Gentle Giants Please Breeders
February 17, 2015Don’t let their big muscle fool you – Murray Greys are gentler than they look
Brett Davidson’s Murray Greys love a scratch and will even bob their heads if you hit the right spot.
Mr Davidson opened the gates of his Mount Major stud at Yabba North for Beef Week last Wednesday.
There are about 40 heifers at the property and Mr Davidson was offering three to prospective buyers. All of his cattle are performance recorded and elite genetics.
Mr Davidson said he planned to have some bulls for sale, but they all sold in September.
But buyers were still visiting to have a look.
‘‘Quite often we have people come out and pick a calf,’’ he said.
‘‘If they like the look of a calf they will come back in the spring and buy it.’’
The key features of the bulls at Mount Major are low birth weight, big eye muscle (EMA), an EBV in the top one per cent of the breed and high intra-muscular fat.
Mr Davidson said Murray Greys were known as a good carcase breed to butchers.
‘‘The eye muscle is important because it’s the most expensive part of the meat,’’ he said.
‘‘The more intra-muscular fat the softer the meat. So it just cuts up nicely.’’
The best sire at Mount Major is named Jackpot, who was the heaviest bull at scanning.
At 12 months old, Jackpot weighed in at 590kg and his EMA was 94cm2.
Breeder Stephen Cosh owns Atriem Murray Grey stud at Tallarook and visited Mount Major on Wednesday.
Mr Cosh has bought cattle from Mount Major in the past.
He said the temperament of Murray Greys was just as important as other key features and they were well-suited to hobby farms.
Mr Cosh pointed to a large silver heifer and said she would weigh at least 650kg. ‘‘But look how quiet she is,’’ he said.
Mr Davidson lives at the Yabba North property with his wife Sarah Chaplin and their children Ted and Maisie.
The cattle are so gentle, when Maisie asked for a pony she got a heifer called Kyla to ride on instead.
‘‘I’ve sold quite a few to an Angus breeder to improve their (Angus) temperament,’’ he said.
