NZ Angus breeders visit Rose City

ASCOT Angus Stud was again in the international spotlight recently when they hosted a group of 40 New Zealand Angus breeders at North Toolburra, Warwick.

Stud principals Jim Wedge and Jackie Chard said it was important to keep their stud prefix “out there” and felt the tour group were impressed with what they saw.

Mr Wedge said he showed the group some of his sire bulls and younger sale bulls for their upcoming on-property sale on September 23, where they have 50 Angus and 50 Charolais bulls on offer.

“Some of the breeders were interested in importing some of our semen for their breeding programs,” Mr Wedge said.

Tour group leader, Bob Dent, from Glen Innes, said the New Zealand Angus Association normally undertook an annual tour of different areas of their own country, but after having done so for many years decided to tour South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales this year for a change.

“All the breeders were from both the north and south islands, and were impressed with the type of cattle they saw at Ascot,” Mr Dent said.

“New Zealander’s very much concentrate on the physical attributes of their cattle, as they have to perform in some pretty tough country over there,” he said.

“They put a lot of emphasis on physical attributes and liked what they saw in Ascot’s Angus herd.”

Mr Dent said there was definitely the possibility of some of the NZ group importing semen from Ascot stud in the future.

“Some breeders in the group were pretty keen on a couple of bulls,” he said.

While in the Warwick area, the NZ group were also treated to a special rodeo performance and dinner at the Australian Rodeo Heritage Centre.

“We had a great night, and were very impressed with the facilities and some of the young riders,” Mr Dent said.

Also while the group was on the Downs, they visited David and Prue Bondfield’s Ultra Black, Brangus and Angus stud at Dalveen, and were also impressed with the yearling bulls on display.