2007 brings about the 40th anniversary of the Fairy Springs Brahman Stud, registered in 1967 by Eddie’s parents, Percy and Shirley Streeter. The first Brahman bull was introduced into the Hereford/Shorthorn herd in 1951. Percy commenced selling Brahman infused bulls at Gracemere saleyards in 1964. Fairy Springs has only missed selling at Gracemere on one occasion since then.

Brahman infused bull sold at Gracemere in 1965  to RA & MJ Stevenson for $350	Fairy Springs Red Moose, sold at Gracemere in 1975  to Keith McCamley, Comet for $4,250

Sale Success

The first half of the 2007 calendar has produced some pleasing sale results for Fairy Springs.

Charters Towers Big Country Sale in February saw Fairy Springs Epic 2766 (P) sell to Noel and Dallas Daley, "Caiwarra" for $40,000. Fairy Springs achieved top-priced red Brahman bull for the sale with Epic and a sale average of $13,500 for the draft of 5 bulls, all polled.

The Gympie female sale has become a highlight in our sale calendar, where this year Fairy Springs achieved both top-priced red female and top red average for the 4^th year in succession. Steven Sivewright, Diddine Brahman Stud invested $17,000 in Fairy Springs Jewel 2626, a high quality Fairy Springs Fitzroy 2021 daughter. Four heifers sold for an average of $10,875. We enjoy seeing our cattle go on to breed quality progeny for our clients. Barb Matheson purchased Fairy Springs Miss Rena 2200 at the Gympie Female Sale 2004, and has a Rena son Oldcows Abraham catalogued Lot 9 in the Select Sire program for Rockhampton Brahman Week Sale in October. Abraham is an AI son of Fairy Springs Red Man 2nd 2155 (P).

Fairy Springs Epic,  sold at Big Country sale for $40,000	Top priced red female at Gympie,  Fairy Springs Jewel with Eddie and  Debbie and the purchaser, Steven  Sivewright and his daughter, Sarah	Old Cows Abraham, from previous  Gympie Sale female, Fairy Springs Rena,  by Fairy Springs Red Man 2, selling in the  Select Sire section at Lot 9 at this years  Rockhampton Brahman Week sale

Upcoming Bull Sales 

We are please to be offering 30 bulls at auction in the coming season. We welcome inspections of the bulls prior to the sales and are happy to discuss bull requirements for the coming season with clients. All bulls have been prepared with fertility and longevity in mind and have been GeneSTAR tested.

Four bulls are selling at the Monto All Breeds Sale on Saturday, 15th September.

They consist of 2 polled bulls and 2 dehorned bulls, aged 21-23 months. One particular bull to note is Fairy Springs Gambler 2959 who has achieved the highest GeneSTAR result of our bulls tested this season with 2 for Marbling, 5 for Tenderness and 8 for Feed Efficiency.

We sell 14 bulls at Rockhampton Brahman Week sale, Tuesday 2nd of October, Lots 558-571. Of the draft, 8 are polled. Please check the Rockhampton Brahman Week sale page for details of each bull.

A further 12 bulls will sell at the Big Country sale in Charters Towers early 2008. Ten of the draft are polled.

Polled sire Fairy Springs Penne-E-Royal, Lot 558,  Rockhampton Brahman Week sale.	Light pigment bull for Monto All Breeds sale,  Fairy Springs Deacon 2996

Six Generations Polled

We are delighted to have had the opportunity to purchase Riuna Redex, a 6 month old polled bull calf bred by Bevan Glasgow, Riuna Stud, Bundaberg.

Redex is six generation polled on the sires side and one of the first progeny of Fairy Springs Red Leader, purchased by Bevan and Bob Degunst at the Big Country sale in 2006, for $48000. The dam of Redex, Riuna Fabiola is a blue tag female on the Supegene System and is by the Group One purple tag bull, Garglen Kodak. Red Leader, his sire and dam are also purple tag group one animals.

The genetic strength in his pedigree and the attributes he displays at such a young age, gives us the confidence in the future breeding ability of this young calf.

Bevan Glasgow, breeder of Riuna Redex	Riuna Redex, purchased by Fairy Springs  at 6 months of age for $40,000

Fairy Springs supplies local butcher with 100% Brahman grass-fed beef

Brahmans are highly valued for their feed efficiency, which is now being reflected in the high results generally achieved by Brahman cattle with the GeneSTAR® Feed Efficiency gene marker testing.

Contrary to stigma, we also have confidence that within the Brahman breed, there are animals that have the potential to yield high quality, tender and tasty meat. In a quest to prove this to the consumer, this year we have been supplying local butcher Bley’s Gourmet Meats with 100% Brahman grass-fed beef, and had positive feedback. We sent meat samples to DTS Food Laboratories in Victoria for fat profiling.  In turn, a dietician analysed the fat profile and praised our grass-fed beef for its health benefits, particularly for its high level of monounsaturated fat which has beneficial effects in lowering cholesterol and reducing the risk of heart disease. Additionally, it had high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which is becoming a realised benefit of grass-fed beef. At this stage, we are not receiving a premium for our beef; however we anticipate that this will eventuate in the future with the supply of a consistently good product.

It’s true, grass-fed is healthier than grain-fed!!*

With more animals in feedlots, therefore more grain-fed beef on the market, there is the growing realisation of the many health benefits of grass-fed beef over that which has been fed on concentrate. The scientific literature to substantiate this is endless, and far too extensive to cover here. To list the benefits briefly: grass-fed beef has a far more favourable omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid ratio, and more than 3 times the Vitamin E level of its grain-fed counterpart. Vitamin E has powerful antioxidant activity which protects the body against cancer and cardiovascular disease. Omega-3 fatty acids have endless health benefits, including the prevention and treatment of cancer, coronary disease, arthritis and other inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. There are a number of other nutrients which give grass-fed beef the tick over grain-fed.

*based research review conducted by University of California Cooperative Extension and California State University, Chico

To read this review, visit http://www.csuchico.edu/agr/grassfedbeef/health-benefits/index.html

Fairy Springs involved in industry research

A small group of polled Fairy Springs females spent 06/07 at the CSIRO Belmont Research station, Rockhampton, taking part in an extensive study into the complex horned/polled/scurred gene expression in tropically adapted cattle. These cows had been joined to polled bulls at Fairy Springs, and calved at Belmont. The progeny had tissue biopsy samples taken from the area of the skull which would normally produce the horn or scurr at weekly intervals from 1-2 days old to 8 weeks of age. What these calves didn’t realise was that they were contributing to important welfare research which will allow scientist to better understand the heritability of the African Horn gene which complicates poll and horn inheritance in tropical cattle. This is aimed at developing a genetic marker test which will give an indication of the genetic potential of an animal to breed poll progeny. The progress of the trial, led by CSIRO scientist Kishore Prayaga, and Fairy Spring’s involvement has featured in a number of publications including the Cattle Country magazine, MLA Frontier and the Beef CRC Research Bulletin.

Fairy Springs is continuing its involvement in industry research with the supply of a bull into the Beef CRC genetics program.

Congratulations

We’d like to congratulate Steve and Sharon Turner, Wilarandy S Stud on the sale of two Jacob Rio females to Brett Nobbs and Mary Lewis for $25,000 and $20,000 respectively.

It is very pleasing to see other stud breeders also reaping the benefits of this prepotent sire.

Visit to Tennant Creek

In July we took a week off and traveled to Tennant Creek (4300 kms round trip) to visit Sarah. This coincided with the Tennant Creek regional Show and the annual NT Droughtmaster Sale, where 113 bulls sold for an average of $2,930. The vendors should be congratulated on the effort they put in to travel interstate to bring quality seedstock to Northern Territory beef producers.

Eddie, Debbie and Sarah at Tennant Creek Show	Sarah at the lookout on the outskirts of Tennant Creek