Ian and Trudi Brown move from dairy cattle to breeding Speckle Park crossbred cattle

Whether it was in their stud or commercial dairy herd, or in their beef cattle enterprise, the Browns were always up for trying something new and crossbreeding cattle was regularly pursued.

After deciding in July last year to permanently step away from the dairy industry due to health reasons, rising costs and labour shortages, the couple have thrown their passion into a new venture, breeding stud and commercial Speckle Park cattle.

The Browns had been operating a dairy with predominantly Friesian and Jersey cattle on their property on the outskirts of Warwick for about 30 years, but fell in love with Speckle Parks in 2016.

"It was years of working in the mud and working for years with a shoddy hip before getting COVID-19 that swayed me into giving the dairy caper away," Mr Brown said.

"We have had beef cattle for 15 or 20 years before we broke into the Speckle Park stud world in about 2016.

"At the time they were very much on the rise and we saw them at a few local shows, which lead us to giving them a go.

"We also have a small amount of stud Angus cattle as well and both breeds have certainly served us well in recent years."

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From those early impressions, the Browns sought out some Speckle Park semen straws and artificially inseminated an Angus-dairy cross cow for their first crossbreeding attempt.

After the success of that first cross, the Browns continued to experiment crossbreeding Speckle Park cattle with different breeds, including Senepol, Droughtmaster, Jersey and Brahman cattle.

In fact, such was the success of crossbreeding Speckle Park and dairy cattle that the Browns were able to milk the Speckle Park-dairy cross cows in their own dairy.

"We did away with the Jersey and Friesian heifers and whacked a few Speckle-cross Friesians into the dairy and I tell you what, they weren't bloody bad," Mr Brown said.

"We milked them for a lactation and they really did a pretty good job.

"Trudi jokingly said we should pursue creating our own breed out of the Jersey-Speckle Park cross and call it a Jerckle."

Mrs Brown echoed her husband's sentiments, saying that not only were the crossbred calves appealing to look at, but their eating quality was also exceptional.

"That first steer we got from the Speckle Park straw and out of the Angus-dairy cross cow was just such a beautiful boy," Trudi Brown said.

"I must admit, we ate that first steer and he was magnificent, which made us think that these Speckle Park cattle could be easily crossed with anything and would still have great eating quality."

Regularly buying seedstock from leading Speckle Park studs like Wattle Grove and JAD, the Browns said that crossbreeding has helped add significant value to both their stud and commercial operations.

"We've breed a lot of white-coloured Speckle Park bulls over our stud Jersey cows and the calves of that cross were just terrific," Mr Brown said.

"What was also amazing about them was that we didn't need to enter them into a sale or take them to the yards, we were able to sell 70 or 80 calves a year out of the paddock via word of mouth or just via social media sites like Gumtree.

"If you were just to sell a Jersey heifer out of the paddock, you might get a few hundred dollars, but if you cross it with a Speckle Park and it has those really appealing markings the breed is known for, it can double in value easily.

"As well as that, we have been able to sell herd bulls out of the paddock as well, which has just made it a solid operation all around."

Now the couple are settling into the Speckle Park world they said they were eager to investigate what other studs have on offer.

"We're really keen to get around to a few more sales and to keep trying to improve our own herd," Mrs Brown said.

"Whether it was stud dairy cattle or stud beef cattle, we've always wanted to try and get the best genetics we can for our herd.

"Now we have a little bit more flexibility we are really looking forward to getting around a bit more and seeing what's out there."