The hybrid vigour and corrective breeding that came with crossbreeding proved too good to ignore when the Lees became a solely commercial operation just over a decade ago.

"We wanted to maximise the amount of beef we produced per hectare and I believed the hybrid vigour would be the most cost-effective way of doing that," Mr Lee said.

"My objective is to maximise the corrective breeding, adding muscle and growth rate to the Shorthorns, and by keeping the female herd purebred, I'm maximising the maternal traits of the Shorthorn cow."

Mr and Mrs Lee run the 1600 hectare property, "Coorah", Larras Lee, east of Cumnock, as a mainly first-cross White Dorper lamb production factory, together with up to 250 breeding cows, and 330ha of cropping country.

They were co-principals with Mr Lee's cousin, Joff Lee, in Lee and Co Shorthorn stud until 1997, when they took over their family property outright, and removed themselves from the stud.

They delved into crossbreeding in 1998, but continued using the family stud's Shorthorn bloodlines, content with the ability to join the bulls to heifers without calving problems, and the stud's strict use of performance recording since the 1970s.

Mr Lee said he used estimated breeding values (EBVs) as bull selection criteria and it was crucial studmasters held performance recording in high regard if it was to be effective for bull buyers.

Mr Lee's uncle and the Lee and Co stud's former principal, the late Jim Lee, had one of the founding Shorthorn herds to start performance recording through the Armidale-based Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI).

The Lee family's noted cattle history extended well before that – it was understood that Mr Lee's great, great grandfather was the first to bring cattle over the Blue Mountains, from the Sydney basin to Bathurst.

Mr and Mrs Lee this year had 160 Shorthorn females pregnancy-tested-in-calf to calve over a six-week period starting in mid-August.

They had 54 cows joined to a Charolais bull and 106 to Shorthorn bulls.

"All the Shorthorn heifers are joined and the only selection criteria on heifers is if they don't get in calf or have calving problems," Mr Lee said.

The Lees were in a herd rebuilding phase to 250 females, and were convinced to maintain a purebred Shorthorn female herd and breed crossbred calves to Charolais bulls.

"The target cow herd used to be 200, but with labour becoming an issue I'm easing back on sheep numbers and building up on cattle," Mr Lee said.

* See the Vigour crossbreeding liftout in The Land this week.