From Little Things Big Things Grow

FROM LITTLE THINGS

BIG THINGS GROW

Facts and Data derived from the book “The cow that jumped over the world” by Christine Pike.

A brief history of the Speckle Park breed and its’ growth across the globe.

People will tell you without hesitation that the Speckle Park Breed is derived from Angus, Teeswater Shorthorn and White Park cattle, but in reality this is only partially the truth. In a breed that has so very much to offer, you will come to find out why through understanding the thought processes and careful selection of traits that were bred for specifically in a myriad combination of genetics and breeds, all bringing the best that each had to offer, to combine into what we now know as the wonderful Speckle Park breed of beef cattle. Here is an outline of how it all came to be…

In 1939 Mary Lindsay purchased a pregnant Shorthorn like cow (roan but with more distinct spotting and a white line back stripe) from her father. This cow produced a white heifer with black points, who Mary kept. Both the cow (and later) her white heifer were bred to a Highland bull. The resultant bull from this joining was bred to a herd of Jersey cows. The offspring by this bull were “yellow” roan linebacks and were excellent milkers. The heifers from this combination were kept and bred to an Angus bull with resulting calves being black and white spotted. These heifers were then retained and crossed with other Angus bulls and Galloway bulls. Mary noted that the early day Shorthorn could have included a bit of wild white cattle blood from the Park cattle in Britain.

From the Shorthorn came fast growth habits, good marbling throughout the meat and some of the coat colour patterns. From the Highland came a genuine hardiness and ability to thrive in extreme conditions, sound beef qualities and docile natures. The Angus contributed excellent feed conversion, good beef eating qualities and influenced polled heads on the cattle. The Jersey enriched with their high fertility traits, creamy, high quality milk and tender and tasty meat qualities and the Galloway increased hardiness and the ability to thrive on low grade feed, and maintained good beef qualities and good temperaments. You can see in our modern-day Speckle Park cattle, the influences that have derived from each breed.

In early 1963, Bill and Eileen Lamont acquired a heifer from Mary Lindsay, a white with black spots, who would later become recorded as Cow #1. Throughout the later part of the 1960’s, the Lamonts’ purchased several more spotted lineback cattle from Mary, and bred them to their Angus bulls. In the late 1970’s, Mary wanted to retire and sell her cattle. This distributed these spotted lineback cattle to several other parties who took quite a fancy to breeding these good-looking and uniquely coloured cattle. In 1973, 3 steers showed at Toronto Royal, quite possibly the first public showing of what were to become Speckle Park, as at this stage these “fancycoloured cattle” didn’t even have a name. These 3 steers sure got people talking.

In 1974 the Lamonts’ sold their Angus herd and kept their spotted ones, and in the October of 1976 Bill and Eileen decided to contact the Canadian Department of Agriculture to enquire about the creation of a new breed, to become known as Speckle Park. What a historical Decision! By this stage local butchers knew they were onto something special… beef with extra flavour and tenderness, from animals fed basic feed with no overblown rations.

On August the 23rd 1985 it was time to start an Association for the breed. In these fledgling times there was not much money and no big corporation backing, only the enthusiasm of breeders and butchers who believed in the cattle and the meat quality. 1986-1988 saw the first official Feedlot Tests against other breeds. The Speckle Park steers were the youngest in the project, yet scored in the top ranks for feed to gain ratio and rib eye measurements. Since these initial Feedlot tests, Speckle Park consistently Score the highest for Yield percentages, Ribeye measurements and IMF and are regularly grading AAA.

At the 1989 Alberta Bull Congress Steak Challenge, Speckle Park were winners in ALL categories and set a new standard. Since 2001 at the prestigious Calgary Stampede Carcass Classic, Speckle Park have been the breed to try to beat. In 1993 Speckle Park was declared an “Evolving Breed” by Agriculture Canada. In 2006 Speckle Park became a Recognised Breed with distinct breed status. The Canadian Speckle Park Association (CSPA) became a member of the Canadian Beef Breeds Council in 2007. Also in 2007, the first frozen embryos and semen were imported into Australia. Speckle Park International Inc. was first incorporated in Feb 2008 and became a company in 2019. Speckle Park Cattle in Australia have gone from strength to strength proving they can survive and thrive in temperatures from minus 40 degrees Celsius in Canadian winters, to plus 40 degrees Celsius in Australian summers.

The 2020 Australian Beef Cattle Registrations by Breed Society shows the increase of Speckle Park purebreds registered since 2011, even with numbers increasing exponentially during the height of the worst drought in living history (2017-2020), whilst other breeds declined dramatically.

The graphs below show the surge of increasing Speckle Park calf registrations from 2015 to 2021 (with many more expected in 2022 and beyond) and Speckle Park International memberships from 2019 through to 2022.

With many breeders resorting to more embryo transfer techniques recently anticipated projections for 2022/2023 are predicted to launch Speckle Park cattle amongst the fastest growing cattle breeds in Australia, and firmly cement our breed as a force to be reckoned with in the Beef cattle Industry.