MURRAY GREY INSPECTOR’S N.Z. VISIT

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32459, 20 November 1970, Page 9

MURRAY GREY INSPECTOR’S N.Z. VISIT

Mr Shelton Palframan, breed inspector of the Murray Grey Beef Cattle Society in Australia, returned home this week after helping to inspect and classify cattle to be used to start breeding-up programmes by members of a newly-formed society 7 for the breed in this country.

Mr Palframan was appointed to his post as sole inspector for the Australian society in September last year. Then he said that the society had 310 members. In September this year the number was 610 and it is now 625, representative of practically all states and New Guinea. The upsurge of interest in Murray Greys, Mr Palframan puts down to the success of the breed in prime cattle and carcase competitions all over Australia in the last year or two. The New South Wales farming paper the “Land” says that this year has been

the great year for the breed. One of the most recent successes of the breed was recorded last month at the Homebush prime cattle show where the two foundation studs of the breed, Thologolong and The Glen, which are located on the Murray River near Wodonga, exhibited the grand champion and reserve champion carcases of the show respectively. The breed has been building up a reputation for a high level of production of meat to bone and fat and killing out percentages may range from 60 to 70 per cent and even higher, according to Mr Palframan. It was at Thologolong that the breed originated 65 years ago when a lightroan Shorthorn cow mated to an Angus bull produced a grey calf. That cow subsequently produced a total of 12 grey calves. The breed is today officially silver grey, grey or dark grey or dun in colour.

But it is only in relatively recent years that the breed has expanded markedly. The inaugural meeting of the breed society was held in Melbourne in September, 1962, In a recent sale at Wodonga a total of 235 head of the breed at various stages of development sold for a massive $435,000 in a single day, with a bull ranging up to $9OOO.

Mr Palframan has inspected some 9000 cattle in Australia and in 10 months travelled 40,000 miles in his own car, 5000 miles by charter aircraft and many more miles by private car and commercial airlines.

One of the features of the breed, he says, is its adaptability and ability to do well. It also has a good temperament. Murray Grey blood is in the New Hebrides and the United States and Canada; and tvhile Victoria is the state where the majority of breeders are located, Mr Palfiaman says that it is also now out from Rockhampton and Longreach in Queensland. He does riot expect that the breed will have any trouble adapting itself to New Zealand conditions,

and he says that the 70 to 80 prospective breeders here are located from north of Auckland to Invercargill. So far there are no live animals from Australia in the country and he is uncertain when the first will arrive although there has already been a report of a purchase since the lifting of the ban on imports. At this stage only semen is being used. Mr Palframan said that only Angus cattle were accepted as base stock for a breeding-up, programme. They could be stud or commercial cattle so long as they were of known purity.

In Australia some magnificent cattle had come from commercial herds. They liked long cattle with spring in the ribs but not narrow or slap sided animals. They • also liked them to be long between the eyes and muzzle, wide between the eyes, a little off the ground and with a trim underline so that they had meat on the top rather than underneath, and sound in their feet and legs so that they had good walking ability. They also needed to be smooth. Heifers with lumps of fat were not favoured. In New Zealand he said that the culling rate among prospective base stock that had been put before him had been pretty high. He had been concerned at poor feet and there had also been some nice quality cattle that were on the small side. He believes that an attractive aspect of breeding Murray Greys in New Zealand could be the opportunity of export eventually to the United States. In breeding-up programmes after base stock have been approved only Murray

Grey bulls classified as A can be used and at all stages cattle are subject to inspection before further progress can be made in the programme. A Murray Grey bull over an approved Angus will, all going well, produce a C grade female. Then a Grey bull over a C grade female will produce a B female and a Grey bull over a B cow will produce an A female. The further mating of a Grey bull with an A class female may then produce an A or- fullyfledged Grey bull. Mr Palframan says that it can take from eight to 10 years from the start of a breeding programme to get to the stage of having a Grey bull. It is recommended that bull calves produced earlier in the breeding-up programme should be castrated or sold for slaughter. The calves are not large but from about four months grow away quickly. In New Zealand Mr Palframan says that he has been encouraged jto find both a balance of older breeders and also competent young men interested In breeding Murray Greys.