On The Land
21 May, 2024
Major wins for Senepol stud
A GLEN Allyn stud has picked up some major wins at the recent Beef Australia 2024 event held in Rockhampton, despite it being the first outing for the operation in 13 years.
Pinnacle Pocket stud, established in 2006 by Peter Spies, is the first registered Senepol stud established north of Rockhampton and the only registered stud in Far North Queensland.
Mr Spies is understandably thrilled about winning the Senepol Grand Champion Female title, with Pinnacle Pocket SPKT30323, or “Winnie”, at the week-long event in Rockhampton which attracted more than 119,000 people through the gates.
Judge Dario Baumgarten, a former Agriculture Minister and cattle breeder from Paraguay, awarded the heifer the highest award over a lovely senior cow with a calf at foot – something that surprised Mr Spies.
“I thought she was a lovely, correct, feminine heifer… but seldom does a junior heifer win over a senior cow,” he said.
The Pinnacle Pocket Stud also won the Exhibitors (Breeders) Group with “Winnie” and another beautiful heifer that Mr Spies described as “peas in a pod” and their 22-month-old Bull Pinnacle Pocket 141 “Manuka” who also won Reserve Champion Senior Bull.
“Whilst I am chuffed about the Grand Champion ribbon, winning the Breeders Group has me more pleased,” he said.
“It vindicates some of the tough decisions I have made by selling a core of Senepol females I bought down south in 2006-07 and selecting on fertility and starting from base droughtmaster cattle, which I used to breed over a decade ago, and using select Purebred Senepol bulls to drive fertility.
“In producing cattle, we follow best-practice commercial husbandry including early weaning, controlled mating and pregnancy testing, with cows having to produce a calf every year.
“Our branding rate is typically over 90%. All calves are raised from weaning on the Tablelands, and the stud applies strong selection criteria to retained bulls and replacement heifers with emphasis on polledness, sheath, testicles, slick coat, fertility, temperament and structural correctness.
“We have not shown cattle since 2011 and this was our first outing in 13 years, but we will be showing at Malanda and possibly some other regional shows later this year and at the Tablelands better Beef Open Day.
“I must really commend Calvary Christian College in Townsville who prepared and showed our animals and Kellie Williams, from Kel-Lee Droughtmasters, who broke the cattle in initially and prepared them before going to the school in Townsville.”
