Speckle Park International magazine - 2022 edition
News
Speckle Park breed on rapid growth trajectory around the world By Kim Woods
It is not only the flashy coat colours of the Speckle Park making people sit up and notice but the explosion in cattle numbers across Australia, New Zealand, the US and Europe as producers embrace the breed. The Speckle Park International society membership has grown to 512 including one member each in the USA, Singapore, Ireland and Qatar, 12 in Canada, 40 in New Zealand and 455 in Australia. It is not only the flashy coat colours of the Speckle Park making people sit up and notice but the explosion in cattle numbers across Australia, New Zealand, the US and Europe as producers embrace the breed. The Speckle Park International society membership has grown to 512 including one member each in the USA, Singapore, Ireland and Qatar, 12 in Canada, 40 in New Zealand and 455 in Australia. The membership comprises 12 life members, 34 juniors, 235 full stud members, 65 commercial and 166 associate members. Animal registrations peaked at 2939 for 2020 with 2900 registrations recorded up until November 2021. A total of 734 transfers of animals have been completed since January 1, 2021. SPI has a female inventory of 3384 head and of the 2021 born calves registered, 629 are AI sired and 589 are the result of embryo transfer programs.
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Up until November, a total of 591 DNA orders had been received by SPI for 2021. In 2015, Australian bull sales totalled 81 head to average $4563 and by 2017 this had jumped to 126 sold to average $10,309. Numbers rose steadily to 2020 when 275 bulls were cleared for an average of $8431 – this almost doubled in 2021 when 434 bulls averaged a $11,081. In the stud females, a total of 55 head were sold in 2016 to average $5734. By 2019 this had jumped to 171 females sold to average $7563. In 2021, 370 were sold at double the 2019 average at $15,598. World records for stud cattle were smashed in Australia with a bull topping at $65,000, a weaner heifer at $75,000, PTIC heifer at $70,000, joined cow and calf making $57,000, the highest priced female flush of $32,000 and the highest priced embryos at $5500 per embryo. In the store and prime markets, Speckle Park and Speckle Park infused cattle were in heavy demand from restockers, backgrounders, processors and lot feeders.
