Belmont Red bull statue would need $150k to go ahead

Rockhampton Regional Council will be maintaining the bulls in the lead up with general cleaning, minor repairs, paint touch ups and replacement and reattachment of the testicles (where required).

Currently, Santa Gertrudis, Droughtmaster, Braford, Romagnola and two Brahman bull statues adorn sites across Rockhampton.

But one breed society, whose humble breed was developed in the region in the early 1960s, feels they're missing out.

The Belmont Red Association of Australia has renewed calls to be represented in the beef capital, but securing funding has been difficult.

President Robert Sherry had been looking into funding options but indicated the cost of the sculpture and installation would likely exceed $150,000.

RRC mayor Tony Williams said council was happy to explore options if the breed society could come up with the funding.

"I am aware of the society's idea to install a new bull statue at the northern approaches to Rockhampton which would recognise the importance and history of the Belmont Red breed in our region," he said.

"There's a lot more involved in these initiatives but I'm always happy to hear good and interesting ideas, and enjoy working with local groups to explore them."

Mr Sherry said the society had explored funding avenues through RRC, CQUniversity, and the CSIRO, but nothing concrete had appeared.

"I was hoping to secure funding and make an announcement before Beef Week, but it's probably not going to happen," he said.

He indicated it would likely take a combination of three or four grants to be able to get the project off the ground, but he hadn't given up yet.

He was hoping to be able to secure a community benefit grant to commission a local artist who'd previously created sculptures for the neighbouring beach side town of Yeppoon.

He'd also looked at sculptors from Brisbane who'd created bull statues for the Beef Australia offices in Rockhampton.

Belmont Reds were scientifically developed at the former CSIRO Tropical Beef Centre at Belmont Research Station at Etna Creek.

It was developed as a composite breed using Africander (African Sanga) and Hereford-Shorthorn.

In Mr Sherry's opinion, Belmont Reds would be a worthy addition due to their heritage, but also being an innovative breed with good fertility, heat and tick resistance and foraging abilities.

"The breed has gone up and down a few times in popularity, but we believe it's well and truly on the rise now.

"Membership is very steadily growing, but it'd be nice if it could grow faster."

The existing breed statues throughout Rockhampton were erected between 1978 and 2000.

The Braford bull on the Bruce Highway was the first to go up in November of 1978, followed by the Brahman bull on Yaamba Road, both the brainchild of former mayor Rex Pilbeam.

The Santa Gertrudis bull in Frank Ford Park was next in September 1985.

Following that was the Droughtmaster bull in 1994, commissioned by CQUniversity and installed at the airport to mark Beef '94.

The Romagnola bull in O'Shanesy Park was first unveiled in April 1997 to commemorate the Italian Beef Cattle World Congress, held in conjunction with Beef '97.

Largest of all the statues and erected in 2000 to welcome Rockhampton's visitors from the south was the Brahman bull at the southern entrance roundabout.

All of the statues, except the Droughtmaster, were commissioned by RRC through various grant funding streams.