Breeding Programme

Our aim is to produce good solid meaty cattle with a strong constitution that will thrive in all environments and fatten quickly to kill out with carcass weights around 300kgs. Quiet temperament is also very important.

When selecting replacements we consider the animal’s conformation by eye and its EBVs equally, as an animal’s phenotype and genotype are both important for making genetic gains.

At Merrylea we are striving to have balanced EBVs of breed average and just above (except birth weight which we aim to be moderate or just under breed average), as we believe an animal with balanced figures will handle all environments ahead of an animal that has a high growth EBV that will take a lot of feeding, or a cow that is a high milker and may milk well one year and produce an exceptional calf but then may not get in calf the following year.

Over all we are endeavouring to select bulls to put over our herd with EBVs that are well balanced to take our herd into the future.