BREWER Beef Black Simmentals, Tallangatta, have worked to increase the number of black females in their herd, now putting an emphasis on breeding the perfect Black Simmental.
Stud principals David and Tara Brewer said after drought affected their business 10 years ago, they decided to reevaluate their operation, and subsequently made some changes.
“We are still breeding Red Simmentals for the Queensland market, but there is a shrinking market in the south,” Mr Brewer said.
“This doesn’t reflect the quality of the Red Simmentals, it is purely driven by market demand for black cattle.”
He said keeping them black means they can focus on improving carcase attributes without worrying about anything else.
“We wanted them to be all the one colour, and with the blacks you don’t have to worry about skin pigment, horns, hair, or colour variation,” he said.
Having recently “cranked the numbers up”, Mr and Ms Brewer currently run about 400 Simmental breeders on 10 properties that they own and lease within a 120 kilometre radius of their home base in Tallangatta, totalling about 850 hectares.
Mr Brewer’s father Allan was one of the first commercial Black Simmental breeders in the country, recognising early the benefits of the breed’s carcase qualities and calving ease.
Mr Brewer said Black Simmentals are incredibly docile.
“I would say their temperament is comparable to the best of any breed,” he said.
