The Brahman/British line was also promising. He herded the bulls into a remote paddock, away from visitors’ sight, and for the next nine months he constantly reminded the manager of the ‘Belmont’ station of their poor appearance. A Belmont Red bull. On a big Gulf of Carpentaria property cows of British stock were dropping their offspring in open paddocks at night and then walking to tree-lined water at sun-up, leaving their shaky calves to die in the heat. Belmont Red Cattle: Characteristics & Breed Information The Belmont Red cattle are a breed of beef cattle from Australia which are raised mainly for meat production. Red Poll Cattle Characteristics The Red Poll cattle are medium sized animals with red, or preferably deep red colored coat. In growth rate, too, it was comparable, but its fertility left a lot to be desired and it had a less placid temperament. Characteristics controlled by a single pair of genes include such traits as coat colour in Shorthorn cattle, and polledness. As a Bos Taurus, the crossbreed’s high levels of tick and parasite resistance, high fertility and meat quality are an ideal combination with the animal’s adaptation to the harsh conditions of northern Australia. It produces around 15-20 liters per day and butterfat content in the milk is 5%. Likewise, the second generation was gradually accumulated from 1957 to 1964. We were able to concentrate all our selection on fertility, growth rate, and resistance to ticks and heat. ‘Belmont’, a 3 600-hectare property on the Fitzroy River, had been bought by the Australian Meat Board in 1952 to provide facilities for studying the breeding of beef cattle adapted to the northern Australian environment. Please provide a description of this breed as well Physical Characteristics of Angus Cattle: The characteristic features of the Angus breed are black color, polled head, compact and low-set body, fine quality of flesh, and high dressing percentage. Even at that stage it was apparent that the Afrikaner/British line, now known as the Belmont Red, was going to be a winner. document.write('animal-science-mail-form'); From this stock, three main crossbred lines were developed: Afrikaner/British, Brahman/British and Shorthorn/Hereford. Droughtmaster is good meat quality and parasite resistance. They also lose weight on pastures when the protein content of the feed falls below five per cent. By 1943 when he wrote his final report, he had convincing evidence that zebus could be of great value to Australia’s beef industry. The Belmont Red was developed by crossing Afrikaner cattle, imported from America, with Herefords and Shorthorns in a research program that extended over the 1950s and 1960s. We were not concerned, as is virtually everyone who sets out to make a breed, to make it look like a breed, to get a white face, or the right shape of horns. Information on adding new breeds or updating existing information. For these reasons, British breeds do not generally grow as well in the tropics as they do in the temperate climates to which they are adapted. They had been exposed to cattle ticks and had grazed pastures which for much of the year had little nutritional value. It had many remarkable characteristics which suit it to the harsh environment of northern Australia and which ensured its acceptance by the industry. A station manager at Walloon has given them their most glowing character reference. “Belmont Reds combine the production and beef quality traits of the British breeds, with the advantage of superior adaptation including tick and parasite resistance, heat tolerance and drought resistance, as well as calving ease and small birth weight calves, from their African heritage,” she said. It culminated with the development of the Belmont Red breed by Jim Rendel and Greig Turner from the Division of Animal Genetics at the National Cattle Breeding Station, ‘Belmont’, north of Rockhampton. They are heat-tolerant, and while tick resistance is lower than that of the pure Bos indicus, it is still adequate. It has a smooth short haired coat which is predominantly red in colour, they may have some white occasinally. 1873. Encompassing 25 000 acres it is an aggregation of six properties. Turner was ably followed by John Vercoe. In time the Genetics Section grew in size and responsibilities and was made an independent Division of Animal Genetics, in 1959 with Rendel as Chief. Well fenced, river and dam water, full time live on farm management, long term or short term availability. In the early 1930s, the CSIR Division of Animal Health, under its first Chief, John Gilruth, decided to investigate the potential of zebu cattle for northern Australia. At weaning, they averaged 10 kilograms heavier than the calves of the cattleman’s other stock. In the production and mating of these generations a policy of no selection was practised quite deliberately. 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