The Herds

It wasn’t until 1953, nine years after taking over the property, that George and Heather Greenup purchased their first Santa Gertrudis bull, KRT Elation 35(Imp.) at the 2nd King Ranch sale in Australia. He was introduced into the commercial Shorthorn herd that had been in operation for 90 years.

The quality of his first calves surpassed all expectations. A grading up process continued and the Rosevale Santa Gertrudis Stud was formed as Stud 23. The stud staged its inaugural bull’s sale in 1957 with a catalogue consisting of yearling Santa Gertrudis/Shorthorn cross bulls. In 2006 the 50th Annual Rosevale Sale was held – the longest running Santa Gertrudis sale in Australia.

The current herd at Rosevale now consists of 700 stud and 700 commercial breeders.

In both herds, selection is towards the type of cattle that will produce progeny that will fatten off pasture prior to two years of age and grade for heavy export markets such as the Japanese Ox market. As a result, the cattle have high growth rates, are well muscled and have the ability to lay down fat at an early age.

Our Specialised Santa Gertrudis breeding practices

The philosophy behind the breeding herd is to produce the maximum kilograms of beef per hectare over the long term, thereby setting our animals up to thrive in the natural environment from day one. To do this, we strike a balance of growth and body quality without compromising fertility, structural soundness and temperament. The following criteria must be met for animals to remain in the herd:

• Cows return a positive pregnancy test annually following a 3-month mating
• Females calve unassisted
• Females have a sound udder with fine teats
• Sires pass annual Semen Morphology tests
• All cattle must be of quiet temperament
• All cattle must be structurally sound

Strict adherence to the above criteria is creating a herd of high performing cattle that remains adapted to the environment they live in. The Rosevale Santa Gertrudis cattle have been specifically bred to deliver high fertility for their sometimes-harsh conditions. Their distinct lack of pampering has meant that the breeders have evolved into a naturally selected, easy care herd.

Our Santa Gertrudis Stud Herd

We’ll Match You With the Right Animal

Rosevale is committed to breeding fertile, high performing cattle that will breed both consistently and predictably in the herds that they go into. Whether you’re looking for extra fertility from your breeding females or extra kilos in the weaning yard, we can find the bull for you. This commitment has led Rosevale to be a leader in the use of performance recording and other technologies that help measure our cattle against the rest of the industry. Our professional breeders are able to confidently make specific genetic selections based on a range of traits such as fertility, growth and carcase, resulting in the right animal for your objectives as a herd owner. Our 140-year history has blessed us with generations worth of data on each and every one of our animals, allowing us to accurately predict breeding performance.

Young cattle at Rosevale are run in large herds on pasture and are directly compared under these conditions to identify the high performing individuals. There’s a large number of traits measured with a range of levels represented within the herd to fit different purposes We have resisted the temptation of the showring as we want to run our very best animals in the big herds in order to get a real picture of their genetic makeup.

The Rosevale Stud Herd

While we are always pushing the boundaries of performance, we rely on pregnancy testing and the resulting culling of empty cows to ensure that our herd remains functional and adapted to the country we run them on with little assistance.

The Rosevale Stud Herd is one of the most extensively and accurately performance recorded herds in the Santa Gertrudis breed.

Animals Fit For Purpose

Like our stud breeders, the commercial herd is restricted to a three-month mating with all non-pregnant females rejected. Cows that fail to turn up with a calf at branding are also removed, this ensures that the herd remains strong genetically and that those who produce aren’t competing for valuable grazing.

Santa Gertrudis is used as the base breed for our commercial herd. Some of our best performance recorded bulls are used in the herd,many for one year before being sold on. In our selection of potential sires for this herd, we are continually on the lookout for bulls with a combination of traits that will make the herd more productive.

This at times will mean that we consider bulls of other breeds or crosses that offer the genetic combinations that may not be readily available within our pure breed. At present there is a percentage of Charolais and Red Angus blood in some of the cattle in our commercial herd.

The very best bull calves from this herd are retained as bulls. Their performance is monitored just like the bulls with pedigrees. Many of them perform as well as our very best pedigreed bulls and are offered for sale if they meet our minimum performance, temperament and structural soundness criteria.

The aim in the Rosevale Commercial Herd is to breed highly fertile, clean sheathed, polled bulls whose progeny will grow quickly and meet market specifications at an early age.