Seifert Belmont Reds: Championing Northern Australian cattle

THIS IS BRANDED CONTENT FOR SEIFERT BELMONT REDS

Seifert Belmont Reds' Ian Stark and Jeanne Seifert largely run a closed herd, of carefully managed diverse pedigrees and family lines, and are proud to have the purest Belmont Reds, including pedigrees reaching back to foundation CSIRO Africander and Belmont Red genetics from 1956.

They operate their bull breeding business across six properties, at Jandowae, including Wonga, Alice Downs and Kurrajong, at Flag Spring on the Auburn River, between Eidsvold and Chinchilla, and at Bellfields and Bellfields South, Dalby.

"We gave the breed a makeover, by selecting for better phenotype, while rapidly accelerating genetic gain," Ian said.

"We changed the face of the breed to produce a thoroughly modern Belmont Red. At the same time, our data and research benchmarking indicate Seifert Belmont Reds are the most profitable cattle of any breed in Northern Australia, and the best Belmont Reds in Australia for all traits."

The pair use genomic breeding values (GBVs) and estimated breeding values (EBVs) to continually drive genetic progress and benchmark their performance. GBVs from Professor Ben Hayes, MLA Northern Beef Genomics Project, rank the Seifert Belmont Reds herds performance against all other breeds in the project in the Northern Australia, while EBVs are within breed comparison, and ranks the herds performance against all other Belmont Reds.

Jeanne said both tools are providing valuable insights into the Seifert Belmont Reds herd.

"Especially where our performance sits in the Northern beef breeder population, with GBVs confirming our cattle are performing at the top for fertility and growth compared to all other breeds in the North.

"This feedback has highlighted how high performing our herd is and why our genetics offer a clear-cut choice for maximising profitability and genuine sustainability in Northern Australia.

"They've proven time and again, commercially, and in research, to be exceptional in all traits of economic importance, namely fertility, environmental adaptation, growth, docility and carcase traits."

These carcase traits were recognised at the 2023 Callide Dawson Beef Carcase Competition. As first-time competitors, Seifert Belmont Reds entries claimed Champion Grain Fed Steer Carcase; Champion Grain Fed Carcase; second in the Class 5 Pen of 3 Grain Fed Steers and Best Live Weight Gain in Feedlot Trade Steer; third for Grain Fed All Rounder, Best Live Weight Gain in Feedlot Trade Steer and the Class 7 Pen of 3 Trade Steers; and fifth in the Class 7 Pen of 3 Trade Steers.

"As first-timers, we certainly didn't expect to achieve this result. We're looking forward to entering this year's competition," Jeanne said.

Ian and Jeanne are always keen to share their personal and professional philosophy of transparency, honesty and integrity in their breeding program, and their focus on responding to the specific needs and breeding objectives of their buyers.

"Our unstoppable passion and belief in our cattle, and each other, remains pivotal to our success both professionally and personally. All sentiment aside though, we are a serious cattle business, and if there was a more profitable breed, we would be breeding it. However, there simply isn't another breed in Northern Australia that has proven to be this productive, with such low input costs," Jeanne said.

One of the most significant changes in the breed came when Ian worked to improve the phenotype of their animals.

"It took him as a cattleman to recognise the perceived shortcomings about 'the look' of the breed, and to address those criticisms by making better selections on type. Now, we not only have the best performing Belmont Reds ever, but apparently, we also have the best-looking ones."

Ian said that to go from selling about 10 bulls in 2014 with 2833ha and 600 head, to selling 400 bulls, 10 years later in 2024, with 10,927ha and 4000 head, is a testament to the profitability of Seifert Belmont Reds.

"We've never had an off-farm income, so our expansion and financial growth has been solely on the back of the Belmont Red.

"One of our favourite sayings, which sum up our cattle well, is that 'Seifert Belmont Reds survive like a Brahman, marble like an Angus, and breed like a rabbit'."

The bulk of their bulls are sold into North, Central, and Western Qld, the Kimberley in Western Australia, and the Northern Territory, while genetics have been exported to Paraguay, New Caledonia, and Papua New Guinea, with interest coming from the USA, Vietnam and Fiji.

Jeanne said the lineup they've selected for the sixth annual Seifert Belmont Red Sale will raise the bar, genetically and phenotypically, when the sale takes place online on Auctions Plus, and on-property at Jandowae on Monday, August 5, from midday.

"For the second year, our catalogue includes both GBVs and EBVs. Genomically, an exceptional 96 per cent of the bulls have GBVs for wet re-breed ranking them above the average, compared to all other Northern Australian breeds, with over half of the Sale bulls ranked in the top 10pc for this hard to achieve fertility trait.

"The EBVs show that nearly 80 percent of the catalogued bulls are above the Belmont Red breed average for profitability on the Self-Replacing $Index and the Terminal $Index.

"Again, this year, Seifert Belmont Reds was ranked as the number-one top performing Belmont Red Stud, expressed through Breedplan EBVs, in the 2024 Bush Agribusiness report.

"In a nutshell, our genetics deliver fast growing, heavy, yet moderate framed efficient cattle, that reach puberty early, and quickly re-breed whilst lactating," Ian said.

"This is real sustainability and profitability you can bank on, because to truly have both, inherent fertility, growth, tropical adaptation, carcase merit and 'heritable not handled' docility, are imperative."

THIS IS BRANDED CONTENT FOR SEIFERT BELMONT REDS