Ben Nevis Angus stud principals Erica and Stu Halliday, who have invested heavily in their breeding program to identify high performing bulls and females. Picture supplied
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Ben Nevis has been a breed and industry leader for decades, but the stud has taken its breeding program to a new level in recent years.
The Walcha, NSW-based stud has always been focused on combining phenotype with objective data, and now its whole-herd performance analysis is helping stud principals Stu and Erica Halliday identify the best performers.
“We’ve always believed that we can maintain the type of female that thrives, but with carcase under the hide,” Mrs Halliday said.
“Our carcase focus includes a mandate to breed for the Japanese B3 market, branded beef, and grass-fed MSA programs, so finishing early off grass is important, along with their ability to marble above marble score 3 to feed into all the high-value markets.
“We’ve got really robust cattle that thrive on pasture, then in the marketplace, they’re kicking goals in restaurants and branded beef products.”
The Hallidays now run about 1200 head.
Rebuilding the herd after the 2019 drought gave the Hallidays a fresh platform for their genetic program, which has seen huge improvements in recent years.
“We had 1100 breeders, and got right back down to 500,” Mrs Halliday said.
“We took advantage of government loans to start a massive embryo transfer program, so every year we’ve got 150-200 elite embryos.
“Through the drought, we culled the cow herd viciously, ending up with only high-performing cows, and we’ve developed a scoring system for the females and every calf.
“By identifying the highest performing cows and flushing them, we’re producing the cattle that we know work for our clients.”
The Ben Nevis team has now moved to IVF over embryo transfer, with a recipient herd with the Bulloch family at Braidwood.
The next step is to use sexed semen to increase the number of bull calves.
Investing in genetics over the past five years has led to a highly consistent herd.
“We now have a massive mob of cows that are all straight, strong-backed and thick, with a soft, silky, slick coat,” Mrs Halliday said.
“To increase consistency in the type of cattle we want, we decided we would start using our best bulls.”
Investing in genetics over the past five years has led to a highly consistent herd at Ben Nevis. Picture supplied
Among those was Ben Nevis Rambo, who sired $230,000 bull Banquet Tom Cruise T220.
“We bought back a share in him a couple of years ago and we’ve used him a lot,” Mrs Halliday said.
“He’s an outcross sire, with a rare combination of heavy muscle and very high intramuscular fat.”
The stud purchased Dunoon Sunstone S378, whose first crop of sons is available in the Ben Nevis sale on September 10, which will feature 100 bulls – 60 18-month-olds and 40 aged from 12-14 months.
“He’s deep-sided, easy-doing, and a bigger-framed bull with excellent feet, temperament and top 3pc for intramuscular fat.”
Also on offer in the 2025 sale are some of the first Hart Network sons.
The studs September 10 sale will feature 100 bulls including sons of Ben Nevis Rambo, Dunoon Sunstone S378 and Hart Network. Picture supplied
“He’s another outcross bloodline for us, with a slick coat, easy doing off grass, and natural thickness,” Mrs Halliday said.
“His dam is Hart Whitney 9518, and we’ve seen a number of her bulls and females in the states.
“In recent years, we’ve been looking closely at very strong cow lines.
“Baldridge Isobel Y69 is another one that we had followed for years.
“We bought embryos from a daughter of hers by Hoover Dam, and some of those embryo calves are in the sale as well.”
Ben Nevis is sourcing the best embryos it can, but the Hallidays have also had success exporting them.
They’ve recently sold embryos to New Zealand and the US following the World Angus Forum in May.
“We have embryos at Down T Ranch in Montana, US, now, from one of the Jean cows on display at the AngusEXPO at Tamworth, by Knowla So Right,” Mrs Halliday said.
The AngusEXPO was a successful event for the stud. Ben Nevis had the grand champion pen of bulls and the senior champion pen of heifers with sons and daughters of Sunstone and Rambo.
Ben Nevis also had the top price in the Angus on Ice sale, selling an embryo package to Macka’s Beef for $6000 per embryo, setting an Australian Angus record.
Roger Evans, Tamworth; PJ Budler, Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Professor Dan Shike, University of Illinois, USA; Lorenzo Sangalle, Ben Nevis; and Erica, Maggie, Jack and Stu Halliday, pictured with the champion pen of three bulls at the AngusEXPO at Tamworth in May.
“Our win in Tamworth and the success of our embryos being used here and overseas, tell us that we’re on the right path with our breeding program,” Mrs Halliday said.
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