The demand for Speckle Park beef produced by the Holiday Coast Meat & Smallgoods factory in South Grafton, New South Wales, has continued to rise.
Business director, Geoff Jones said the feedback he's received about the Speckle products offered has been nothing but positive.
Mr Jones along with his wife Toni-Ann, who looks after the administration side of the business, oversee the factory, along with their nearby retail outlet Red Bull Butchery, and another smaller retail shop at Wooli in Northern NSW.
Mr Jones has spent most of his life in the saddle as a stockman, having looked after the cattle side of his family's business, which was run in partnership with his brothers and his father Ron Jones, however, he'd been running his herd before then.
"I got my first break when I received a contract to process cattle for Woolworths via the Casino meatworks. This experience armed me with quite a bit of industry knowledge. It was a big learning curve in regards to eating quality, and the issues with red meat consumption.
"At that time red meat producers were losing out to the white meat industry, and it was through this period that the Meat & Livestock Australia MSA Index was developed.
"Many producer groups were also created at this time, some of which are still operating today. These groups began networking, and vertically integrating with butchers and processors to develop their own branded products."
Mr Jones' journey to move into the paddock to plate space began when he was involved with Woolworths, more than 20 years ago.
"Anything that wouldn't fit the Woolie's grid was sent to Ken Hurling who owned Holiday Coast at the time.
"Ken was happy with the quality of the stock we were sending. These were steers on feed for a minimum of 100 days and heifers for 80 days."
Unfortunately, Mr Hurling's health declined and he offered to sell the business to Mr Jones, which the latter agreed to.
"Our vision is to change the consumer perception of the industry while supplying them with a quality product. This way the butchers don't have to spin a story about the eating quality of a beast that wasn't up to scratch. The best stories we hear from customers is that it's the best meat they've ever had."
This focus on eating quality has been built upon through Mr Jones incorporation of Speckle Park cattle into the business. It was while at Casino Beef Week, seven years ago, when he noticed that Speckle cattle had performed well in the carcase competition there, achieving consistent placings.
"There was some activity with Speckles across Australia at that time, so I decided to test them out. Nobody was aware of the eating quality of the breed back then. Soon after introducing Speckles, I won two different classes in carcase competitions, which helped to provide some momentum for the breed. I've solely bred Speckles for the last couple of years now."
To further the business, Mr Jones got in a couple of tough critics to give their honest opinions on Speckle beef.
"They had nothing but positive things to say and wanted more. To this day our customers will say that they don't know what it is about the Speckle beef, but that it tastes beautiful and unique.
"We also sell our Speckle Park branded beef and generic range of products at the weekly farmers market in Yamba, where we struggle to keep up with the demand for the Speckle products."
Luckily, Mr Jones has a number of his cattle coming through to meet demand at present.
"Close to a third of the cattle we process are pure Speckle or Speckle-cross from first-cross Bos indicus animals out of our Brangus and Santa Gertrudis cow herds. There are a lot of Bos indicus cattle in the Casino region, and we find the Speckle is ideal to put over first-cross Bos indicus cows.
As a seedstock producer, Mr Jones has utilised the gamut of tools to select cattle based on tenderness, EBVs, breeding capability, fat scores, and IMF.
He backgrounds his weaners on properties to the west of the region, where they're predominantly finished on grass.
"Everything sold through our shop is milktooth and 12 to 18 months old."
He doesn't look for a big carcase, but rather a "good trade body" at 160 to 200kg.
"Speckles in this range have a better dressing percentage and good saleable meat yield, in the mid-70pc range."
To further strengthen his Speckle genetics, Mr Jones bought a JAD bull from the Dickens family last season, which has been out with the herd since he acclimatised.
"I'm keen to see how the results go with that, though it'll be close to two years before any of those calves are on the cutting boards. I bought a JAD heifer at the same time. She's yet to calve but interested to see how she performs.
"We have our own little Speckle stud, Jonesvale, which will allow us to produce bulls to do the job for us. When we have the performance data in place we'll be able to promote our stock and supply bulls to others."
