THE Droughtmaster breed was created from the adversity experienced by Australia's pioneering pastoralists and proudly takes its place as one of the great success stories of rural Australia.
The breed was developed by commercial cattlemen specifically for Australian conditions from the early to mid-1900s.
The pioneers were seeking a breed that would survive and thrive despite the parasites and adverse conditions that plagued much of Australia's northern pastoral areas.
Initial crossing of Bos Taurus (British) and Bos Indicus (tropical) breeds, followed by selective breeding of the progeny, led to the creation of a fixed breed which retained the best characteristics of both genotypes - the Droughtmaster.
With Shorthorn, Devon and Zebu breeds as its base, the Droughtmaster is renowned for its high fertility, calving ease, heat tolerance, parasite resistance and quiet temperament.
From its initial development in North Queensland, the breed has grown to the stage where it is now acknowledged as the second most numerous breed in northern Australia and is rapidly gaining prominence in the temperate areas to the south.
'Droughtmaster' was the name originally coined by the group of astute commercial cattlemen in North Queensland who developed the breed to overcome the perennial problems of drought, cattle ticks, heat, eye cancer and many other challenges.
The arrival of cattle ticks in North Queensland just prior to the turn of the century became a major problem for the beef cattle industry.
In the northern areas of the state, it soon became apparent that maintaining British breeds of cattle such as Shorthorns, Herefords and Shorthorn-Devon-cross cattle was becoming a costly and hazardous operation due to tick problems and the harsh conditions of the tropical environment. Consequently, graziers began experimenting with cross-breeding.
The first Zebu (Bos indicus) cattle were imported into the area from the Melbourne Zoo in 1910 and made available to grazier friends in the north by the Curator of the Melbourne Zoological Gardens, Mr Bennett le Souef.
Two of the Zebu bulls went to a Mr McDowall, on Christmas Creek Station near Mt Garnet, and the other to a Mr J. Robbins, on Mowbray near Mossman. These bulls created a strong and favourable impression on northern graziers at a time when drought, heat, ticks and the harsh environment were causing severe losses in their herds of British-bred cattle.
In 1926, R.L. (Monty) Atkinson, a future Droughtmaster Society patron, made an important observation when taking mares to a blood stallion at Bluff Downs Station near Charters Towers.
At Christmas Creek Station, he saw a large Zebu bull as well as his crossbred descendants. Despite the region experiencing severe drought conditions at the time, all the cattle were in good store to fat condition.
When he reached Bluff Downs, grazier friend Ernest White told him of his recent trip to the USA where he was introduced to the Santa Gertrudis breed.
Mr White informed Monty Atkinson that it had been his intention to develop a similar breed to withstand the Queensland environment and climatic conditions.
However, a professor of genetics in the US told him that the chances of developing such a breed were one in one hundred, stating that King Ranch in Texas had been "just lucky" to breed their foundation Santa Gertrudis sire.
However, Monty Atkinson had other ideas, especially after seeing the descendants of the Zebu imports from the Melbourne Zoo. With Ernest White's encouragement, he set about attempting to develop what ultimately became the Droughtmaster.
The breed needed to have the attributes necessary to withstand the severe environment of the tropics, as contained in the Zebu (Bos indicus), but in the right proportions so as to not lose the benefits offered by the British breed (Bos taurus) bloodlines. Through diligent selection of progeny over the years, these results were ultimately achieved.
A consignment of Brahman cattle was imported into Queensland in the early 1930s by a syndicate of graziers and the CSIRO, which gave Monty access to three half-bred Red Brahman bulls.
These bulls were put in very 'ticky' country where they performed well. Through the following years, these and further half-bred bulls, by an imported bull called 'Abel' were joined to Shorthorn and Shorthorn/Devon- cross females, with the best quarter-bred progeny selected for retention in the breeding herd.
This process was carefully carried on over the years in a grading up program until, later, two half-bred red Brahman bulls were bought from Waverley Station at St Lawrence (near Rockhampton), the progeny of a purebred Brahman bull imported in the 1930s.
Later, another bull was hand selected by Monty Atkinson, chosen for its dominant colour, docility, tick resistance and the fact that it produced progeny that were widely regarded as being good doers and excellent breeders. This bull played an important role in the ultimate formation of the Droughtmaster breed.
As a result of patient perseverance and the careful culling and selection of progeny from the mixing of bloodlines of Bos Indicus and Bos Taurus breeds, the new breed was evolving.
In 1944, Monty Atkinson bought Mungalla in the Ingham district for further breeding of a Red Brahman-cross cattle, forerunners of the Droughtmaster.
During the 1940s, Robert Rea of Kirknie, Home Hill, also started evolving a herd suitable for the Queensland environment. The Kirknie herd was started with a red half-bred Brahman bull from St Lawrence, which Mr Rea considered so good he used him in a line breeding program to get an even type of red cattle with Brahman blood.
However, he didn't consider that his herd carried sufficient Bos indicus blood for the environment and therefore later utilised a purebred Brahman from Wetherby Stud, Mt Molloy, selecting and culling the resultant progeny until he obtained the type of cattle now running at Kirknie.
Mr Rea took the Droughtmaster and Kirknie name to the Smithfield markets in London in 1959 with his champion K Wagon class carcases where final judging took place on the hook.
In 1962 Kirknie won the K Wagon class, and from 1964 Kirknie Droughtmasters won five out of seven K Wagon competitions run in conjunction with Townsville Show.
In later years, Mr Rea was appointed as a Patron of the Droughtmaster Stud Breeders Society.
Another astute cattleman whose work with crossbreeding Bos indicus and Bos Taurus cattle had a profound effect on the Droughtmaster breed was the late Louis Fischer of Daintree, who commenced his breeding programs with Brahman bulls which were traced back to the original importation of Zebu bulls from the Melbourne Zoo in 1910.
Mr Fisher's herd of tick-resistant cattle in the humid Daintree Valley was well-renowned and many Droughtmaster herds have descended from it.
A note of interest is that bulls in the Fischer herd were originally led into the Daintree Valley over a rough 20-mile long bridle track. Any bulls with a bad temperament did not complete the journey successfully and so a high level of docility was maintained in the herd.
These were pioneering days and creating a new breed was not only a great challenge, it also rocked the boat of conventional cattle breeding techniques of a conservative industry.
Thankfully for the Australian cattle industry, these pioneer breeders persevered and the Droughtmaster breed was developed.