Cattle in Australia: Rise of breeds once considered quirky
Two new breeds of cattle are on the rise in Australia, while smaller, traditional British breeds experience a decline. See the latest data on breeders registered this year.
Angus, Herefords and Brahmans remain the dominant forces in Australia’s beef cattle herds, but new breeds are now taking a bigger slice of the meat pie, according to an analysis of breed data from the past 10 years.
Two breeds — which would have been considered quirky at best a decade ago — have grown rapidly from tiny bases, while five of the major breeds have recorded sharp declines in their official registration numbers. Some minor breeds are also quickly disappearing from studbooks.
The latest Australian Registered Cattle Breeders Association herd data reveals British breed-based cattle registrations remain the mainstay, making up 51 per cent of all primary registered cattle or 74,619 recordings in the past year.
Tropical breeds account for 22 per cent, with European types counting for 13 per cent and others making up almost 13 per cent.
Prior to 2011 there were no Speckle Park breed registrations in Australia; there are now 2874 primary recordings.
Wagyu registrations increased from 2916 primary registrations in 2010 to 15,898 in 2020.
This is just shy of the Hereford registrations of 17,067 in 2020. Ten years ago there were 24,906 Herefords registered.
Angus experienced a significant increase in registrations from 31,595 in 2010 to a peak of 48,085 in 2018 and now sits at 45,666.
Five major breeds to record falls in registrations during the past decade are Herefords, Droughtmasters, Murray Greys, Charolais and Limousins.
Speckle Park International chief executive Hannah Bourke said the increasing popularity of the breed was due to producers starting to see the value the breed has in the Australian beef sector due to both their maternal and terminal ability.
“There has been phenomenal interest in the breed,” Ms Bourke said.
“We can’t seem to breed them as fast as people want them.”
“We certainly saw an impact of drought on the breed,” Ms Bourke said. “Investment into AI and ET was less during the drought years, but we probably didn’t take as heavier of a hit as other breeds.”
RaynerAg livestock genetics consultant Alastair Rayner said the large increase in Wagyu registrations from 2916 in 2010 to 15,898 in 2020 was due to producers recognising the specialised position of the breed for the Japanese market.
“The growth in Wagyu is a reflection of people who have taken the time to consider whether they can make the market work for them,” Mr Rayner said.
Despite drought, the Angus breed had maintained it’s “major position” and the growth and maintaining of Angus registrations “coincides with the significant push to try and capture more market”, he said.
Brahman primary registrations experienced a slight decline between 2010 and 2014 and were now at 12,512 which was the highest they have been since 2008.
Mr Rayner said the dominance of the Brahman in northern Australia was partly attributed to capitalising on northern reproductive work being conducted.
“There is the desire by leading seedstock producers in the north to have cattle that have been registered to provide certainty surrounding those animals,” Mr Rayner said.
Another trend of recent years was the collapse in smaller British breed registrations.
The Devon breed saw a decrease from 720 in 2010 to just 213 in 2020 and Galloways of 495 to 197 in the same time frame.
Belgian Blues, meanwhile, fell from 41 to just one registration.
“When your overall population of animals is much smaller and combine the effect of a fairly significant drought, the total number of animals is more a reflection of a decline in overall population numbers because of the drought,” Mr Rayner said.
“You get to a point where people move away to different breeds as they rebuild because it’s easier to start over with a different breed.”
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