A former hairdresser who will be showing her Speckle Park cattle during Stock & Land Beef Week this year said the breed had given her a great connection to farming.
Kookaburra Speckle Park stud principal Alisha Adams, Caramut, said while working as a hairdresser was a huge passion of hers, farming had always been close to her heart.
"I was a hairdresser in Kyneton and worked there for 15 years from apprenticeship through to being qualified, but I used to have an interest in farming outside of that with my mum and dad having a transport business," Ms Adams said.
"I went into the stud sheep game about 15 years ago, and have always had a few cattle, including raising bobby calves.
"I always spent a lot of time around saleyards, and farming is something that I've always been attracted to."
Not one to stay inactive for long, she began a White Suffolk stud while working in Kyneton, and found it suited her busy lifestyle.
Ms Adams had the same mentality when beginning her cattle stud as well.
She said the stud prided itself on breeding Speckle Parks that were "well muscled, easy calving, moderate framed, quiet natured and suitable for any cattle operation, including beef and dairy".
She said a good temperament and the easy ability for Speckle Park cattle to "cross very well over dairy cows" was a big factor in choosing the breed.
"We eventually went from a Limousin bull over our crossbred cows into the Speckle Park bulls just due to their size and nature," she said.
"We were looking for something that was also safe for Mum and Dad to be in the yard with cattle that were not too big."
She said the option to have a bit of colour in her herd was at times tricky "because people do like to chase the black premium cattle".
"But overall it hasn't worried for us too much and you'll still see some of our old pet dairy cows now, but we're using them as embryo recipients," she said.
Ms Adams said she loved the range of colours her cattle offered, from leopard to a dark speckle pattern, and was fascinated by how people chased different shades for different purposes.
"They cross very well over the dairy cows, and they seem to go quite well particularly over Jerseys, where you get some beautiful speckles from that," she said.
"They're a slightly-shorter but also wider breed and also yield well."
According to Ms Adams, other benefits of the Speckle Park breed include not having major calving issues, and "a lack of penalties for using a low birth weight over a cow".
"Speckle Parks also carry a lot of intramuscular fat, which we really value highly as a breeder," she said.
Ms Adams said she had had a wet June last year followed by a relatively-dry spring.
However she said a steady amount of rain in recent months had kept things moving along well.
"The wet weather in June made it quite difficult with growing rates in our pastures, cropping and everything else on the farm," she said.
"Spring had a little bit of rain and it did cut itself a little bit short there, but now we are still getting a bit of rain with us holding onto a little bit of green growth.
"It's not an abundance, but it's been enough for us to keep going."
