Santa stud is on the map
Making the best of ordinary season
BOYD Rohde’s father had been breeding santa gertrudis for 44 years before they decided to branch out on their own.
“We took on some cows 12 or 13 years ago. And we decided when we bought our property we’d have a go on our own,” Mr Rohde said.
“On our own we’ve been going about seven or eight years.
“We have approximately 200 cows.”
Narromine Santa Gertrudis has been built of genetics from a range of studs including Allendale Santa Gertrudis, Dangarfield Cattle Company, Bullamakinka Santa Gertrudis, Murrumbo and Rosevale.
“We bought Bullamakinka H10 and he’s the sire that basically put us on the map. He’s a wonderful bull,” Mr Rohde said.
“Since then we’ve kept about 100 heifers of his.
“They’re the breeding stock now and they’ll be joined in October.”
The stud is based in Moony on 1926 hectares.
“About 2000 hectares is cultivation where we grow fodder for the cattle,” Mr Rohde said.
“We grow oats in winter and forage sorghum in summer and some lablab.”
Mr Rohde said they also run about 300 head of commercial cattle a year.
“We buy cows and calves and we sell them in Warwick or Dalby as vealers,” he said.
“We sell the cows to the meatworks.”
Mr Rhode said this season had been ordinary.
“Currently we’re feeding 200 cows. The season has been a very, very hot summer
with little rain,” he said.
“And then we went into winter with some grass but now we’re feeding cotton seed every day of the week.
“But we thank our lucky stars because there are a lot of people who have had it a lot tougher than we have. So I’m not complaining.”
Mr Rohde said his wife Susan, son Matthew (17) and daughter Mackenzie (14) help out as much as they can.
“They all live in Toowoomba and I go back and fourth,” he said.
“We didn’t want to send the kids to boarding school so we opted to go back and forth until the kids are educated.
“Some people don’t have that choice but we’re lucky because we did.”
The Narromine Santa Gertrudis bull sale is coming up on September 11.
There will be 56 bulls on offer with 31 polls.
The sale will be held in Mirri Mirri along with four other studs – Red Mile Santa Gertrudis, Doorabeeba Santa Gertrudis, Allendale Santa Gertrudis, and Spring Creek Santa Gertrudis.