Registered Prefix: ANDEN with Speckle Park International
Member ID – AND
In 2020 the Donnan’s purchased an irrigation property on the Murray River, near Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia. This business expansion of the Donnan Family Farming operation, usually consisting of dry land cropping, stud meat sheep breeding and commercial sheep breeding, was when Andrew and Denita saw the opportunity to run cattle between both this new Murraydale property via Swan Hill and their Mallee property at Willangie.
An interest in the Speckle Park breed was first recognised when Andrew experienced the tender and flavoursome meat from an F2 steer. He was greatly impressed with the eating quality and soon became infatuated with the breed. The visual appeal of the Speckles also added to the interest and he was eager to find out more about the Breed’s attributes. With 30+ years of successful stud breeding in the meat sheep industry, Andrew could see the possibilities of what could be achieved within the Speckle Park breed over the next 20 years and beyond with multiple sons working on the farm.
He set out in search of the best genetics to create the foundation of an Anden Speckle Park Stud, researched 2021 Speckle Park sales and successfully secured the best embryos on offer, along with a number of proven Purebred females. The first live purchase was made at the Jackungah Blueprint sale in early 2021 with JSN N05 (Nova), with calf at foot. Opportunity arose with the Three Way Speckle Park Dispersal Sale, successfully purchasing three outstanding foundation cows, adding NGL H1 (Angel of Darkness), NGL P23 (Angelic Moments) and NGL P77 (Blissful Moments) to the stud.
Frozen embryos were imported from Underhill SPECS (Canada), by the leading New Zealand sire in Maungahina Kidmans Cove K247. His intermuscular fat, which is correlating to eating qualities, is the best in the breed at this stage. Kidmans Cove embryos have been calved down in the Anden T drop, with 2 very impressive bulls and 1 outstanding heifer.
A visit to Justin and Amy Dickens, JAD Speckle Park indeed opened our eyes to where the Speckle Park breed is heading, with a strong focus on delivering commercially driven traits. They reiterated the importance of collecting thorough and accurate data for maximum productivity, along with structural classing to allow clients peace of mind when purchasing our Speckle Park genetics. Ease of calving, good milking, docility, good early maturity pattens and easy doing ability are all very important traits we aim to continually improve.
Strong participation in Breedplan’s Estimated Breeding Values system, allows all data recorded from birth, through to maturity to be correlated and performance compared across our herd and others within the breed. The importance of these EBV’s will assists our clients with commercial and stud selections. We believe these breed objectives and a no-stone unturned attitude is vital to the success and longevity of Speckle Park cattle, along with buyers’ confidence and building trusting relationships.
Embryos out of JAD 52B Flora P15 x Spots 'n Sprouts Stands Alone 300X were purchased. One bull & one heifer have been calved down in our Anden T drop.
Spots 'n Sprouts Stands Alone 300X sired embryos were also purchased, joined to Ewyn 23E Sassafras R12 from Keiross Speckle Park. Also, another impressive combination in our T drop herd that we are very impressed with.
Over the many years of Sheep Stud breeding, the relationships formed between other breeders are ones we hold in the highest regard. Friendships have been formed and information shared has been invaluable and necessary for our breeds evolution and progress. So too has been the importance of the relationships made thus far within the Speckle Park breed. The Comb family of KRS, Keiross, Hay NSW, have welcomed us and have become more than acquaintances. Doug always took the time to proudly show us his farm, his Speckles and the sheep running on his Hay plains. Doug sold us our first stud bull, KRS P26. A low-birth-weight bull, with good sound structure.
Whilst visiting Doug and Dimity Comb in 2021 during an embryo flush program, we were fortunate enough to purchase a number of embryo’s, including JSF Johner Stock Farm Trade Secret 11A x KRS Gracelands Q57, along with a package of Keiross Katie P9 x Maungahina Premier P203 and Keiross Gracelands Q53 x Maungahina Premier P203. We are very excited for these genetics to form part of our foundation herd, especially as Premier P203 was judged as Champion Speckle Park Bull of the World in 2020.
We were fortunate to have formed a friendship with Doug Comb over the years. We recall how proud he was to introduce us to his daughter Dimity, who had come home to work on the family farm alongside him. We were devastated to hear of Doug’s passing early 2023. We wish Dimity & brother James success, as they continue working on the family farm.
We were delighted to watch online, the sale of Battalion Heartbreaker R16 for $100,000 at the Scone Speckle Park Sale 2022. Particularly excited to have had purchased from Battalion 12 months prior, 4 embryos of Battalion Heartbreaker M1 x Unlimitedspots GRNWD Future 20F. From these 4 embryos, we are thrilled to announce we have calved 3 heifers and 1 bull. All four calves stand out, there is no doubt about it, another successful foundation combination that we are very excited to be working with in the future.
Tiama Laguna L11 x Mt Bar Eddie the Eagle 01E were also purchased and used in our first two embryo programs, to produce part of our T drop calves.
A recent purchase from Jackungah Speckle Park was that of the ‘Pick of the T Drop calves’, we look forward to inspecting all of Jack Nelson’s stock, to select an impressive addition to our program.
More recent purchases include two heifers by the SPC SIX STAR UNIQUE G201 x SPKNZ EXTREME E27. Purchased from Merom Speckle Park, MER R13 and MER R15 were purchased in calf, joined to JAD Neopolean N31. These sound heifers calved 2 bull calves with ease in November 2022. We appreciate John Weekly of Merom Speckle Park with his support and opportunities to purchase some of the best genetics available.
A Speckle Park stud sire was purchased in October 2022, SPK L260 RAZZAMATAZ R125, at the Speckles in the Capital Sale for a sale topping price of $35,000. He’s an eye-catching bull with great structure and softness and impressive carcass traits that will elevate our stud for years to come, along with our clients’ commercial endeavours. We are very excited to see his progeny hit the ground, along with all our foundation embryos.
We currently have a further 51 embryos and 7 purebred cows due to calf in 2023 for our U drop. We look forward to more impressive combinations being born from highly regarded stud sires and dams, thus continuing to grow the foundation base of Anden Speckle Park.
As at March 2023 our Speckle Park bulls are of 11 and 9 months of age. We will have these T drop Bulls available for sale in Spring 2023, following all BreedPlan scanning data, 400 day weights being successfully recorded, structural assessments and all other required action taken before they are available. Stud bulls will be considered for entry into multi-vendor sales.
Inspection of stock are welcome. Please call to arrange a suitable time. We are more than happy to show you our stock and the direction our Anden Stud cattle are heading.
We thank you for taking time and expressing your interest in our program. We aim to meet the needs of the consumers, fulfilling our clients commercial and stud breeding objectives and working closely with renowned and established breeders to bolster the un-tapped potential of the Speckle Park breed.
We look forward to many years of recording accurate performance data through Breedplan, producing animals with structural reliability and forming trusted relationships throughout the beef industry.