Breeding black Senepols...

Senepols are known for their variety of red shades, however here at Planchonella Hill Senepols, we have recently bred cattle who are 93.75% Senepol and are black in colour. The progeny of these animals, when they are able to breed, will be classed as purebred Senepols. They will be some of the first purebred black Senepols in the country and even the world.

Current PHA sire, GCS Mardu L75, is 7/8^th Senepol and 1/8^th Angus. He is homozygous black and we have begun to utilise genotyping to check the progeny of sires, like GCS Mardu M10, for their phenotypes.

The black coat of these Senepols, has less heat adaptation compared to their original red counterparts. However, the Senepol breed’s slick hair gene, cooler rectal temperature and baggy sweat glands along the backline, will give the black Senepol a natural advantage over other adapted black cattle breeds, such as Brangus and Ultrablack (Hammond, Olsen, Chase, & al, 1996) (Chase, Olsen, Chaparro, & al, 2007).

Their other advantage  in not being to related to 98% of the Australian Bos Taurus population, despite their 100% Bos Taurus blood, gives them a greater degree of hybrid vigour when used over Bos Indicus and other Bos Taurus breeds.

Hormones in beef?

An interesting read in the Senepol Journal of South Africa detailed oestrogen quantities in hormone treated beef compared to other foods.

 Beef produced using hormone growth implants contains 3ng of oestrogen per 8 ounces of meat compared to tofu, which contains        51, 483, 600ng of oestrogen per 8 ounces of product.

For reference, 1 nanogram (ng) is a billionth of a gram (g).

Read more here!

AgQuip

Gouron Creek and Planchonella Hill Senepol Studs have recently returned from Showcasing Senepol cattle as a profitable cross breeding option for cattle breeders as part of the Commonwealth Bank Agquip Field day held from 16-18 August. Agquip is the largest – by far – Agricultural Field day in the Southern Hemisphere with over 15 kilometres of exhibits on the site.

Our aim was to introduce beef breeders to Senepol as well as providing an opportunity for established Senepol Studs and commercial Senepol users to view our seed stock. Stud quality Senepol bulls, including PHA D72 ‘The Coal Train’ Dynamite, fresh from the Reserve Senior Champion duties at the EKKA and GCS 8025 Anoca, a Nocona son were on display as well as pure bred and cross bred bulls.

While other breed society exhibits were busy serving up steak sandwiches to the general public the Senepol exhibitors went quietly about their work of informing the visiting commercial cattlemen of the benefits of cross breeding with Senepol. There is still a lot of breed promotion required as approximately three quarters of visitors had never heard of Senepol, with the balance having heard of or used Senepol genetics with great success in their beef breeding operation. Everyone who visited our site went away with a positive image and a greater understanding of the advantages of the Senepol breed.

Crossbreeding for more profit using Tropically Adapted Bos taurus Cattle



An extra $100 per steer?

The Northern Territory Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries (DPIF) is researching whether crossbreeding with Senepol bulls is a viable way for north Australian cattle producers with Brahman herds to produce animals that will:

- perform well under harsh northern conditions

- be suited to the South East Asian live export market and the Australian domestic market.

Tim Schatz, Principal Pastoral Production Officer with DPIF, will discuss the results of the research program to date and will compare the:

- pre and post weaning growth of Brahmans and F1 Senepol x Brahmans in the Top End of the NT

- performance of the Brahman and F1 Senepol x Brahman steers in feedlots in Queensland and Indonesia

- results of meat quality testing from Brahman and F1 Senepol x Brahman steers.

These results are showing that crossbreeding with tropically adapted Bos taurus produces animals with more tender meat and offers significant benefits for both north Australian beef producers and Indonesian feedlotters.

https://futurebeef.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Crossbreeding-for-more-profit-webinar-LR.pdf