25 Year Milestone for Alpine Angus

And as a result, the Alpine focus is to build from the basics up to produce honest and reliable cattle, where temperament and type are assured and practical aspects - like feet and growth - are a non-negotiable. 

“We are wary of blindly chasing the highest performance genetics,” said Oswin.

“The pursuit of these bulls, chasing these numbers, can sometimes come at the expense of fundamental traits, which we’re not willing to compromise on so we have spent years building a genetic foundation of good structure, temperament, calving ease and explosive growth. We now believe the base is strong enough to pursue carcase traits with less risk.  

“At Alpine Angus, we have front of mind the fact that as well as multiplying the added potential performance into commercial herds, we are also multiplying the effects of basic things such as temperament , structure, calving ease and growth onto the users of our genetics – which is why we have taken our time to get to this point.”

“It’s at times like this that we rely on our experience and judgement, and hope that the end result is a net gain for the herd. 

“We’re the first to admit that we haven’t always got it right. 

“But we are the first to recognise our errors of judgement and learn from them, rather than pass on these errors to others with a bucket load of excuses and justifications.  

“For us it’s about that Alpine Angus guarantee.

“Our driving force has been to build a sustainable, honourable and honest business.

“And the root of this is providing cattle backed by generations of fault-free, performance-oriented breeding.”

And the proof is in the number of repeat customers and the strong relationships developed and maintained, as producers return year after year for that Alpine Angus advantage.    

“We have been supported by so many family farming operations which are now building generations of Alpine Genetics into their herds,” said Alpine Angus Principal Delany.  

“When you attend the Myrtleford sales and 70 to 80 per cent of the Angus calves are by Alpine-influenced genetics, you know you must be doing something right. 

“It is their success with, and the way that they have used and presented calves from our bulls, that has been the strength behind our growth.

“The support from our North East neighbours in Myrtleford, Corryong and Mansfield and across the divide in East Gippsland and all the surrounding valleys and plains has been immeasurable. 

“We are truly grateful to all these producers who trust Alpine Angus genetics in their cattle-producing operation.  

“The relationship and backing we have had from Nutrien Ivone Agencies from our local agents Dan & Wade Ivone Myrtleford and also from Nutrien Paull & Scollard Jeff Brindley Corryong and more recently Mick Curtis Rodwells Euroa has proven invaluable.” 

Alpine Lowan M003 is the dam of the 2022 record topping $120,000 bull and AI Sire Alpine 38 Special S021 marketed by ST Genetics, Albury.

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In recent years the stud has experienced notable success with a number of sires produced by Alpine Angus entering semen catalogues, indicative of the quality and exceptional breeding values that Alpine has worked so hard in perfecting.

With Alpine Main Event Q192 and Alpine Rip Wheeler R144 both on the catalogue at Genetics Australia, Alpine Real Deal R163 at ABS and Alpine Ronaldo R232 and Alpine 38 Special S021 at ST Genetics, stud genetics are industry valued and in hot demand.

“Importantly to us all, these sires are true-to-type Angus bulls with excellent structural assessment scores,” said Chris Oswin, Alpine manager.  

“The dams of these sires are also all in our donor program this year. “

Sitz Manor 3195, a tremendously feminine cow, owned by Alpine Angus in the United States is already delivering results.

One of her sons was recently purchased by ABS, while another, Sitz Elevate has been added to the American Genex AI sire roster.

“In the US system, Sitz Manor 3195 sits in the top one per cent for docility, inside 25 per cent for feet, 10 per cent for yearling weight and top 10 per cent in the maternal value index,” said Oswin.

“A relatively new tool, this index is the most all-encompassing measure of profitability at the cow-calf level to date.  

“It includes all important traits such as fertility, heifer pregnancy, docility and foot score EPDs for foot angle and claw shape, and is something we will be looking at for our entire breeding herd.

“Our goal at Alpine Angus is to continue to build-on the work of stacking pedigrees with generations of real world performance cattle and keeping the success of our clients as our first priority.”