Whiteline Speckle Park

SPECIAL INTEREST

Interview by: Tania Paget

What is the name of your stud, the name of the stud owner(s), location of the stud, size of land on which the stud is based, and the main enterprise taking place on the property?

Whiteline Speckle Park. Owned and operated by Michael and Victoria Hastings at Winchelsea. The main farm is comprised of 900 acres and located midway between Geelong and Colac , near the Otway Ranges in Victoria.

Michaels’ grandfather, Jack Hicks had Angus cattle and Poll Dorset sheep studs at Ballanee, Ballan and was using objective measurement of his breeding program more than 80 years ago. He was a highly regarded show judge and saw the need for good objective measurements to be utilised in the selection process. He always said, “If you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it”.

What is the main focus/goal of your breeding program?

Our focus is producing high quality livestock that perform in the paddock, have longevity, are structurally sound, have great carcase traits and phenotype, and are profitable under commercial conditions, all backed by solid data. We must produce commercially relevant animals that can deliver high returns on farms and from paddock to plate, so we also focus on all attributes to increase MSA grading results.

To do this we have had to utilise every selection tool available. All animals are fully performance recorded with Birth Weights, 200 day, 400 day and 600 day weights recorded and scanned for IMF, fats, and EMA, along with independent temperament and leg and feet scoring for structural soundness. All stock are run under commercial conditions alongside our Angus herd as a benchmark, and we have good long term information from that Angus herd to compare.

To add more accuracy to the data sets, we have been increasing the sizes of our contemporary groups and maintained crosslink sires in each group with strong data sets, significant numbers of progeny and multiple herds. This is very important, at this stage of the breed, to increase the accuracy of the EBVs behind all animals.

In 2020 we used 10 sires, in 2021, 13 sires, and this year we used 15 sires in an effort to improve the balance and performance of all progeny. Every female is carefully matched to potential sires.

How long have you been breeding Speckle Park(Crossbreds or Stud Stock) and what first attracted you to the breed?

Many years ago before we were a pure angus herd we had a few Angus / Shorthorn cross cows which were exceptional. Later I was impressed for many years with the traits of Specklepark and potential to produce highly marbled and high yielding animals off grass, at an earlier age than most other breeds.

So when the opportunity came up to run some embryos through the herd with Dale and Wattle Grove in 2016 we jumped at opportunity as we knew Dale had access to a great number of the high performing Cow lines.

What is your favourite Speckle Park Bull and Speckle Park Female in your herd and why?

This is a hard question as with a focus on continuous improvement this changes each year with genetic progress. I do my best not to have favourites and enjoy the independent structural assessments and scans to stay objective and stick strongly to our culling on performance criteria.

However if I had to choose one of our bulls I think Whiteline Novak N169 as he was our first high quality stud bull that ticked all the boxes. Great temperament, feet, fleshing, as long as a train, great scrotal, high ema, positive fats and in the top 1% of the breed for IMF and breeds so consistently. He is a half brother to Spknz Falcon and Wattlegrove Paperboy amongst other greats.

Its difficult with cows but if I had to choose one, I think we all have a soft spot for our best foundation cows. A standout from our foundation cows was Whiteline Passion Star P264 which once again is an incredibly well balanced cow with a great frame, plenty of milk, great growth, IMF, positive fats and a huge ema in the top 1% all in 1 package.

What is your greatest breeding/showing achievement to date with your Speckle Park cattle?

We have a passion for breeding quality livestock that perform in the paddock, have longevity, are structurally sound, have great carcase traits, great phenotype and are profitable under commercial conditions. It is incredibly satisfying to have cows that are already in the Top 1% of the breed for most traits, and possess great structural soundness and phenotype, which has been built off other great Speckle Park breeding programs, from within Australia and Canada. This year sees our 1st public offering at Auction through our partnering as guest vendor at The Southern Success Sale. I think our greatest achievement so far is building a great range of high performing cow lines.

What would you like to see your breeding program achieve over the next 5 years, 10 years, 20 years and beyond?

Our objective is to produce highly reliable cattle that are very profitable on farm, hence great animals with good structure, good feet, bone and milk, docility, carcase attributes and calving ease that will produce animals that have high feed efficiency, growth, IMF, and carcase attributes adding extra profit to clients by increasing their MSA grading results.

Our second 5 year plan was to balance the animals to be phenotypically good, with great structure, but also be in the top brackets for EBVs, delivering top quality commercially relevant stock that are highly profitable both on farm and to processors.

What is your favourite cut of Speckle Park beef and how do you like it prepared/cooked?

Its very hard to go past a medium rare eye fillet.

What is your greatest piece of advice for people getting into the Speckle Park breed?

It is very important to incorporate objective measurement into your breeding program and cull hard on animals that do not perform, especially in key attributes such as feet, structure and temperament. Maintain all the key fundamentals of a functional, productive female herd such as good structure, milk and calving ease while pushing the most important carcase traits impacting on meat quality, yield, EMA and IMF.

Ideally, what would you like to see the breed as a whole achieve over the next decade?

To be recognised as a breed that can reliably produce quality animals off grass and at a younger age (10-16 months) with high scoring MSA index and solid EBVs to back them.

Clients want to know as much as possible about the stock they are purchasing, so being able to provide extra data with genomics and EBVs adds immense security to their investment. The more breeders taking up and utilising these tools, the better it will be for other breeders/buyers.

This will only be achieved if all Speckle Park breeders get hard on their selection criteria and make the tough decisions to only breed with the best.

What excites you most about the future for the Speckle Park Breed?

Its ability to produce a high quality carcase off grass at an earlier age with potentially high MSA grading. To do this we must collect data of ALL animals both good and poor.