REGINA – This time next year there will be Speckle Park calves on the ground in Australia.
After a sales team bought two bulls at Canadian Western Agribition in 2006, semen and embryos were collected to introduce the distinct breed Down Under.
At this year’s Agribition, the Speckle Park Australia Partners Ltd. sold back the two young bulls with one going for $5,100 and the other for $2,400. The total sale average on 13 lots was $1,887.
The Australian venture is a validation for Canadian breeders who have been developing the breed for about 50 years. Last year, Speckle Park achieved distinct breed status and it is starting to gain some international attention, said Rod Remin, a past-president of the association and a breeder living near Crossfield, north of Calgary.
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“(The Australians) believe the breed has elements that can work in their cattle industry,” he said.
Australia has imported 220 embryos and the first Australian-born Speckle Park calves will arrive next spring. The Australian contingent also received permission to exhibit at the Sydney Royal Agriculture show held each spring. In addition, an Irish importer bought 175 embryos and semen lots.
One of the Australian plans is to cross these cattle with Holstein cows to work as terminal sires to produce a beef type calf. As a good carcass breed the cross is expected to add some beef to the dairy animal.
The Australians also plan to develop extensive breeding records like birth and weaning weights, something the Canadians have not done.
“They will be able to give us the kind of data we have not been able to collect ourselves,” Remin said.
The breed has come a long way from what it was 20 years ago when one or two animals were put on display at Agribition. Remin remembers the guffaws.
“One guy laughed and said, ‘what the hell are those?’ “
However, the breed has done well at steer shows and carcass competitions including the Calgary Stampede Sterling Silver event, where the breed came second this year and placed three carcasses in the top 10. No breeders entered the Agribition carcass event.
