NIOA Pastoral Company has linked with one of Australia's leading stud cattle breeders as it looks to bolster its Santa Gertrudis herd on Queensland's Southern Downs.
NIOA Pastoral CEO Eliza Nioa has announced the appointment of Rob Sinnamon as chief advisor to the business responsible for leading genetic direction, sales and marketing at the historic Talgai Homestead near Allora.
And in a two-pronged strategy described as a "giant step forward" for Santa Gertrudis supporters, NIOA Pastoral and the Sinnamon family's Kyogle-based RL Pastoral will join forces, creating a strategic partnership to market the bloodline, starting with the newly named "NIOA RL Pastoral Production Sale" at Talgai this September featuring the Big S Group as invited vendors.
RL Pastoral owns Riverina Santa Gertrudis which has ties to the Sinnamon family dating back to the 1970s and is famous for the number 1070 prefix.
Rob Sinnamon is renowned within the cattle industry having been involved in the Santa Gertrudis breed for more than 50 years, breeding, showing and marketing top quality genetics, both stud and commercial.
He and wife Lorraine recently stepped down from running the iconic Yulgilbar Station on the Clarence River where they spent two decades developing genetics and building a highly successful commercial beef cattle and farming operation.
NIOA Santa Gertrudis manager Shannon Gardner said the NIOA-RL Pastoral partnership was great news for the breed.
"This is a giant step forward," Mr Gardner said.
"Rob Sinnamon is Mr Cattle Australia. He has built his reputation on producing cattle that are commercially focused and industry-relevant.
"The Riverina stud herd today carries genetics that were the best produced under Rob at Yulgilbar, while continuing to secure the best available Santa Gertrudis bloodlines available in the breed today.
"We look forward to working with Rob to promote and improve the breed."
Mr Sinnamon said there were a number of synergies with NIOA Pastoral and the two families shared a passion for producing top-end Santa genetics.
"Under Shannon's guidance, NIOA Pastoral has developed an elite and diverse base of quality cattle utilising extensive embryo transfer and AI programs," he said.
"This is a win-win for both operations. I am looking forward to working with Rob and Eliza and Shannon and the team at Talgai in assisting the business to produce fertile, high-performance cattle."
NIOA Pastoral set about acquiring some of the best genetics available to improve its herd when the Nioa family purchased Talgai in 2013.
Their strategy yielded almost immediate results with multiple successes on the regional and metro show ring circuit including Grand Champion Bull at the 2018 and 2021 Sydney Royal Easter Show.
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Helen Walker
Helen is the Toowoomba-based journalist who loves nothing better than covering anything horse sport related, however she covers all commodities and personality yarns. Over the years she has lived in Brisbane, Rockhampton, Longreach and Roma filing stories for the 'bible of the bush'. Contact 0459 827414.
Helen is the Toowoomba-based journalist who loves nothing better than covering anything horse sport related, however she covers all commodities and personality yarns. Over the years she has lived in Brisbane, Rockhampton, Longreach and Roma filing stories for the 'bible of the bush'. Contact 0459 827414.
