First Australian Speckle Park sale

[thunderdownunder]

On Saturday the first Australian Speckle Park sale was held. It was a standout success, with bulls averaging Aus$6679 and females averaging Aus$6824.

You can view a short video from the sale here:
http://theland.farmonline.com.au/multimedia/12534/6679-average-at-red-hot-speckle-park-sale.aspx?page=1

Earlier in the week the official tasting day was held with a great response from a number of industry representatives, chefs and politicians (see the attachment).

The hosts of the sale, Six Star Speckle Parks (also trading as Speckle Park Cattle Company) last year purchased the Canadian herd, Star Bank, and are now believed to own the largest herd of Speckles, across two continents, in the world.

 

[FutureBreeder2013]

Wow thats pretty good sale averaged

 

[justintime]

Congratulations on a great Speckle Park sale. I have said from the day I first saw my first Speckle Parkm that this was a breed that could go places provided cattlemen could look past the color. I think the Aussie cattle industry is based more on functional cattle than on show ring trendsm and this is a breed that has some quality. The good Speckle Park cattle are exceptional beasts. Two years ago, there was a Speckle Park cow tied in the next row from us at Agribition and she may have been the most flawless female of any breed I have ever seen. There are some excellent bulls in the breed as well. The only drawback I see right now, is that the breed numbers are so small that everything is being retained as breeding stock, regardless of quality. I would not doubt that over a third of the mature females in the breed are being flushed right now for Australia.

We fed 6 Speckle Park bulls with our Shorthorn bulls in our bull test this year. While they were not officially part of the test, we weighed them every 28 days and kept the records on them. They gained very well, and I am sure they would have graded well despite being fed a high roughage ration.

If cattlemen here could ever see past the color, I think this breed would have a runaway. Unfortunately, I doubt if that will happen here.

 

[thunderdownunder]

There were some very good animals there, particularly the females.
The only thing that concerns me is their size- there were no weights on the bulls, but two year olds would have been pushing about 600 kilograms, with eye muscle areas of 90 square centimetres. IMO, a two year old bull needs to be at least 800 kilograms.

But, I can see the cattle having some profit in a cross breeding situation and wouldn't mind getting one or two myself to play with.

 

[mark tenenbaum]

Are they doing anything with maines or clubby(per se) down under as far as x-breeding? O0

 

[justintime]

You are right... that is plenty small for coming two year olds. As I mentioned, the big problem is that the demand for export markets ( like Australia and New Zealand) is bigger than the supply, so some lower quality animals are being flushed. The bulls we fed in our test, were almost 600 kg at 1 year ( or 1150 lbs) They are early maturing cattle and very moderate framed. I love the softness and fleshing ability they have as well as the volume and muscle shape. Also as I mentioned earlier, the good ones are some of the nicest beasts you will ever find... unfortunately, there are not enough of this kind.

 

[thunderdownunder]

Are they doing anything with maines or clubby(per se) down under as far as x-breeding? O0

Short answer.. no!

There are a few Maines about, but like over your way, they've followed the black trend which is disappointing. There are still a few good traditionals going around though. There were some young Maine heifers at Sydney Show this year so the breed may be experiencing a resurgence.

As far as clubby- we just don't have that. Our cattle are very much made to walk paddocks, not show rings. (no offence intended)

 

[coyote]

JIT, I think your math is off on your conversion 600kg x 2.2 =1320 lbs.

When you take those cattle to the US just remember if it says 70 MPH multiply that also by 2.2 it would equal 154 Km/h, you should get there quicker. 

 

[justintime]

Coyote, my math ain't the best sometimes, but I said that the bulls were almost 600 kgs at a year, which is a bit misleading. I think the heaviest Speckle bull was 1230 lbs  or 559 kg at just over 12 months of age. The Aussie bulls were two years old were 600 kgs, which isn't much more weight for the additional year of age.

I am taking a plumber with me to help navigate on the trip. His math is pretty good as he is pretty good at adding up bills, and counting his money.

 

[Cowfarmer65]

That's awesome news for the Speckle Park breed. My wife and I purchased some last fall and were lucky enough to own the Reserve Bull Calf at Agribition. He's got Clubby written all over him. I was told by 2 different breeders, upon their return from Denver that he would have fit right in with the Clubby bulls there..........I guess I'll buckle and draw on him as there was also lots of interest on semen at Agribition from England and the USA.........I have bred the bulk of my Shortys to him. I'll let you know how that turns out....I'm expecting some flashy blue roans next January and Feb. JIT is right IMO... if people would get past the colour they would be buying and breeding them. They are sound, functional, easy keeping, trouble free cattle.