared to your peers, you might not actually be doing that well, so it’s good to know where you’re sitting.”

Mr Greenup said comparing results across a group helped strip away that illusion, showing whether profitability was being driven by the market or by the business itself.

“Getting a handle on things as compared to what others are doing gives you a realistic idea of how profitable your business actually is,” he said.

It’s a point that resonates across the group, particularly after several years of strong cattle prices where margins have appeared healthy on the surface.

The hardest step: putting it on the table

Despite the benefits, producers say the biggest barrier is often getting started.

At Dingo, Triple B Brangus principal Lindsay Barlow, who is running approximately 1200 breeders, said joining a benchmarking group was initially daunting.

“You’re always looking at your business, but this makes you dive into it a lot deeper,” he said.

Once involved, however, the process shifted from being confronting to being practical.

“It just makes you look at everything a lot harder and actually act on it,” he said. “It’s all good to talk about it, but then you’ve got to act upon it.”

Mr Barlow said much of the value came from being surrounded by other producers facing similar challenges, even if they were running different breeds or systems.

“Everyone’s got their own battles,” he said. “And you can learn off each other.”

Looking beyond the stud gate

For Copley Brahmans principal Tom Copley, who runs a Brahman-based herd on the western edge of the Brisbane Valley, the importance of understanding the numbers extends beyond the stud itself.

“If you’re selling bulls into other people’s herds, you need to know they can generate profit out of those,” he said.

He said that means the focus can’t just be on phenotype or sale results, it has to come back to performance that translates into dollars on the ground.

Across the group, that shift is already influencing decisions, from how many cows are joined through to how bulls are prepared, marketed and sold.

A question that’s not going away

Mr McLean noted that while benchmarking isn’t a new concept, this specific group empowers seedstock producers to finally quantify their performance.

As more producers ask the same tough questions, the data is becoming impossible to ignore.

Regardless of breed, location, or production system, the economic reality remains: it costs money to produce a bull.

“For many, the realisation is simple,” Mr McLean said.

“Unless you know exactly what that cost is, and how it compares to the rest of the industry, you’re making critical business decisions without the full picture.”

~ Article by Bella Hanson (Queensland Country Life 13/04/2026) ~