Agvac Pastoral Santa Gertrudis || Stud No 1608

With new bloodlines being used throughout the herd and some careful judgement a great female base was developed. This showed with the quality of the bulls selling at the Northern Breeders Group sale in Tamworth improving and reaching prices of $10 000 and having the highest sale average in 2005. But more importantly in recent years we have seen the return of previous buyers and have been able to sell more bulls on farm. Also receiving prices of $1380 / unit for commercial first calf heifers in the middle of a drought also indicated the respected quality of our cattle.

In addition to the stud and commercial herd we also background steers and produce irrigated and dryland lucerne and cereal hay. The key to the success of the stud business now relies on youth and consistently improving performance along with the fundamentals of maintaining sound structure and fertility. With the future looking brighter we will continue the love of the mighty “Cherry” reds.....

	History of Agvac Pastoral

		In 1990, a man set on a mission to purchase a Santa bull to join with his mixed breed herd. He returned home with 10 head of cattle, 3 stud bred heifers, 2 unclassified heifers, 2 commercial cows and calves and yes the bull.... This was the start of AGVAC PASTORAL SANTA GERTRUDIS in July of 1990 when Allan attended the dispersal sale of the Linwood stud where these cattle were purchased. The motive for starting this registered herd was to create an interest for the children. In addition other cattle were also bought around this time from the Moncelebration dispersal and the Capricorn stud. The Cherry family (Allan, Vicki, Janice, Matt, Andrew and Phill) started a breeding program based at Casino in northern NSW. The family then started showing the cattle around the local show circuit as a way of promoting the stud. This was successful with winning several broad ribbons including breed champions. The Junior Judging and Parading at these shows was also a good interest for the children. The kids also started attending Junior National Shows held at Hannaford Qld and several in Warwick Qld which was a great learning place for them.

















	The Cherry Family Janice, Phillip, Matthew, Vicki, Allan & Andrew


	The decision was made to relocate and expand the herd. So in the spring of 1995 AGVAC moved to its current location on the banks of the Namoi River NW of Gunnedah NSW. With more room to move more females were purchased from the Goonoo dispersal in Roma Qld and also Calga West and Big Sur dispersals at Tamworth. With a range of different bloodlines in the cow base AI was used with genetics from the leading studs including Yarrawonga and King Ranch and bulls purchased from Goonoo and Kelly Wallah.


	With new bloodlines being used throughout the herd and some careful judgement a great female base was developed. This showed with the quality of the bulls selling at the Northern Breeders Group sale in Tamworth improving and reaching prices of $10 000 and having the highest sale average in 2005. But more importantly in recent years we have seen the return of previous buyers and have been able to sell more bulls on farm. Also receiving prices of $1380 / unit for commercial first calf heifers in the middle of a drought also indicated the respected quality of our cattle. In addition to the stud and commercial herd we also background steers and produce irrigated and dryland lucerne and cereal hay. The key to the success of the stud business now relies on youth and consistently improving performance along with the fundamentals of maintaining sound structure and fertility. With the future looking brighter we will continue the love of the mighty “Cherry” reds.....