We live in Canada, BC to be exact. We were driving through the Okanagan which is an area that is big for cattle. We noticed a lot of Speckle Park cattle. Google tells me it started in Canada from a mix of a Black Angus Bull and a Shorthorn Heifer. Anyone have any experience raising Speckle Park Cows? Debating adding a few to our new place.
Speckle Park Cattle
- Thread starter CG1
- Start date
Help Support CattleToday:
OzssieDave19
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2013
- Messages
- 216
- Reaction score
- 30
Hi, I'm an Australian. Speckle Park have landed here and are generating some interest. I have ai,d a few angus heifers. I have been warned the temperament is not great. I may not run them for long. Time will tell. Good looking breed that stand out.
Redgully
Well-known member
Good friends with a family who run 80 odd, nice cattle but not big. Temperament questionable. They have british white in their genetics which are as mad as march hares. Strong point is meant to be the amazing eveness of their carcass. I am yet to be convinced......but i have two embryos going in next month as a trial run. They have dodgy udders but otherwise pretty sound animals. Where i sourced my embryos, the owner told me in the past as the breed was developed they didn't cull for temperament but since numbers have exploded they have put a lot of effort in this area and now they are pretty good. Guess i will find out.
creekdrive
Well-known member
I have a few commercial Speckles. They are fun to look at and it's exciting at calving time not knowing what colour pattern you will end up. We only have 5 commercial Speckle Park cows. Not sure if they are 100% Speckle Park or not, but I suspect most are at least 1/2, and a couple I'm pretty sure are purebred. The one does not have a very good bag and I'm not sure how many years she will last in the herd but the others have nice udders. The last couple years we have bred them to a Black Angus bull. Calves weaned off at respectable sizes last fall and they all seem to be doing a good job this year too. This year they were bred to a Speckle bull. Also bred a few black angus heifers to him. We have a small sample size but all of ours have good temperaments. We have a few friends that raise them and their animals have good attitudes too as far as I know. Their kids use them in 4H and spend a lot of time with their animals so I don't think they would tolerate bad attitudes.
Some pictures just for fun:
This is the little bull - he's not anything to brag about but he's not terrible either. On solid black cows he should throw all speckled calves. On the speckle cows they could either have markings like him or be speckled. Should be fun to see them when they are born next spring!
Some pictures just for fun:
This is the little bull - he's not anything to brag about but he's not terrible either. On solid black cows he should throw all speckled calves. On the speckle cows they could either have markings like him or be speckled. Should be fun to see them when they are born next spring!
Always enjoy your pictures Creekdrive!
Till-Hill
Well-known member
My one experience with speckled park is I have a bucking cow by a son of Bodacious on a red and white holstein so why not breed her to something fun right? Well my father in law sells for Semex and they have Yogi goes Redneck, I'll tell ya folks, this cow is the worst looking cow I've ever seen In my pasture but that crazy colored calf of hers is tame and well when we weigh em might be the biggest one. But I gotta finish him or he won't be worth anything
Son of Butch
Well-known member
I've observed british white/speckled park to have gentler dispositions than most cattle and can
only recall 3 that didn't. One was a purebred and the other 2 were from gentle shorthorn cows
which made no sense... sometimes it seems it's just luck of the draw, but usually environmental.
only recall 3 that didn't. One was a purebred and the other 2 were from gentle shorthorn cows
which made no sense... sometimes it seems it's just luck of the draw, but usually environmental.
Josher
Well-known member
I like the look of the breed but in our area they don't bring as much at the stockyards. Maybe it's better in your area. Nice looking cattle creekdrive
Nesikep
Well-known member
I think Alberta is pretty strong for market acceptance of Speckle parks, I think the association has done a good job of marketing them.
sassafras manor
Well-known member
We have one and it is the most gentle cow we have. It will eat an ear of corn out of my son's mouth. Her calves wean higher than the straight Angus calves and just under the black baddies consistently every year.
TwoByrdsMG
Well-known member
Not sure about the Speckles but we bought a British White and crossed her with a Murray Grey. The resulting calf was fantastic, freckled and gentle. The cow was nutty. She threw my husband into the side on the barn. She would charge you from behind but shy off if you faced her. Very strange. We bought her as a yearling and she was always shy until she calved. Then nobody could go into that pasture by themselves. We have little kids so she went on down the road.
I won't make that mistake again. Sure love the looks as long as they are in someone else's pasture!
I won't make that mistake again. Sure love the looks as long as they are in someone else's pasture!
farmerjan
Well-known member
Both British White and Speckle Parks are seen here but they get discounted terribly at the stockyards. We had 2 speckle cows, one was pretty high headed and I didn't trust being near her when her calf was little and she did not like to come in the pen. The other was a BIG cow, and a sweetheart. Friendly, loved to be rubbed and petted. She had a bull the last time, he is a steer awaiting a trip to the butcher. Do have one heifer out of her that started off reddish and turned mostly black, that is due to calve here soon. Have one female from the high headed one, not overly friendly but not mean either, has a decent black bull calf but has developed a terrible looking hump back over the last 2 years. If she is bred will keep her for the next calf, but if open she is leaving. No heifers out of her. I like them overall, but we get killed at the markets. The females we usually keep as replacements, the steers get sold if black, but if speckled, get fed out for beef.
farmerjan said:
I have a hard time selling anything here too that isn't pure black. The last 3 years I have only kept my pure black heifers for this reason. I had a gorgeous short horn I thought id get good money for. She sold for half of my crappier pure black mixed heifer.
Nesikep
Well-known member
In the lower mainland you might find a bunch of people who want some cow yard art, with private sales you might be alrightcowgal604 said:
I have reds, and if they're solid red and well built, they'll get just as good a price as blacks, it seems like when the quality isn't great, color matters more and more... Just what I've noticed
