Top Speckle Park genetics on offer at Scone

The third annual Speckle Park Scone sale will feature seedstock from 26 vendors from NSW, Victoria and Queensland, offering for sale 74 bulls, 59 stud females including 20 yearlings, 12 semen packages, and seven embryo packages.

Also on offer will be more than 40 first-cross commercial females and 12 first- and second-cross potential show steers.

Sale committee chairman Alex Pateman, Rose Hill Speckle Parks, Rylstone, said the sale would be the biggest for the breed in any country, with this year’s catalogue including cattle and genetic lots from 12 new studs, including some that have sourced their foundation sires and females from the previous two Scone sales. 

Demand continues to increase each year as the breed proves itself in a range of markets, as well as in carcase competitions and in the show ring.

“When we first started this sale we were flat out getting 80 live lots and now we’ve got 140, because the smaller studs – some that have been formed from cattle in the Scone sale – are ready to sell cattle,” Mr Pateman said.

“It’s a good opportunity to see a wide range of genetics. There’s a fair percentage of bulls by Canadian sires, but the depth of genetics in the breed is also improving.

“There’s more diversity in the genetics because the breed’s getting bigger, and we’ve had a lot of studs sourcing genetics from the Canadian studs.”

Last year’s sale set a new world of $3400 for a embryo package. The sale, which had a full clearance, reached $20,500 for bulls, $18,000 twice for females, $2750 for first-cross heifers, and $1800 for show steers.

“The averages were high, but there we still sold bulls from $5000 and females from about the same, so there were lots in a starter price range, and plenty to suit commercial buyers.”

A new addition to this year’s event is a youth camp to be held on the Friday and Saturday morning.

”We’re also starting to build towards a futurity in 2109, and some of the bulls in this year’s sale will be nominated,” Mr Pateman said.

TWO first-cross Speckle Park heifers and a hide are among the charity lots on offer at the 2018 Speckle Park Scone sale.

The heifers, donated by Ersyldene and Snowline Speckle Park studs; semen from Fish Creek Farm Storm, donated by Fish Creek Farm; the hide, donated by Minnumurra Speckle Parks; and a generator, donated by Yamaha, will be sold with proceeds going to the National Breast Cancer Foundation and Upper Hunter-based charity Where There’s A Will, which was founded by the Carrigan family from Bunnan, who lost their 24-year-old son and brother Will to suicide on Christmas Day in 2015.

Last year’s charity auction raised $7200 with a Speckle Park/Limousin-cross heifer making $2400, a hide selling for $3000, and a guitar making $1800.

The charity lots will be auctioned at 12.30pm on Saturday, May 5, followed by stud bulls and females.

THE Speckle Park breed continues to make its mark on the global beef industry, and the most recent sales held in Canada have achieved record highs, with some of the record lots coming to Australia.

Thirteen-month-old heifer Notta 15R Janette 209E, reached a high of $37,500 in the Supreme Speckle Park Bull and Female Sale, held at Notta Ranch, Neilburg, Saskatchewan, on April 7, setting a new world record for the breed.

The heifer, by A&W 15R from Notta 68L Janette 37X, was purchased by Hidden Valley Speckle Parks, in partnership with GreenHaven Speckle Parks.

Hidden Valley also purchased four other lots – Spots n Sprouts Emma 20E for $32,000; Ravenworth Lightening Lady 123E for $23,000; Spots n Sprouts Emma 5E for $14,000 and bull Notta 110B Hot Topic 305E for $7,000.

Another Canadian multi-vendor sale, the Source Speckle Park Bull and Female Sale, also held on April 7, reached a high of $30,000 for 15-month-old bull Prairie Hill Loaded Up 5E.

Australian stud Wattle Grove Speckle Parks, Oberon, kicked off the strong year with their female sale in February, when cows and calves topped at $19,000 for J135 and averaged $12,333; heifers reached $17,500 and averaged $12,714 and pregnancy-tested-in-calf females topped at $12,000 and averaged $10,000.