Why use Talana Limousin genetics?

We've been breeding limousin a long time

Since 1993 in fact.  And how the breed has changed in that time.  We started with the best females we could find and we flushed and AI'd them for many years.  Although those were wonderful cows at the time, and we received many accolades and sold many high priced stock from them, our herd has progressed so far that if any of those originals were born today they would be culled in the weaner pen.

How many studs would do that?  How many studs could tell you that? 

We have a long-term plan

We have changed the type of Limousin cattle that we breed in many tangible ways.  First we looked at the biggest problems and addressed them head-on: docility; cover/finish.  Then we looked at further ways to improve our cattle and in particular have worked on fertility and milk production and have been so successful that we are able to support the use of our genetics for F1 or even F2 commercial females.  We know that they will work in Queensland conditions.  

We use performance recording

Properly.  With large contemporary groups and observations at arms-length:  no special treatment; no undue treatment; no favouritism; no need to pump up the genetic value of bloodlines we are trying to sell.  We have seen so many examples of herds that make their breeding decisions almost solely on the traits they are able to measure to the neglect of others that are not recorded, and the animals become impractical in one way or another.  EBV's are an indicator, not the result, and are but a small, but important, subset of what makes a good animal.

We only use proven genetics

We want reliable, predictable performance in all the traits that matter.  These traits are only proven with lots of progeny and we have no interest in trying to prove the latest greatest young show winner from overseas because (a) that takes a long time and (b) we don't like to gamble.  We are happy to sit back, see where the dust settles, have a look at daughters and sons in production and then if an animal suits we will bring it into our herd.  Better yet we will bring in an Australian born son from an Australian cow family with which we are impressed. 

Of course the predictability of the genetics we introduce influences the predictability of the bulls we sell which improves the predictability of their progeny in your herd.

We work our females hard

Stud heifers are grown on grass and joined to calve at around 24 months.  They are expected to rejoin on time, raise a heavy calf and repeat annually.  In this way we end up with females with strong early growth because they must meet the joining weight from grass.  They need a good milk supply to raise a heavy calf, the ability to put down a little fat so they will re-join on time, and good thrift and fertility so they can repeat every year.  This influences the type of bulls that we produce:  strong early growth with early to mid maturity; large scrotal; calving-ease; ease of fleshing and finish.