I was not surprised when I discovered that the Speckle Park is the fastest growing beef cattle breed in Australasia.
More and more as I drive around in rural areas, I see these cattle with their distinctive stand out hide in a variety of patterns.
They can be speckled or white with black points, have a leopard look about them or some can even be black, although this is less common.
Farmers developed the Speckle Park in Canada in 1959, by cross-breeding the British Aberdeen Angus with the Shorthorn; the speckled pattern from which it gets its name came about from a single bull with the colour-pointed markings of the British White Park.
It was in 1995 that the Speckle Park was officially recognised as an evolving breed and finally receiving a ‘distinct breed’ recognition by the Canadian Government in 2006.
Beneath their somewhat boldly different looking hide, the Speckle Park has some great attributes.
Along with their moderate size frame, they are hardy and able to adapt well to a variety of climates, mature early and are highly fertile, enabling them to get back in calf regardless of adverse weather conditions.
They are known for high yields and the softness of carcass, making the meat juicy, flavoursome, and tender.
A standout is their quiet temperament and for a farmer, the key to greater weight gain and a safer, low stress working environment helps when working with docile animals.
Speckle Park was first introduced into New Zealand in 2008, when the McKenzie family from Maungahina Stud on the outskirts of Masterton, began importing embryos and semen from Canada. They established an extensive breeding programme and are home to the largest Speckle Park herd in New Zealand.
It was seeing these animals on show at the Field Days, which sparked an interest with Tokomaru dairy farmer Mark Gledhill and in the 2009/10 season, he bought a few Speckle Park straws to put over his pedigree Friesian cows. He kept the heifer calves and AI’d them back to Speckle Park to produce three quarter Speckle.
“It was so exciting in the beginning when we put a Speckle over a Friesian and seeing what the calf was going to look like,” said Mark.
The herd grew to a point where Mark had 50 cows that were half, three quarter and seven-eighths Speckle Park. However, to be able to register them, you have to start with purebreds.
“Unlike many other breeds, you can’t just breed them up, you have to have embryos,” said Mark. “We bought some embryos from a breeder from the South Island and started our purebred herd. We also bought embryos from Australia and Canada, just trying to find the best genetics from around the world for what we want. Some are suited to beef cows, and some are suited to dairy, depending on their weight as a calf.”
Although Mark’s dairy herd has always been friesians, he does not find any fault with Speckle Park.
“When you get Friesian calves in, about half will have had a feed off their Mum but with the Speckle Park, they are up on their feet within minutes of being born and have all had a feed,” said Mark. “And a lot of them will even walk up to the shed before you get a chance to put them in the trailer. They go hard and that’s because of where they come from, if they don’t get up and have a feed, they will die.”
Mark keeps all the heifer calves and sells the bull calves that are good for breeding to dairy farmers. They are popular with dairy farmers because they are easy calving, polled, grow well and they are real vigorous drinkers as calves.
As Mark has progressed, he has sold all of his Speckle Park cattle that are not purebred, transitioning from part bred to a full purebred herd. It has taken nine years to build a purebred herd and this season Mark has 60 pedigree Speckle Park cows to calve.
All of his later calvers in his dairy herd are also mated to Speckle Park.
Mark’s goal is to transition from the dairy herd to just have a 200-cow speckle park herd and have an annual bull sale, including selling embryos.
