SENEGUS

To facilitate our first move into our Senegus breeding program, we purchased an outstanding bull that was bred in the Australian Agricultural Company (AACO) composite breeding program. The bull, Kenny's Creek Meteor was a heavy muscled, high growth son of the Senepol bull Castle Nugent (CN) 5562. His Red Angus dam, by Robin Hood, was a trait leader for 600 day and carcase weight on Angus Group Breedplan. He was the pick of all the Senegus bulls bred by AACO. Meteor obtained very high EBV's under AACos genetic evaluation program and was very tight sheathed bull with excellent structure and disposition. Semen is available at competitive rates for commercial breeders at $20 per straw.

We maintain a breeding program within our existing operations, aimed at breeding Senegus cattle (Senepol X Angus) for the northern half of Australia. Both Julia and I had the opportunity of looking at Senepol and Senegus cattle in the USA in 2002 and we were struck with the significant hybrid vigor that comes from the cross and the overall completeness of the cattle for that environment.

Since 2003 we have been breeding Senegus bulls and are very pleased with their easy calving characteristics and significant early growth. Recent experience in the AACo composite program in northern Australia has convinced me that Senepols will have a profound effect on adapting Angus cattle to the tropical areas of northern Australia while of the same time improving the carcase characteristics of a base Bos indicus herd adapted to the North.

For the past five seasons we have been breeding Senegus bulls with the capacity to walk long distances and with a sleek skin for our own stations in Northern Australia, Bellevue and Nychum stations, in the lower Cape York Peninsula. The bulls have adapted in the harsh tropical conditions, managing tick and fly populations that Bos Taurus would normally be incapable of. The resulting progeny have significantly improved carcase quality compared to their Bos Indicus counterparts and are more saleable in Southern markets where we finish our steer portion at Boorowa.

Apart from their adaptability to better conditions than traditional Angus cattle, the Senegus are showing themselves much easier walkers and movers when mustering is underway.

Interestingly, the first bulls we put into Cape York forest country took a year or so to adapt but are now showing to long living and long working bulls in that environment.

The AACo experience has been similar and the original bulls  that went Headingley Station, Mt Isa, to join Santa Gertrudis heifers were then moved after joining to do another joining over Bos Indicus composite cows at Canobie Station in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Experience is showing their adaptability and flexibility in harsh joining conditions. The resultant progeny are equally suitable for domestic and export markets in AACo’s case the progeny will pass the necessary MSA hurdles to get into their premium 1824 branded product range.

THE KENNYS CREEK ANGUS PROGRAM

The selection and breeding program at Kenny’s Creek is driven by a systems based approach that has at its heart a rigorous and a non-emotional approach to genetic selection. It seeks to produce trouble free performance bulls for our clients.

A brief summary of the key points of our approach is as follows;

SIRE SELECTION

Kenny’s Creek has been at the forefront of making use of structural information, with every animal in our breeding herd scored at least every two years. We have amassed over 100,000 individual items of data. We have developed systems to analyse this data and rank the performance of sire and cow lines. This has sometimes given surprising feed back that enables us to react early to structural issues inherited by sire lines.

We take the attitude that a new sire has too “squeeze its way”  into our program. We comprehensively examine sires including viewing progeny, dams, granddams, sisters and any other family members available.

We don’t feel it is noteworthy to boast a high cull rate of bulls presented for sale as this demonstrates a lack of research and homework on matings. A low cull rate for us means more predictable projeny for our clients herds. We aim through tightly researched breeding principles and using high accuracy parents, to reduce mistakes and minimize surprises.

Once sires have passed this assessment we then look at EBVs, either on Angus Breedplan or multi-breed Breedplan. We keep in mind that some of our clients sell steers to the domestic market and some look at the B3 index. We are not a “one – index” breeder.

FEMALES

The majority of our progeny come from our ET program. We run an elite herd of cows that are constantly assessed and reassessed for the inclusion in the donor group. We are currently producing in excess of 600 embryos per year and have implanted 500 recipients for the program..

We are constantly looking for new females outside our herd to challenge our own females. However, any selections are subject to the same stringent tests we apply to our own females. Consequently it is not surprising that we have a high “casualty” rate with “bought in” females.

INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKING AND GLOBAL NETWORK

Keeping in mind requirements of our clients for functional cattle we have looked to the USA and New Zealand as a source of genetics to supplement the predominantly Australian based genetics of our herd. As the Kenny’s Creek herd have such strong carcase qualities we have found that we can complement the New Zealand bloodlines well and incorporate their excellent structure and functional qualities. We are annual visitors to overseas breeders who we regard as leaders in their country. 

INDEPENDENT EVALUATION

Our protocol for breeding soundness has four elements to it. 

Firstly, assessment of structural soundness. All our animals have been assessed independently for structural soundness. In the case of our females this starts at their first lactation and continues at regular intervals through their lives. No females remain in the donor or breeding program that have short comings on their structural assessment which includes a rigorous ‘life time’ evaluation of temperament. 

Structural soundness is also assessed in all sires introduced to the program via artificial insemination. We use a range of trusted consultants in the event we have difficulty in evaluating the bull ourselves. To allow a new bull onto our sire list we review his female progeny for as many generations as possible.

Secondly, physical evaluation of testicular and penile functions. This test is carried out by a qualified Veterinary Scientist and is performed on all sale animals.

Thirdly, physical observation of serving ability. While difficult and time consuming no test better indicates a bulls libido and unmistakable ability to serve a cow than a serving ability test. All bulls are confirmed as achieving a satisfactorily mount and service of a cow. This test is performed under Veterinary Scientist’s supervision and is independently verified for each bull. No short cuts allowed.

Fourthly, evaluation of testicular function. Experienced testicular palpation is an extremely accurate method of detecting semen quality problems which may interfere with natural mating. Any abnormalities are thoroughly checked with a semen quality test.

INDEPENDENCE AND TRANSPARENCY

Kenny’s Creek is not “mortgaged” to anyone else’s program.  While we have alliances with Fink Beef Genetics in the USA and Fossil Creek Angus in New Zealand, this has benefited all parties and we are in no way tied to each other. We do not have to compromise our objectives to suit any other players other than our own clients.

All the information that we collect and that will help clients in making an informed decision is published in our catalogue.      

MOTIVATION

We enjoy what we do and are happy to stand by what we produce.