THE ULTIMATE SANTA GERTRUDIS

The Ultimate Santa Gertrudis Bull

The Santa Gertrudis bull is renowned as one of the industry`s most efficient beef producers. You will notice immediate improvements with the first calf crop.

The calves will have no trouble at birth with smaller birth weights than most of the recently imported breeds and yet they are renowned for their rapid growth.

The use of a Santa Gertrudis bull will introduce heat tolerance, tick resistance, and most importantly, when crossed with British breeds, an immediate drop in the number of losses due to eye cancer and pink eye.

In recent years breeders of Santa cattle in Australia`s more temperate climates have consistently recorded significant reduction in losses caused by bloat. Santa cattle have the ability to thrive on lush pasture without suffering from bloat - a problem which causes untold losses every year in some of Australia`s southern States.

Mature Santa Gertrudis bulls weigh in excess of 900kg with 1000kg and more not uncommon. The average scrotal circumference is frequently in excess of 40cm.

Weight gain is one of the most highly heritable performance traits in beef cattle - daily weight gains of Santa Gertrudis bulls is regularly monitored at more than 1.5kg per day.

Santa bulls have outstanding foraging ability which means they can thrive even under the harshest conditions and they are noted as very active and athletic sires.

An inherent trait of Bos Indicus is their unlaboured gait which enables them to easily cope with long distances to food or water, unlike some European and British breeds.

The Ultimate Santa Gertrudis Cow

The Santa Gertrudis female has become a highly-sought-after commodity in the Australian beef industry with regular sales of females from central and northern Queensland to cattlemen in southern regions of New South Wales and Victoria.

Few beef cattle breeds can boast regular sales of females into these areas and the reasons are clear. The Santa Gertrudis cow is one of the most efficient producers in the industry.

The mature Santa cow can weigh up to 750kg, she has excellent milking ability with high butterfat content, few calving problems and in competitive tests has produced consistently larger calf crops than other breeds.

One of the major attractions of Santa Gertrudis female is their longevity. Producers regularly record details of 14-15 year-old cows still producing a calf each year without fail. One breeder had a foundation second cross female which had produced its 18th calf at 21 years-of-age.

Because of this outstanding ability, producers are not forced to continually use replacement heifers; this translates to better gross margins, and more money in your pocket.

The large mature size of the Santa female also provides excellent salvage value.

Their natural mothering instinct is also evident with regular examples of one or two females keeping watch over a large number of calves while the other cows graze.

For establishing a good strong breeding base the Santa Gertrudis female has much to offer.