Beef Week 2026: Celebrating 35 years of the region’s best genetics

Tarwin marks 100 years of Meikle family ownership

THE Meikle family celebrates 100 years on their Meeniyan property this year, with David and wife Ann welcoming visitors to inspect their Tarwin Poll Hereford herd.

The herd takes its name from the river running across the front of the property and has been developed by the Meikles since 1950.

Initiated by David's grandfather Jack and further developed by his father Neville, this herd has been producing cattle for clients for more than 70 years.

In that time they have endeavoured to make the best use of the genetics and technologies available to them coupled with their own experience.

This is a performance recorded herd run along commercial lines.

"Our cattle, including the sale bulls, are expected to perform off grass," Mr Meikle said.

"The sale bulls are scanned to gain an insight to the eye muscle and fat cover.

"All females introduced to the herd and sale bulls are DNA tested."

To further test the performance of their cattle, Tarwin regularly enters steers in the Lardner Park grass fed steer trial.

Their leading steer this year gained weight at 1.94kg per day for the entire period of the trial from June to November compared to the trial average of 1.26kg per day.

The four Tarwin steers entered averaged 1.57kg per day.

The female herd is managed along commercial lines, with each breeding female required to produce a calf each year under paddock conditions.

Sire selection is undertaken with an eye on positive management traits such as calving ease.

On display will be the Tarwin female herd with cows on hand for visitors to walk through.

"We aim to have a well grown female that's easy care, structurally sound and able to calve without problems," Mr Meikle said.

Also on display will be sale bulls and heifers plus stud sires on the property.

Sires currently in use include Hereford Super Sire Wirruna Toorak as well as Yavenvale Spotlight, Tarwin Ulli U060 and Tarwin Ural U088.

Light refreshments will be available and the Meikle family welcomes the opportunity to catch up with past clients and visitors new to the stud.

"We enjoy the chance to get feedback from past clients and fellow beef producers as to their requirements as well as catching up with fellow breeders," Mr Meikle said.

Editor's note: The print/digital version of this article incorrectly captioned the Tarwin Poll Herefords image as Shorthorns. The cattle pictured above are Poll Herefords. We apologise for the error.

Shorthorns the easy care breed at Doben Park

THE Benson family has been breeding Shorthorn cattle on their properties at Buln Buln in West Gippsland since 1977.

Through their stud, Doben Park Shorthorns, they currently run 130 registered and commercial cows, 25 registered and commercial unjoined yearling heifers and 28 registered and commercial weaner heifers.

The cows are joined to roan and red Yamburgan bred Shorthorn bulls selected for their excellent fertility, calving ease, mothering, milking ability and docility.

These inherent qualities combine to produce more live and healthy calves which have the ability to grow quickly.

These calves finish on pasture or grain which then produces high yielding premium quality meat with marbling and even fat distribution.

They are well placed to satisfy demand for superior eating qualities, tenderness and flavour with their marbling ability and are suitable for both the domestic and export markets.

The Shorthorn bull can be crossed with Angus or Angus infused females to increase growth through hybrid vigour, maintaining the marbling both breeds are renowned for.

When using a red Shorthorn bull over an Angus cow the outcome is an ideal F1 throughout Gippsland and this cross will produce a predominantly black calf.

Using a white or roan bull over the Angus or Angus infused cow will predominantly produce the steely blue calf.

The white or roan bull over the Hereford or Hereford infused cow will predominantly produce the strawberry roan or a broken faced calf with the hybrid vigour.

The Shorthorn bull is a great alternative in the dairy industry, producing the type of dairy beef calf processors are looking for.

The advantage of the Shorthorn breed is that whilst the steers turn out quality carcases, their sisters are back at home forming the basis of a functional, efficient cow herd.

Through their ability to provide greater weight gain, lay down fat cover and provide a quality carcase from a cross bred female, the Shorthorns continue to provide a profitable opportunity for commercial cattlemen.

This sees Shorthorns highly profitable in the grass fed and feeder markets.

Shorthorns are the easy care breed with ease of calving and resistance to both bloat and eye cancer.

Doben Park will have a selection of bulls for sale from 20 to 22 months in red, white, red and white and roan.

There will also be a selection of cows, calves and heifers available.

For more information contact Doug on 0407 343 966 or Sandy on 0409 074 291.

Economic traits drive Raedean Reds breeding program

ANNETTE Walker, Noel Gnaden and their daughter Georgia welcome visitors to their Buln Buln property for Gippsland Beef Week.

The family runs Raedean Reds, a Red Angus stud focused on economic traits with heavy culling for undesirable characteristics.

"A docile temperament is extremely important to us along with structural correctness, good feet and udders," Ms Walker said.

The spring herd will be on display along with an excellent selection of young bulls for sale.

Visitors can walk through all cattle on display and Georgia will be excited to show her stud cattle.

Calves at foot are sired by RA Thor, Raedean Rainman, Tronar Zoro, Willandra Eric and Raedean Uranium.

Young bulls available for purchase include progeny by Hillandale Red Jude J18 crossed with Red MRLA Respect 42G, along with others sired by Raedean Rainman R13, Tronar Jeb, Tronar Kemble and Raedean Statement S15.

The Respect progeny are the only ones in southern Australia after a small quantity of semen was brought in with GK Red Angus in Dalby, Queensland.

The stud continually strives to improve and introduce new bloodlines including genetics from Bandeeka, MRLA, U2, Tronar and GK.

The most recent purchase was new herd sire Goondoola Utah, a complete outcross for the herd.

"We saw his grandsire Red Northline Revival in Canada and were very impressed with him," Ms Walker said.

Visitors are welcome to inspect the Red Angus herd and select their new sire from the high-performing functional female herd.

Wattlewood unveils purpose-built bull sale complex

THE Wattlewood Angus team has been working hard to bring their dream to life with a new purpose-built 80-acre bull sale complex at Lang Lang.

The site features six small paddocks to pen the sale bulls for Beef Week on Saturday, January 31, the MLA BredWell FedWell workshop on Tuesday, February 10, and the annual sale on Thursday, March 5.

Fiona and John Glover have built a shed with roller doors to allow airflow on warm days or close them down should the weather turn inclement.

As always the team has set out to provide a homely feel with welcoming food and drink in the beautiful repurposed silos on site.

On display for Beef Week will be 35 cream of the crop bulls with all the vaccinations and health checks clients have come to expect from this thorough operation.

"Being a part of the industry-backed Immune Ready program allows us to have the comfort knowing that the bulls are ready to go out and work effectively and efficiently," Mrs Glover said.

"They have all passed their semen tests and are parent verified, so clients can make an informed selection of their next top sire to improve their existing herd."

Coming off a credible third place in last year's Beef Week Heifer Challenge, the couple are proud of the females that ultimately contribute 50 per cent to the sale bulls' genetics.

"Getting the female breeding herd right is a key component to having bulls that just work and are able to get the job done," Mrs Glover said.

The property will also host an MLA BredWell FedWell workshop where attendees will learn about genetic selection and how to get the highest rewards from their property and beef herd.

The Wattlewood Angus annual on-farm bull sale will be held on Thursday, March 5 at 4pm.

Wattlewood looks forward to greeting visitors with a cuppa at Beef Week and welcomes any questions.

Contact Fiona on 0416 216 951 to make a time that suits.

New Zealand genetics thrive at Leawood Angus

LEAWOOD Angus welcomes cattle-breeding enthusiasts to Beef Week Day 4 on Saturday, January 31 at 1545 Princes Hwy, Flynn.

Visitors can inspect the autumn bull sale line-up and enjoy a discussion on all things agriculture.

The breeding program is built around three core objectives: consistency, longevity and profitability.

Consistency comes from more than 82 years of breeding registered Angus cattle and a long history of selectively using New Zealand genetics that thrive in southern Victorian grass-fed systems.

Across four generations of family management, the breeding philosophy has remained steady.

"The most profitable animal in any herd is often the older, structurally sound, low-maintenance cow who calved as a two-year-old and has never missed a calf," Luke Stuckey said.

"That is our definition of longevity and it is built into every Leawood Angus bull."

The 2026 autumn sale will be held on Monday, March 30 at 1pm, offering 50 rising 18-month-old bulls and 40 commercial breeding females.

This year's sale team is headlined by leading New Zealand sires alongside reliable homebred Leawood sires.

A standout new AI sire is Rangatira Charlie 20-1034, a high-capacity bull with exceptional carcase traits.

"After inspecting Charlie at Kenhardt Angus in 2022, we knew he was the right fit for our program," Mr Stuckey said.

Other feature sires include Cricklewood Pandemic P056, which led the autumn 2025 sale averaging $14,000 across eight sons, and Sudeley Viking 18101, widely regarded as one of the most impressive sons of the legendary Matauri Reality 839.

Leawood Pirate P391 remains the most heavily used homebred sire, adding extra length, frame and outstanding structural correctness to his progeny.

Contact Graeme on 0429 992 683 or Luke on 0474 992 683.

Fernleigh Angus showcases even draft of yearling bulls

ON Saturday, January 31 Fernleigh Angus will open its doors as part of its annual involvement in Beef Week.

The day offers a great opportunity to learn more about the Fernleigh program and to inspect the line-up of yearling bulls available for sale by private treaty in 2026.

These yearling bulls have been bred from an exciting group of sires including Ben Nevis Rambo, Banquet Statesman S154, Banquet Nutella N462, KO T55 and Landfall New Ground.

Fernleigh stud manager James Blyth said these sires had produced one of the more even drafts of bulls to date.

"There are some new genetics on offer which have us really excited and we certainly think there is a product here which will suit a range of buyers," Mr Blyth said.

"We aim to breed an animal which excels on the fundamentals of fertility, structural integrity and durability without sacrificing on performance.

"I think the bulls on offer represent real value.

"We want our clients to be in a position to succeed, and to do that we need to offer a product which ticks all the boxes but also one which won't break the bank.

Also on display during the open day will be a significant selection of the Fernleigh female herd.

"The importance of the females in our program cannot be understated," Mr Blyth said.

"Quite often the bulls are the focus of the attention, so we really relish the opportunity to open up our herd and highlight the maternal quality from which our bulls have been bred.

"I would invite anyone who is interested to come and see the bulls and the wider herd, because I think the cattle really do speak for themselves."

For further information on the Beef Week open day or the Fernleigh Angus program, contact James Blyth on 0400 447 443 or follow Fernleigh Angus on Facebook and Instagram.