With the cattle market still holding strong and in particular the Speckle Park breed, Murray is hoping a large crowd will descend on his Macorna property for Beef Week open day, February 1.
The open day will provide an opportunity for people to check out stock across both breeds and will also be a preview of stock available for sale later in the year, through the Diamonds are Forever sale to be held on farm May 14 and the Northern Impact Sale to be held later in the year at Emerald, Queensland.
“We will have bulls, donor cows and young stock all on display as well as our show team for Sydney and the Limousin National Show, it will be a great day to come along and talk cows,” Murray said.
Murray is expecting around 170 pure bred Speckle cows and heifers to calve this year along with 180 registered Limousin.
“We have another busy year ahead as we get more quality animals on the ground, it is an exciting time to be involved in both breeds.” Murray said.
Black Diamond Speckle Park was established in 2014 and Macorna Limousin in 2010, although Murray’s dad has been involved in breeding Limousin cattle on a stud basis for over 30 years.
Murray lists the attributes of the Speckles breed as a nice moderate-sized animal with good milking ability, who lay down fat well and are great convertors.
“Speckle Park are ideal across any breed and their colour is insurmountable — everyone knows who they are and they just keep going from strength to strength.”
Speckle Park cattle remain the fastest-growing cattle breed in the world and are now just finding their way into the Brazil market.
Murray said Black Diamond have put a lot of time and effort into building their herd which includes a partnership with Canadian breeders.
“We have 11 cows in part ownership with breeders in Canada. Every second year we import embryos back to Australia which is exciting for our genetics, our breeding lines and Australian Speckle Park cattle in general.
“Around 50 per cent of our new outcross genetics come from Canada — the lines are proven to work here in Australia.”
Despite the continued rise in popularity of the Speckles, Limousin cattle still remain are firm breeder favourite.
“We focus on using French genetics which are perfect for building extra muscle and yield across Australian lines and they work well over Black Baldy and British breeds.”
Embryo work continues to play a huge role in the genetics of both breeds and this year has included 400 Speckle transfers and around 40 Limousin transfers.
Murray said 2021 was a brilliant year across both breeds despite difficulties arising due to the pandemic.
“We sold out of all our Speckle Park bulls and we sold more Limousin bulls than we ever had before. We weren’t able to make it to as many cattle shows as we have liked but we are hoping that will change this year.”
Murray is hoping to get to a few local shows including Rochester, Euroa and Numurkah as well as Sydney.
“We won supreme exhibit at Euroa last year and we looking forward to seeing the progeny that come from that particular bull this year.”
Black Diamond Speckle Park and Macorna Limousin will be open to the public as part of Beef Week 2022 on February 1 from about 9am.
For more information contact Murray on 0439 205 030.