Speckle Parks, the beef cattle breed created in Canada, are now an internationally sought after breed. They are a carcass orientated yet maternal Pure Bred (not a composite), breed of beef cattle. They are Polled and British Bred originating from Canada. Speckle Parks are moderate sized. Mature cows range in weight from 600 kgs. to 850 kgs. and mature bulls 1000 kgs. +. Calves average 30 to 40kgs. at birth and wean off at about 230kgs. to 370+kgs.

Speckle Park cattle come in a variety of colour patterns. They are predominantly black with white top line and underline, with speckled hips and sometimes shoulders and with a black or black roan face. The second colour pattern is the leopard pattern. It is similar to the speckled pattern but there are definite black spots on the animal instead of just speckles. The white animals with some black hair on the body are considered ‘leopards’. The third colour pattern is the ‘white’ pattern. The white animals have white hair on the body and face but have black points. i.e. eyes, ears, nose, and hooves. The fourth is solid black. There is a percentage of blacks. The solid black heifers are registrable and can be used in the purebred herd, but the bulls are registrable but cannot be used in the purebred herd.

(Photo above: Fish Creek Farm Thunderstruck L1 2016 Speckle Park Supreme Beef Exhibit)

FERTILE, HARDY & HEALTHY

With their fine skin and hair in summer and a quick to ‘slick off’ hair coat, Speckle Parks adapt well to the Canadian summers as well as being able to ‘coat up’ when needed for their notoriously cold winters. They are tough, real tough, you can throw any harsh climatic situation at them and they survive, get back in calf, rear a good one, yet are so easy to feed and come back in condition quickly after hard times, traits that will stand them in good stead in Australian’s harsh environment.

Early to reach puberty being “British bred” Speckle Park females cycle early and breed easy.

In Canada, and now increasingly in Australia and New Zealand, butchers and meat graders are very impressed with the consistently high quality of the Speckle Park carcass. It isn’t uncommon to get an exceptionally good carcass from any breed, but what is IMPRESSIVE is when the carcass from a particular breed is consistently good. That is the case with the Speckle Park. Another IMPRESSIVE fact about the Speckle Park is their UNIQUE ability of being able to achieve a AAA carcass without excess outer fat cover. Most breeds are able at achieve AAA carcass but often at the expense of excess outer fat. Speckle Park can achieve a AAA carcass with minimal fat cover, thus grading YG1-AAA.

Docile Nature – the key to more weight gain and less stress on man and beast. Speckle Parks are docile animals. Their gentle disposition makes them a pleasure to work with. They are however tribal and prefer to be in the company of other cattle.

BREED STANDARDS

The breed comes in 3 colours and in black. Black animals must have the word [black] after its name. All black animals must have DNA verification before they can be registered. Rarely, there are some animals born with red markings. These cannot be registered. Animals with horns cannot be registered.

• Established to provide only the best Speckle Park Cattle to our customers.
• Stud Principal Jason Keays has a passion and desire to breed only the best cattle to sell to Fish Creek Farms Speckle Park customers; we will cull a faulty animal and concentrate only the good ones.
• We will have a close interest in all our commercial breeding customers that buy our bulls and correct any problems; your success is our success.
• Fish Creek Farm has their own High Quality Meat Brand and will be happy to Partner with our customers and negotiate a buy back agreement, because Speckle Park Cross cattle are fast becoming the most consistent performers in Australia’s meat processing.
• Data, Data, Data at Fish Creek Farm Speckle Park we will record and itemize all our birth data, we have small high quality numbers to be right on top of this. We love doing this and it shows with the processes of our breeding programs.
• We love what we do and hope we can share this with you, even better if we can have some fun at the Royal Shows, and enjoy The Speckle Park breeders Hospitality that the Royal Melbourne is becoming famous for.
• Fish Creek Farm Speckle Park Stud do things Right, if we don’t get it Right we do it again and again so you walk away happy. If your not happy where not happy.

At the turn of the last century, there were cattle around Lloydminster in Saskatchewan, Canada that had derived from Shorthorns and from cattle that displayed the Park colour pattern. By 1953 Mary Lindsay of Lloydminster had gathered together animals which displayed the breed characteristic colour pattern.

In 1958, Beef cattle breeders, Bill and Eileen Lamont, of Maidstone, SK who at that time were breeding Angus cattle and Appaloosa horses bought their first speckled cattle from Mary and began a breeding programme with their purebred cattle. Lamonts named the cattle Speckle Park – Speckle for the colour pattern and Park for the white with points pattern of the English cattle. The resulting offspring came in a variety of colour patterns, some white with black points, some leopard coloured (spotted on their sides ) and some black sided with speckled hips, white top and underline and roan faces.

Other beef cattle breeders saw them come through the cattle markets and bringing a premium price. Their interest grew in these hardy, heavy milking and distinctly marked cattle to the stage they started purchasing bulls and females from the Lamont’s to try them in their herds. Within a few short years a dedicated group of breeders were now breeding Speckle Park cattle mainly from the Nielburg area of northern Saskatchewan.

In 1985 with the help and support of nine of those other Saskatchewan cattlemen the Canadian Speckle Park Association was formed. Their aim from there on was to stabilize the breed and have them recognized as a pure breed.

On June 4, 1993, Agriculture Canada approved the incorporation of the Canadian Speckled Park Association and Speckle Parks were declared an EVOLVING breed of cattle.

Unlike most other countries, Canada’s Minister of Agricultural and through the Animal Pedigree Act insist on anyone trying to start a new breed have to go through stringent protocol procedures to have the breed declared a “DISTINCT BREED”. This comes after the period of time the breed is in the EVOLVING breed status, all of which is overseen by Government Authorities. Stabilizing Breed characteristics and keeping pedigrees are two major protocols that have to be upheld. On July 6th 2006 the Minister for Agriculture announced the SPECKLE PARK BREED a DISTINCT PURE BEED the first and only breed to be developed in Saskatchewan CANADA.

2007: Speckle Parks were introduced into Australia by Speckle Park Cattle Co and into New Zealand by Lindsay Jones in partnership with Maunghahina Stud and Waio Stud. The association was established in 2008 and the first New Zealand member joined in 2010. Now there are thousands of Speckle Parks in both New Zealand and Australia.

“Fish Creek Farm Thunderstruck L1′  Semen Available in November 2016.

Fish Creek farm has the privilege to source the latest semen that is available and if we don’t currently have what you are looking for in the tank, we may have the bull on the ground at the farm. We also have close relationships with Australia’s leading Speckle Park Studs and also have access to their semen in our “SIRE BANK TANK”.

Fish Creek Farm is proud of its breeding program and the successful results we have been delivering. Through selecting animals that meet our breeding criteria, we now have a core herd of elite Speckle Park females and donors.

Fish Creek farm proudly can also offer genetics from these cattle that are for sale. Fish Creek Farm also has access to a core group of elite females in Australia. These elite stud females consist of show winners from the Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney Royal shows. International genetics are sourced from Canada’s finest Speckle Park cattle stud.

To improve our herd we also have an extensive embryo implant and flushing program. This allows us to maximise our genetic gain and use animals that we believe meet our criteria. Fish Creek Farm applies the following selection criteria to our female breeding program:

Frame size
Length of body
Conformation
Temperament
Fertility
Milk/udder
Gestation length.

Early to reach puberty being “British bred” Speckle Park females cycle early and breed easy.

In Canada, and now increasingly in Australia and New Zealand, butchers and meat graders are very impressed with the consistently high quality of the Speckle Park carcass. It isn’t uncommon to get an exceptionally good carcass from any breed, but what is IMPRESSIVE is when the carcass from a particular breed is consistently good. That is the case with the Speckle Park. Another IMPRESSIVE fact about the Speckle Park is their UNIQUE ability of being able to achieve a AAA carcass without excess outer fat cover. Most breeds are able at achieve AAA carcass but often at the expense of excess outer fat. Speckle Park can achieve a AAA carcass with minimal fat cover, thus grading YG1-AAA.

Docile Nature –the key to more weight gain and less stress on man and beast. Speckle Parks are docile animals. Their gentle disposition makes them a pleasure to work with. They are however tribal and prefer to be in the company of other cattle.