Speckle Park is a pure British breed. The breed is a combination of Red Roan Shorthorn, Angus and White Park. They are highly fertile with moderate birth weights. Being moderate framed, they are "easy doing" with impressive weight gains on both grass and grain. The high marbling meat with a perfect fat covering is being sought by restaurants and chefs worldwide for its taste, tenderness and softness. Speckle Parks have superior and high yielding carcass qualities. Speckle Parks have been in Australia since 2007.

Speckle Parks are a carcass orientated yet maternal Pure Bred (not a composite), breed of beef cattle. They are Polled and British Bred originating from Canada. Speckle Parks are moderate sized. Mature cows range in weight from 600 kgs to 850 kgs and mature bulls 1,000 kgs + Calves average 30 to 40 kgs at birth and wean off at about 230 kgs to 370+ kgs.

With their fine skin and hair in summer and a quick to 'slick off' hair coat, Speckle Parks adapt well to hot summers as well as being able to 'coat up' when needed for cold winters. They are tough, real tough, you can throw any harsh climatic situation at them and they survive, get back in calf, rear a good one, yet are so easy to feed and come back in condition quickly after hard times. Traits that will stand them in good stead in Australia's harsh environment.

Early to reach puberty being "British bred" Speckle Park females cycle early and breed easy.

In Canada, butchers and meat graders are very impressed with the consistent high-quality of the Speckle Park carcass. It isn't uncommon to get an exceptionally good carcass from any breed, but what is IMPRESSIVE is when the carcass from a particular breed is consistently good. That is the case with the Speckle Park. Another IMPRESSIVE fact about the Speckle Park is their UNIQUE ability to achieve a AAA carcass without excess outer fat cover. Most breeds are able to achieve AAA carcass but often at the expense of excess outer fat. Speckle Park can achieve a AAA carcass with minimal fat cover, thus grading YG1-AAA. Speckle Park cattle come in four colour patterns. These colours are speckled, leopard, white and black. For more information go to the Speckle Park International regulations.

• Consistent High-Quality Carcass (high marbling and tenderness, as well as a phenomenal yield)
  
• High fertility and early puberty
  
• Calving ease
  
• Vigorous calves
  
• Maternal nature and excellent teat structure
  
  

The Speckle Park reputation for carcass consistency in terms of moderate size, well marbled with only the ideal fat cover was emphatically demonstrated in the 2010 Quality Beef Competition at the Calgary Stampede. Speckle Park had six of the top ten placings (first to fourth, seventh and tenth). The numbers demonstrate the consistency.

Along with their ability to marble highly, their high yield percentage this is a breed that will be prominent in beef production at all levels of the industry from vealers to feedlots and the supermarket trades.

Colour Pattern

Speckle Park are genetically black with varying amounts of white in specific patterns. The speckle pattern is preferred but the other patterns are very much accepted within the breed.

• The speckle pattern is predominantly black with a white top line and underline, with speckled hips, and sometimes shoulders, and with a black or black roan face.

• The leopard pattern shows more white than the speckle pattern. On the leopard pattern the black sides of the speckle pattern are broken into a series of black spots. The number and size of the spots varies greatly from animal to animal. Some leopards have predominantly white sides with only a few black spots on their sides. The leopard also has a white top line and underline. In genetic terms, the speckle pattern and the leopard pattern appear to be the same with the difference being only in the number of spots.

• The third colour pattern is the white with black points. Animals with this pattern are predominantly white on the body and face but always have black points, that is the ears, nose, skin around the eyes, muzzle and the lower portions of the legs including the hooves are black. These same points are black on all of the patterns.

• Some Speckle Park animals are solid black.
  

Colour Pattern Breeding Results

Below are six combinations of the Speckle Park patterns for breeding. For these purposes speckle and leopard are in effect genetically the same with only a variation in the frequency of spots. This should be used as a guide only.