Wattle Lee Speckle Parks' Emily Edwards opening 'closed' herd

Ms Edwards grew up on a hobby farm in the South East, but a desire to branch out into a new breed of cattle to add to her family's commercial herd led her to Speckle Parks.

"I had been interested in finding a new breed that wasn't so common in the area," she said.

"I was doing research for about a year and I came across the Speckle Park.

"I liked what I was reading in regards to marbling, growth and do ability.

"We used imported semen over our commercial herd and we liked the the Speckle crossbreds in comparison to our (black) baldy-cross, so I decided to invest in a purebred female in 2019."

That was Ewyn L27 Cinder P41, with Ms Edwards praising Ewyn Speckle's Vaughan Johnston and David Kerber's support as she transitioned into studbreeding.

Now three years on, Ms Edwards uses embryo transfers for most of her herd, which includes eight purebred females in addition to commercial females, due to the breed's small gene pool in Australia.

"I've been buying a few genetics from Canada and putting them in our commercial females," she said.

"Through that we have around 25 stud calves born each year.

"It's harder to get into Speckle Parks at the moment with the price but also with genetics that are not so familiar within Australia.

"I just want to source elsewhere and find the best genetics possible."

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In her fourth year of tertiary education, Ms Edwards has plans to become a theriogenologist or reproduction specialist, with a focus on cattle.

"I'm currently studying vet science, but I have completed an animal science degree as well," she said.

"I get to see a lot of the reproduction side of things with our stud, which has really pushed that passion for me."

Although a relatively new breed to the country, Ms Edwards said Speckle Park popularity continued to grow and she hoped her stud would provide strong genetics for the Australian herd.

"The attraction of this breed is unreal, and I think it's only going to get better in the next couple of years," she said.

"For the future of my stud, I see a strong line of females that can produces bulls year in, year out that will work well for my clients and show them the potential of the Speckle Park and allow them to receive the returns we have."