Hawthorne Stud
Kent and Libby Wells own Hawthorne Speckle Park and ASH stud. Located in the beautiful Scenic Rim overlooking the mountains, ‘Hawthorne’ is home to their Speckle Park cattle and ASH horses.
Kent and Libby hold events on-farm throughout the year to showcase their breeding stock and connect with their community. Be sure to keep an eye out for updates on the next Open Day
Hawthorne Stud started in 1980 with Australian stockhorses the name “Hawthorne” being the property name of my grandparents Harry and Marj Hilton’s family farm at Tannymorel. We have bred Australian Stockhorses predominately for Polocrosse with great success over the years. It’s great to see our kids still playing home bred horses at the highest level in our sport today.
Hawthorne Speckle Park Stud was formed in 2021 following a number of years of running crossbred speckle park cattle with fantastic feed conversion and hardiness during the drought. We then purchased our first Purebred heifer and a significant number of Stud embryo’s. Currently we have 32 Registered Females & a number of bulls with 35 embryo’s in recip cows. We run about 45 commercial cows we use for recips. We are currently reducing our commercial crossbred cows and will replace them with purebred Speckle Park in the years to come.
So why Speckle Park?
Speckle Park are a modern Canadian breed of beef cattle developed is Saskatchewan from 1959, by cross breeding stock of Teeswater Shorthorn crossed with British Aberdeen Angus and British White Park giving them the distinct colour-pointed markings.
Speckle Park was officially recognised as an “evolving breed” in 1995 and received full “Distinct Breed” recognition in 2006 by the Canadian Government.
2007 saw Speckle Park be introduced to Australia and New Zealand and the Speckle Park International Organisation was formed in 2008.
Speckle Park cattle are renowned for:
Hi feed conversion rates
Grow more beef on less feed
Early maturity patterns
Fewer days to slaughter
Fewer days on feed
Combine high yields, marbling and an even fat cover for a high MSA grading
JAD & Minnamurra Speckle Park in feedlot trials in 2023 & 2024 Achieved similar weight gains to other British Breeds however they converted on 20% less feed
With a Gain of 3-5% extra yield over British Breeds
In an era when the consumer seeks beef producers with a lower carbon footprint, Speckle Park tick the boxes.
However our goal as beef producers should always be to provide the beef consumer with a consistently outstanding eating experience. Speckle Park delivers on this and its good for you.
Meat research conducted by JAD Speckle Park at the University of Newcastle in 2023 demonstrated the low fat melting point of speckle park beef together with the high levels of Omega -3 Fatty acids that is extremely rare in beef cattle. All contributes to a superior eating experience.
“When Performance Counts” from paddock to the plate and you want to “maximise your profits and minimise your Inputs” with a superior eating experience, look no further than Speckle Park.
