Bridging the gap between consumer expectations and on farm/ranch productivity through listening to the next generation and challenging the current thinking with Harry Lawson – Lawson Angus

Harry Lawson runs Australia’s largest Angus seed stock business. Lawson Angus (www.lawsonsangus.com.au) sells 1000 bulls annually across all states. While working to breed cattle that bridge the sustainability demands of beef consumers with the productivity requirements of his beef producing customers, he realized that collaboration among highly educated and skilled young people is critical. Sustainability and productivity are not mutually exclusive but much of the current thinking is moving the whole industry in the wrong direction.  

The issue is that very few people actually understand the whole livestock production system, biologically these systems are very complex. Harry’s big hope is that accelerating the transition to the next generation of highly educated farmers will bring that much needed knowledge and understanding to the industry.  

The Lawson Angus breeding program bucks the industry trend to breed larger cows. With the breeding herd producing around 70% of beef industry methane emissions Harry focuses breeding lower emission cows. It’s a win win that these moderately sized, highly fertile and energy efficient cows animals are also much more drought tolerant. 

When Harry’s children started questioning the environmental footprint of the family business, he soon realized he didn’t have the answers that would satisfy either his children or himself. His initial digging around has now led to developing his own research program to include methane emissions in his breeding program.

I recently caught up with Harry to discuss how he is working to improve beef sustainability. You can listen to our conversation here. 

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