The Brook family’s Eloora Shorthorn stud, Cavendish, is reaping the rewards of increased time and financial investment during the past 30 years.
The stud was founded in 1959 and continues as a family operation, run by Ray and Jill Brook and their son Dion and his wife Hannah.
The Eloora herd was founded on Kelso bloodlines, however in more recent years genetic acquisitions have come from the Spry’s and Marellan herds.
Dion is thrilled they have increasing used their own bulls and have even been buying back bulls they had sold in recent years.
A standout is Eloora Baker G31 – a trait leader for birthweight and scrotal size; top one per cent days to calving, rib fat, rump fat and intramuscular fat; top five per cent domestic maternal and northern maternal indexes; and top 10pc export maternal index. Retained by Eloora for his combination of muscle and softness, Baker G31 is well balanced and has a very sound structure.
His progeny have performed well in paddocks and the show ring – he sired the grand champion Shorthorn bull of the 2015 Royal Melbourne Show, plus sires progeny group and pair of bulls, to be named most successful sire. The Brook family aims to produce a medium maturity animal with the flexibility to be processed for the domestic or export markets and having the genetic potential to add further value in the longer fed, heavier carcase markets.
“We are using genetics that are well above breed average for rib and rump fat, and that’s what we have consistently heard from our clients for the last three years, they want bulls that are positive for fat,” Dion said.
“We want to maintain and build on all the great things Shorthorns have been known for; carcase and eating quality, milking ability, maternal instincts.
“We pride ourselves on our cow herd, so all genetic selections are done with a self-replacing herd in mind, be that pure or crossbred.”
He said they put equal emphasis on visual assessments and using EBVs and other data when selecting animals.
They travel throughout NSW, SA and Victoria to find suitable bulls.
Most of the 125 stud cows are artificially inseminated. They calve down in autumn/early winter. Eloora has bulls, females and genetics for sale throughout the year. Bulls and genetics have been sold to all states of Australia and exported to the US and New Zealand.
Dion said since his brother Alistair and he started showing a keen interest in the stud in the early 1990s, his parents had ramped up their investment in the stud.
Their sister Kristi’s sons have also joined in showing the cattle. The stud’s recent ribbons include highest scoring Shorthorn steer at the Royal Melbourne Show (RMS) beef carcase competition, and part of the Borthwick Trophy winning team.
In 2015, Eloora had grand champion Shorthorn bull and in 2014 the highest scoring steer again. He said Shorthorns consistently performed strongly in the Beef Spectacular Feedback Trial in NSW, which was particularly impressive given their relative smaller number of entries.
Dion said the three different weight classes Borthwick on-hoof champions had some Shorthorn in their pedigree. Their junior bull is believed to be the youngest bull to win grand champion bull of Shorthorn National Show, in 2014.
Their females have also been recognised – in 2010 an Eloora heifer won supreme junior interbreed female of the RMS.
Dion said in each of the past five years, the number of stud bulls and females sold to other leading studs had increased. Eloora is the only stud to be a RASV Heifer Challenge finalist three times – winning it in 2012 and reserve in 2016. Eloora has also had the highest average in the past two years at Naracoorte Shorthorn Bull Sale.
In the commercial side, he said traditionally they had sold bulls to Shorthorn herds but they were increasingly selling them into cross-breeding operations, including Angus herds.
Dion was excited to see Shorthorn branded products growing in the marketplace.