The Perrett's operate their beef business in conjunction with son, Lenny, and his wife, Lisa, running about 900 mainly Brahman-cross breeders on the 19,000-hectare "Tunis", 80 kilometres north west of Injune.

The Perretts began using black polled bulls over their maiden heifers in the late 1990s to address poor calving rates among first-calf heifers.

Sires have been purchased from Landfall Angus, Te Mania Angus and Ripple Valley with a focus on bulls with good fertility and moderate frames.

Leon Perrett said the strategy had proved highly successful and he intended to continue using Angus bulls over his maiden heifers in the future.

"Prior to using Angus bulls, our maiden heifers were having difficulty calving, producing very big calves, and our calving rate was down to 75 to 80 per cent," he said.

"Using the black poll bulls has bought that back up to about 95pc so we are really pleased."

* Read more about the Perretts in The Land's Angus Journal, January 14.