Ben and Annabelle Monie of Thornleigh Herefords received validation their breeding program is on target when a herd bull took top honours at the Inverell Show.
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Thornleigh Legislator L379 rose from winning his Hereford bull 16 months and under 18 months to taking the sash for the Supreme Beef Exhibit across all breeds and ages.
“He’s bred by a home bred-sire of ours; Thornleigh Gambler G338, who also bred the Reserve Junior champion at Inverell (Thornleigh Snowflake L391),” Ben said.
The animal was a stand-out for Inverell Show judge Chris Knox of DSK Angus and Charolais at Coonabarabran. Chris identified the same qualities the Monies strive for.
“He said he’s got a lot of capacity, he’s had terrific muscle pattern, plenty of length, a lot of neck extension, good head carriage,” Ben said.
Thornleigh runs about 250 registered breeders and 300 cows overall with a focus on selling about 40-plus top-quality bulls per year to add the fat, stability, sustainability, conformation, and carcass quality to cross-breeding and improvement of the breed.
Now at capacity, the Monies are working toward growing their herd, not in numbers, but goals. “We want to be able to sell more bulls from the same number of females that we’ve got,” Ben said.
They are breeding for a strong carcass, and Herefords which are easy-doing and finishing.
“And that helps us maintain cow condition through winters, it helps us with our herd’s fertility, so we’re breeding a moderate-framed animal, with as much carcass we can put on, but not a lean carcass – we’re trying to breed a fleshy animal,” Ben said.
“We’re pretty particular on structure. We were originally from Bingara, where it’s a little more forgiving on feet, that it’s a little harder country. Here, we’re on softer country, so if you’ve got bad feet, that shows up very quickly, so we’ve got to be pretty particular about the feet, which comes from structure, all through.
“I guess what we’ve got to try to aim for is being the base of a cross-breed, so if this bull goes over Angus cows, then they’re suitable for the feedlot.”