Central Queensland cattlemen Will Haviland and Brenten Donaldson will be hosting the countries very first Beefmaster bull sale online later this month, marking a special milestone for the development of the breed in Australia.
Comprised of Shorthorn-Hereford-Brahman genetics, the Beefmaster was first introduced intro Australia by the the Keats family in the 1970s, when two bulls were imported from America.
Developed by American Tom Lasater in 1931, the foundation of the breed was formed on the selection of six major essentials; fertility, weight, conformation, milk production, hardiness and disposition.
Mr Haviland said because the Beefmasters have been selected heavily for those six essentials, they've become a very feed efficient breed.
"With climate change and methane reduction that we're going to be going down the track of, feed efficient cattle whether it be on grass or grain are going to become fairly sought after and I think Beefmasters have that going for them," he said.
"They've probably had the strongest selection criteria out of any breed I would suggest for fertility for the last 80 years ever since the breed was established."
Mr Haviland said a few members of the Beefmaster Breeders United came over from America to tour during Beef Week 2018.
"We actually made contact with the Collier stud at that time," he said.
"We'd been looking at bull photos on the net for 10+ years and they'd always take your eye, you'd think 'look at the bone and meat on this bloke', then you'd look at a couple of figures and you get intrigued,"
"After lengthy discussions while fencing, we hatched a plan with our families to head to America to check them out, so we jumped on a plane to go and have a look".'
Shortly after arriving in the US they headed to the Lasater Ranch for a tour, and visited "Collier Farms", long term Beefmaster breeders in Texas.
"We identified Collier Farm because we found they not only had the figures but were also paying close attention to the physical characteristics of the animals,"
"We saw paddock after paddock of these functional cows with lovely udders and sappy calves and the bone, stretch, growth and thump was just a real eye opener for us.
"We basically shook hands on some Semen while we were in the states and that's when the venture began." Mr Haviland said.
In May 2021 Mr Haviland and Mr Donaldson created "Beefmaster Breeders Australia" to help promote the uptake of the breed in Australia.
Mr Haviland said the upcoming sale would include 15 bulls and two semen packages, all from imported American genetics
"We just want to provide that seedstock that's got that punch and growth and all those good things," he said.
"We're into breeding good cattle and when you look over the fence and see some good cattle with the figures to back them why not give them a go."
In other news:
Want daily news highlights delivered to your inbox? Sign up to the Queensland Country Life newsletter below.
