IN more than 50 years of breeding cattle Summit Gelbvieh stud principal John Pugh has tried many different breeds.
In addition to trying a number of different breeds he has also worked with many different types of cattle, running up to 3500 breeders and owning and operating a 10,000 head feedlot for a decade.
As a result John feels comfortable saying that he has always kept an open mind about breeds and production systems and has moved with them when they seemed to make sense.
“We are witnessing a large over-reaction in favour of Angus at the moment which is not backed up by their productivity, but is driven by theoretical numbers that they are not able to live up to when asked,” John said.
“The average of Angus performance in the 2017 Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate competition was below the average of all entries and massively behind the Summit Gelbvieh team.”
John’s breeding philosophy is to:
p Use heterosis, preferably with a Euro;
p Keep early maturity;
p Breed for moderate frame, moderate bone with a long, well-muscled topline;
p Keep a strong maternal line and;
p Use real figures not just EBVs
The Pugh family feels this year’s sale bulls and females exemplify these attributes, and more and they look forward to offering them at their on-property sale on Friday, February 23 at Narrikup.