June 2008 Visit to Black Simmental Studs in America

In June 2008 prominent stud cattle consultant Dick Whale organised a most worthwhile cattle visit to the USA.

It was both profitable and enjoyable for the Wombramurra Black Simmental partners with Andrew and Trudy and Peter and Judy all participating.

The most satisfying outcome was confirmation that we were on the right track with straight coloured Black and Red Simmentals. It was a big decision for us to disperse our traditional Simmental herd in May 2005 after some thirty years of herd building and involvement with so many enthusiastic cattle breeders.

Embarking on something new like Black and Red Simmentals is always very risky but we were aware that the earlier ‘black and red pioneers’ had not succeeded because the wrong genetics had been introduced into Australia. Extreme 7+ and greater frame score cattle with some calving problems and inferior eating qualities are not what breeding cattle is all about. Regrettably some of these types of cattle are still being bred in the States and being introduced into Australia.

We have gone to great trouble to develop relationships in North America with those breeders who recognise which cattle are acceptable to the consumer and profitable for the breeders. The whole idea of breeding up from Angus was to capture the desirable attributes of that breed and blend them with the genetics for which traditional Simmentals had become famous.

Angus = eating quality, calving ease, easy doing with early maturity, no eye cancers and polled.

Simmental = maternal traits, yield and growth.

As mentioned earlier not all breeders in North America have been successful in or wanted to combine the two breeds to achieve a superior Simmental and F1. As a result we came home concerned that the introduction of the wrong type of Black Simmentals into Australia would again be detrimental to the breed, the industry and those breeders who get it wrong.

We were therefore pleased to identify those breeders in America who delivered what we believe to be the right type of cattle which would also be suitable in Australian conditions.

The first embryos we imported to Australia in 2004 came from Gateway Simmentals and the progeny have since proven that these are the right cattle. A highlight of our trip was to stay with the Butcher family, who own Gateway at their snow capped mountain retreat in Lewistown Montana. Over five days we had many excellent beef meals – obviously Black Simmentals! Jim and Lyn Butcher have been making good progress with the genetics in their herd and you could not meet more dedicated and competent cattle breeders. (It’s well worth a look at their web site http://www.gatewaysimmentals.com/) We have now been able to secure the best of their new genetics and have purchased more embryos and semen for our breeding programme.

Naturally we were looking for outcross herds in America which bred our type of cattle. Andrew is very definite about only acquiring the right cattle for us and Australia. As a result we only made acquisitions from a small number of the herds we visited but we are confident that we identified the most appropriate genetics to import. The genetics we now have available is sufficient to ensure an excellent genetic spread for several years to come. However we don’t intend deferring our search for the best genetics and no doubt will pay another visit to America in a few years. This visit convinced us that you can’t get it right just out of a Sale Catalogue; you have to be there checking progeny, cows, bulls, feet and legs, udders and everything else necessary to achieve excellence.