IAN Coghlan grew up in a family that had bred Red Poll cattle since 1952, when his parents Bill and Mavis Coghlan formed the Ingleden Red Poll Stud at Griffith, NSW.
One of his fond childhood memories is assisting his father as a five-year-old parade a Red Poll bull at the annual Griffith Show.
The Ingleden herd was at the forefront of the Red Poll breed in its day with stud cattle sold across Australia and into New Zealand.
Growing up with Red Poll cattle and seeing the success his parents enjoyed at royal shows and in carcase competitions, it was easy for Mr Coghlan to have an ingrained belief in the breed.
"But the decision for my wife Jill and I to breed Red Poll cattle was firmly based upon our belief in their economic attributes," Mr Coghlan said.
Just a couple of weeks after they were married, the Eurimbla Red Poll stud was formed with the purchase of seven heifers at the first Ingleden on-farm production sale in 1974.
At the same time they borrowed the Ingleden bull of their choice.
Throughout the following years, the Coghlans sourced superior genetics from across Australia, USA and NZ to develop a herd that incorporates femininity, milk and muscle to optimise growth and consistently excel in steer trials and carcase competitions.
Most recently they have taken delivery of 12 seven-month-old embryo transfer bred weaners that were conceived in NZ from breeding a USA bull to a NZ cow.
Those six bull and six heifer weaners were on display when international and interstate Red Poll breeders attending the 2014 Red Poll World Conference visited Eurimbla, and they drew many positive comments.
The Eurimbla Red Poll stud herd comprises approximately 170 breeding females that are run on two properties owned by the Coghlan family.
Stud bulls and females have been sold into all States of Australia and to NZ; however, the primary market area is in central and southern NSW, as well as across Victoria.
A draft of 60-70 springing heifers is sold each year in the Wodonga January sales where they meet excellent demand from commercial buyers.
Steers are sold off improved pastures to feedlot buyers in April each year at an average weight of approximately 500 kilograms.
In 2014 semen from a Eurimbla stud sire, Eurimbla Leopold, was exported to Canada and NZ.
And keen interest was shown by international visitors attending the 2014 Red Poll World Congress in accessing semen from Mr Coghlan's exciting young sire, Eurimbla Atlas.
All of the Eurimbla-bred cattle are performance tested through 10 Breedplan traits with a particular emphasis on breeding easy calving cattle that quickly hit market weights with large eye muscle area, positive fat covers and good intramuscular fat.
To date approximately 2500 progeny have been recorded.
The cattle are also benchmarked against other breeds through feedback from steer trials and carcase competitions, and feedlots.
Eurimbla-bred steers have been entered in growth rate trials and carcase competitions for a little over 20 years, winning champion heavy weight carcase at Sydney Royal in 1994 and following that success with royal show and regional competition champions over the years.
"A primary attribute of my sires is being able to breed top bulls, very efficient females and fast growing, high yielding steers with good fat cover," Mr Coghlan said.
In breeding Red Poll stud cattle, Mr and Mrs Coghlan aspire to produce the best possible cattle that can cost-efficiently maximise their returns and meet the needs of changing and discerning buyers.
