Speckle sires lift growth in on-farm trail at Northwood Park

The trial is being carried out at Northwood Park, near Seymour, a 440-hectare property which is part of the Godolphin's global Thoroughbred breeding and racing operation.

According to Northwood Park stud manager James Manning, assisted by farming and livestock manager Jason O'Brien, the trial is following the performance of Speckle Park/Angus-cross calves, sired by Minnamurra Montezuma, compared with pure Angus calves, sired by an industry leading bull in the top two per cent of the Angus breed for 200- and 400-day weight.

In October 2020, about 100 cows in the Northwood Park Angus herd were artificially inseminated, with 50 joined to Minnamurra Montezuma and the remainder to the Angus bull, achieving a 90 per cent conception across both breeds.

Each mob was also backed up with Speckle Park and Angus sires.

"The cows started calving in July 2021 and we weighed all the calves at birth to enable us to track their weight gain," Mr Manning said.

"The paddock management for both mobs was exactly the same, they grazed the perennial pastures through the spring and the calves were taken through on their Mums until February 18 this year, when we did a 200-day weight on all them prior to weaning."

Mr Manning said the results so far show the Speckle Park-cross heifers' 200-day weight was 234.3 kilograms with an average daily weight gain from birth of 0.91kg/day. This is compared with the Angus heifers which recorded a lighter 200-day weight of 217.12kg and an average weight gain of 0.84kg/day.

In the steer portion, the Speckle Park-cross 200-day average weight was 234.5kg, with an average daily weight gain of 0.93kg/day, while the Angus steers achieved an average 200-day weight of 238.5kg and an average daily weight gain of 0.95kg/day.

Overall, the Speckle Park-cross weaners recorded an average 200-day weight of 234.4kg outperforming the Angus calves which averaged 230.36kg across both steers and heifers.

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"We are pleased with the trial and find the results really interesting, particularly the heifer data and overall weight and gains, considering the Speckle Park bull is only in top 45 per cent for 200-day weight and he gets better with 400- and 600-day weights," Mr Manning said.

"Factoring in that hybrid vigour would come into play, I still think that the Speckle Park bull has done an exceptional job on the calves leaving us with some nice females moving forward. The breed is certainly worthy of competing against any other breed in the high end beef market."

Mr Manning also highlighted that both bulls had the exact same amount of straws used in the AI program and that the gestation lengths were similar.

He said most of the calves from both sires were born on or before the 283-day gestation length, although overall the Speckle Park sire was better with a shorter gestation period.

After weaning, the Speckle Park-cross and Angus steers are being purchased by the JAD Speckle Park stud, who own Minnamurra Montezuma, based at Yeoval, NSW, with the Dickens family planning to track their progress through to processing and analyse the carcase results.

"All the heifers will remain at Northwood Park, and we'll continue to monitor their growth and take a 400-day weight," Mr Manning said.

"We'll end up infusing the heifers back into our cow herd and market the surplus as future breeders.

"We're excited to see the growth from now until their 400-day weight and can't wait to follow the trial through and analyse the end results, particularly the carcase data."

After doing some initial research, the Northwood Park team purchased their first Speckle Park bull in 2019 at JAD's inaugural sale.

They have since bought another bull and carried out an AI program using some of the Speckle Park breed's leading genetics.

"When I first came to Northwood Park in 2017, we had a mixed herd of Angus and Hereford cattle," he said.

"We decided to ramp up the breeding operation, buying in 80 Angus cows, and friends of ours, the Swain family at Euroa, who have since become Speckle Park seedstock producers, pointed us in the direction of the Speckle Park breed.

"We did a trip to Minnamurra in NSW and Dennis Power showed us the true traits of the breed.

"It was pretty dry at that time but what really stood out for us was the doability of the breed and we've definitely seen that ourselves."

The Northwood Park herd now comprises about 117 Angus and Speckle Park-cross cows and heifers, all joined to Speckle Park sires. Selection is currently focused on structure, particularly feet, a moderate frame size, fertility, and growth.

"Our goal is to turn the steers over as weaners, at a live weight of 250 to 300kg," Mr Manning said.

"We plan to maintain numbers at about 120 cows so we can be more selective with our heifers."