Mark McKenzie is a pioneer of the Speckle Park breed in New Zealand, teaming up with a colleague to import the breed into the land of the long white cloud, back in 2008. Adding Speckle Park to the long-running and well-respected Maungahina Stud prefix no doubt raised a few eyebrows among staunch Hereford breeders, with Maungahina having over a century of renown in the whiteface breed. But alas, Mark pushed forward with introducing Speckle Park to New Zealand, and he has worked hard in the years since to refine the breed to suit his conditions and industry demands.

Mark is the fifth generation McKenzie at Maungahina, near Masterton at the bottom of the north island. He operates the property with his father, Bruce, wife, Melissa, and their daughter, Molly, has recently joined the family business as the sixth McKenzie at Maungahina!

Mark has always taken a ruthless approach to culling, leaving him with a Speckle Park herd he is proud of. With the rise of the Speckle Beef meat brand in New Zealand, Mark sees a very bright future ahead for the breed – as long as the right animals are produced, with the right genetic merit.

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Dwight Wyatt operates Wyatt Artificial Breeding Services and Meadow View Farms Speckle Park, together with his wife, Noela. They are based at Goolmangar, near Lismore in North East NSW. Dwight shares the same origin as the Speckle Park breed – he too originates from Canada, but has called Australia home since 1988.

Dwight was just 13 or 14 years old when he did his week-long training in cattle artificial insemination, a course run by the University of Manitoba. By the time he was 17, he had his own area to service, and was regularly inseminating dairy cows. For about 35 years, Wyatt Artificial Breeding Services has serviced predominantly the dairy industry, and Dwight has seen many trends and industry changes during that time.

One that is here to stay, he says, is Speckle Park. “We’ll probably be selling Speckle Park till the day we finish up because the dairy farmers love them,” he says. In this episode, Dwight shares his own experiences with Speckle Park, and those of his vast client base.

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Dennis Power is General Manager of one of the largest Speckle Park stud and commercial herds in the world, Minnamurra Speckle Park. Based at Coolah in Central West NSW, Minnamurra Speckle Park has played a pivotal role in demonstrating the commercial relevance of the Speckle Park breed, winning various feedback trials and carcase competitions. Not once, or twice, but many times – dating back as far as 2013.

The consistently outstanding performance of Minnamurra Speckle Park cattle in these competitions has gone a long way to proving that the Speckle Park breed is no fad, but is instead a breed with true commercial merit – and it is justifiably here to stay.

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Gerald Wyatt has had an extensive career, from farming in Tasmania to assessing cattle across the eastern seaboard through his business, Classic Livestock Management Services. Now in his late 70s, Gerald has spent decades analysing traits in livestock that can indicate important fertility, temperament, health and eating quality characteristics. From ear wax to scaliness of tail hair, jawbone and rib structure and even positioning of hair swirls, these seemingly irrelevant characteristics can tell you so much about your livestock.

The consistency and femininity of the Speckle Park heifers that Gerald has assessed has really impressed him, especially given the breed’s infancy. The escutcheons – or milk lines - on a mob of heifers averaged 2 in his grading scale, which is “as good as it gets”.  

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Simon Eriksen has been in the meat marketing and distribution business for nearly 25 years, having founded Neat Meat in 2001. Today, when he’s out to dinner with friends and associates, the conversation generally heads straight to Speckle Beef, a Speckle Park beef brand founded by the New Zealand company and now served at more than 100 restaurants, premium butchers, and in the midst of heading abroad. Consistent excellence in the Speckle Beef product has chefs craving more - it's consistently tender, with a beautiful natural flavour.

This episode shares Simon's own fascinating career story, while also detailing the evolution of the highly successful Speckle Beef brand. Something tells us this brand is only just getting wound up!

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Back in around 2016, Nicky Reeves hadn’t even seen or heard about Speckle Park cattle when she first tasted Speckle Park beef. Further research quickly evolved into a newfound passion for the breed.

What better way to market their Speckle Park cattle and beef than to establish the Maffco Brewery and Distillery, incorporating Speckle Park beef into the restaurant menu.

But let’s not forget their Benbullen Speckle Park stud, Benbullen Speckle Park direct beef sales arm, livestock transport business, and they also host the annual Maffco Pitmaster Barbecue Competition and Festival!

To say Nicky is a busy woman really is an understatement, but direct feedback from happy customers about their experience eating Speckle Park beef spurs her on. The former livestock agent and her partner, Lashay Tricker, have built a phenomenal business that incorporates several of their family members.  

This is a great story about relationships, determination to succeed, family, and a deep-seated belief in Speckle Park cattle and beef. 

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Paul Guy began his journey in the Speckle Park breed through his stud, Te Mooi Speckle Park, based at Londrigan in Victoria. Currently, his focus is far further down the supply chain, working with leading restaurant chefs in Melbourne to get his Speckle Park Certified beef brand up and running.

He is a data man at heart, and his solid understanding around the role of data in producing a quality product for the consumer is core to the path he is walking now - ultimately delivering an outstanding eating experience of Speckle Park beef for the consumer. 

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