About Speckle Park - The Breed

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What is a Speckle Park?

Speckle Parks, the beef cattle breed created in Canada, are now an internationally sought after breed.  They are a carcass orientated yet maternal Pure Bred (not a composite), breed of beef cattle. They are Polled and British Bred originating from Canada. Speckle Parks are moderate sized. Mature cows range in weight from 600 kgs. to 850 kgs. and mature bulls 1000 kgs. +. Calves average 30 to 40kgs. at birth and wean off at about 230kgs. to 370+kgs.

Speckle Park cattle come in a variety of colour patterns. They are predominantly black with white top line and underline, with speckled hips and sometimes shoulders and with a black or black roan face. The second colour pattern is the leopard pattern. It is similar to the speckled pattern but there are definite black spots on the animal instead of just speckles. The white animals with some black hair on the body are considered 'leopards'. The third colour pattern is the 'white' pattern. The white animals have white hair on the body and face but have black points. i.e. eyes, ears, nose, and hooves. The fourth is solid black. There is a percentage of blacks. Solid black animals are registrable and can be used in the purebred herd.

FERTILE, Hardy & Healthy
With their fine skin and hair in summer and a quick to 'slick off' hair coat, Speckle Parks adapt well to the Canadian summers as well as being able to 'coat up' when needed for their notoriously cold winters. They are tough, real tough, you can throw any harsh climatic situation at them and they survive, get back in calf, rear a good one, yet are so easy to feed and come back in condition quickly after hard times, traits that will stand them in good stead in Australian's harsh environment. 

Early to reach puberty being "British bred" Speckle Park females cycle early and breed easy. 

In Canada, and now increasingly in Australia and New Zealand, butchers and meat graders are very impressed with the consistently high quality of the Speckle Park carcass. It isn't uncommon to get an exceptionally good carcass from any breed, but what is IMPRESSIVE is when the carcass from a particular breed is consistently good. That is the case with the Speckle Park. Another IMPRESSIVE fact about the Speckle Park is their UNIQUE ability of being able to achieve a AAA carcass without excess outer fat cover. Most breeds are able at achieve AAA carcass but often at the expense of excess outer fat. Speckle Park can achieve a AAA carcass with minimal fat cover, thus grading YG1-AAA.

Docile Nature –the key to more weight gain and less stress on man and beast.  Speckle Parks are docile animals. Their gentle disposition makes them a pleasure to work with.   They are however tribal and prefer to be in the company of other cattle.

Breed Standards 
The breed comes in 3 colours (see above) and in black. Black animals must have the word [black] after its name. All black animals must have DNA verification before they can be registered. Rarely, there are some animals born with red markings. These cannot be registered. Animals with horns cannot be registered. For more information go to the regulations and the guidance notes. 

There is more information on the breed on the Canadian Association website.