Santa Gertrudis female demand growing

Santa Gertrudis Breeders' (Australia) Association (SGBAA) general manager Chris Todd said numbers and membership in the breed have increased strongly over the past four years, with membership in the black for the first time in 13 years.

"The reasons for this are we have a beef animal that has longevity (bulls last to 12 years, females continue to produce calves at up to 15 years of age), fertility, weight (mature bulls weigh in excess of 1100kg and females weigh between 550kg to 800kg) and the breed has extremely strong maternal instincts," Mr Todd said.

"Also, Santa Gertrudis and Santa infused cattle when processed MSA grade, have a high saleable meat yield and marble. The calves are small in size when born and gain weight extremely quickly."

Mr Todd said the Santa Gertrudis female is an ideal breeder that crosses well with any other breed.

"We have the right percentage of Bos Indicus in the breed, that enables them to excel in Australian conditions without compromising saleable meat yield and eating quality."

"Whether it is drought or in a good season, they survive and produce. They don't have eye problems, calve easily, and don't suffer from bloat."

He said the biggest issue SGBAA members have is finding the breeders to cover the demand for pure and crossbred Santa Gertrudis females across Australia.

"She's highly sought after and in most cases, record the highest prices both in commercial and stud sales in relation to traditional beef cattle breeds.

In 2022, stud females averaged more than $7000 with the top price of $50,000 achieved when NIOA Lucy was purchased at The Ekka by West Australian investor Clinton Wheatley, to join a line of cows being managed in a shared progeny deal with Rob and Lorraine Sinnamon's Riverina stud in Kyogle, New South Wales.

Mr Todd said in 2023 the SGBAA is looking at being involved in a genomics project in Central Queensland.

"Closer to now, we're excited to see the results of Pinaroo Santa Gertrudis Stud's End of an Era Female Sale, which will feature close to 200 lots being offered at the Roma Saleyards from 11am on Friday, March 3.

The Greenup family run the highly regarded Rosevale Santa Gertrudis stud, situated in Jandowae, in the Eastern Darling Downs region of Qld.

Stud principal David Greenup said, of all of the tropically derived breeds, Santa Gertrudis are one of the closest to the 'flatback' type that is currently demanded by Australia's beef cattle industry.

"The Santa Gertrudis breed offers the adaptability of its tropical heritage derived from its Brahman influence (3/8 breed composition) along with the performance and beef quality of its British component derived from the Shorthorn breed (5/8)," Mr Greenup said.

He said with a vast area of Australia's cattle 'breeding country' being arid to semi-arid, producing a product from these areas which survives and performs at high reproductive rates and has the ability to perform at high levels in feedlots and quality backgrounding country is key.

"The Santa Gertrudis breed meets these requirements and this versatility is the reason that the breed is in high demand in the industry."

Mr Greenup said with fertility being the most important trait driving the profitability of beef cattle herds, the 'modern' Santa Gertrudis female is a very different animal than in the past.

"She has been selected for faster reproduction with an eye on not losing the extra weight gaining ability that the breed is renowned for."

Breeding and multiplying highly fertile female lines has for a long time been the number one focus in the Rosevale herd. Shorter mating periods and strict culling at pregnancy testing time has ensured that only the most fertile females remain in the herd to produce the next generation.

"Through performance recording we're getting to the stage where we're now able to stack higher growth and carcase performance into the genetic package without compromising high female fertility."

The Greenups had genetics from their herd involved in the Repronomics Project which has herds run at Brian Pastures, Gayndah and Spyglass, Charters Towers, benchmarking three of northern Australia's dominant beef breeds in Santa Gertrudis, Brahmans and Droughtmasters against each other.

"Along with a number of Santa Gertrudis breeders, we've invested in this project which is focussed heavily on female reproduction. A by-product of the herd is the steer progeny which have been taken on to slaughter weights with weights and full carcase measurements being recorded. This ensures a balance of all traits associated with beef production."

Mr Greenup said identifying the most profitable genetic lines is something the industry has the tools to do now and projects such as this facilitate real comparisons between different genetic lines.

"Multiplying the high performing lines that are discovered, without the bias of 'traditional' stud breeding ideologies, will open up big opportunities for commercial beef cattle producers."