SpecklePark
Cattle had their beginning in Saskatchewan.
This breed got there start with Mary Lindsey of Greenstreet, SK.in around 1937.
She liked unusual colors in her livestock and her father had just purchased
some cows which had that color. The unique red roan color pattern on a cow and
her 2 daughters caught Mary's attention. Mary kept this cow and later it had a
white calf with black ears and nose. This cow was bred to a Scotch Highland
Bull. The resulting bull calf was later used on some Jersey
cows. The heifer calves from this cross were then bred to a Angus Bull and
nearly all had lineback spotted calves being black and white, black ears, black
skin and black hooves. In Mary's herd they were then crossed with Angus and
Galloway cattle. They also had some crosses of Shorthorn and a bit of Highland
and some of these were crossed back to Angus with the resulting same color
pattern. The belief is that some of the Shorthorn had some British white park
blood in them. The result of these mixes produced cattle with good udders, rich
milk and flavorful beef.
In 1958 Bill and Eileen Lamont of Maidstone,
SK.; purchased speckled cattle from Mary Lindsey and began a breeding program
of speckled cattle with their purebred Angus herd.
Some of the calves were solid black; some were white with
black points, ie. eyes, ears, nose, and feet; some were a leopard pattern; and
some had a white topline and underline with black sides and speckled hips and
black or black roan faces. These are the acceptable color patterns of today.
Exception is some of the black animals are allowed to be registered in an
appendix registry. The Lamonts being determined to make SpecklePark into a breed sold them to
other enterprising breeders. In 1985 SpecklePark breeders, representing 9 herds
joined together to make the Speckle Park Breeders' Association. Bill had a
phase for these cattle. "The balanced Beef Breed with the Color Bonus."
In June 1993, Agriculture Canada
approved the incorporation of the Canadian Speckle Park Association in respect
of the "evolving" breed of Speckle Park Cattle. In Feb. 1995, the Association's
first set of by-laws was granted ministerial approval.
The Canadian Speckle Park Association was given Distinct
Breed status July 6th, 2006.
The second breed in Canada
to achieve this.
WHY SPECKLE PARK?
-Consistently high quality carcass
-Calving ease and good maternal instinct
-Feed efficient
-Docile nature
-Hardy & Healthy
-Genetically Polled
#1 -- Carcass Quality
-our
yearling carcass weights are around 700lbs and AAA to Prime in quality.
-good
marbling, with low back fat.
-2001 &
2006 grand Champion Steer Carcass. In 2000 out of 98 carcasses in the
competition, only 13 qualified as Sterling Silver beef, 4 of those were SpecklePark.
In 2001 a SpecklePark
was the Grand Champion. In 2006 out 42 entries, 3 of top 4 placings were SpecklePark also holding the Grand
Champion title.
- SpecklePark have also done well in the
following competitions:
-Halter
to Hook
-Steer-A-Year
Project, OldsCollege
#2-Calving Ease and Good Maternal Instinct
-our calves
average 72lbs.
-calves are
up and sucking usually within 30 mins.
-although
the SpecklePark
are known for being docile, the cows are protective of their calves. The cows
have good udders that supply more than enough milk.
#3-Feed Efficiency
-our cows
are easy keepers, sometimes too easy
-weight
gains on our calves have been from 2.65lbs/day to 3.25lbs/day
-at the
Vermilion Bull Test Station the Speckle Park Bulls showed an average 7.1lbs of
feed per lb. of grain which was equal to the average of those bulls which had
been there for 2 years or more.
#4- Docile Natures
-gentle
disposition makes them easy to work with
-due to
their smaller size they are becoming popular as 4-H animals
-calves are
easy to halter break.
#5- Hardy and Healthy
-heavy,
thick hair coat
-black
pigment of skin helps prevent problems, such as sun burned udders