South Australian Shorthorn herd, Southcote Shorthorns, has made a transition into a new chapter for the long running stud program.
Southcote Shorthorns has begun the next phase of the stud’s development under the new ownership of Sam and Jodie Martin, Kawana Lea Shorthorns, Walcha.
Sam and Jodie have purchased Southcote Shorthorns outright from the Roache Family and this week the stud was transported 1,600 kms to the Martin families home base at Walcha, NSW. It took 3 b-doubles more than 40 hours to transport the entire herd the long trip.
For stud principal, Sam Martin, the Southcote herd offered a very exciting opportunity. “The herd is outstanding”, Sam said, “the phenotype of the cattle is certainly there, but so is the performance. This herd has an outstanding performance record, at least 10 cows that are in the herd are also in the top 1% of the Shorthorn breed for multiple traits and their phenotype shows that performance in them.”
Included in the purchase were stud sires including Southcote Hero H1, who Sam describes as an impressive individual. Hero daughters have sold to a top of $15,000, at the Futurity sale in August last year, and Hero H1 has become a popular AI sire within the Shorthorn breed.
“Semen in Hero H1 will still be available at the same price to anyone who is looking to use Hero in their program.” Sam said.
Two yearling stud sires had also been retained for possible use within the Southcote herd and Sam says that he will offer the pick bull for private sale later in the year.
“This year we will offer around 15 bulls for private sale at the end of July,” Sam said, “The plan is to continue to grow sales and the herd to be able to support an on-property sale in 4- 5 years.”
-Shorthorn Beef