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Largest breeder of Belmont Reds in Australia

Seifert Belmont Reds is owned and operated by husband-and-wife team Ian Stark and Jeanne Seifert and we have Belmont Reds for sale all year round. We are the breeders of the largest herd of pure-bred Belmont Red cattle in Australia, with over 2400 registered and Breedplan recorded females on an aggregation of four properties totalling 12,400 HA in Queensland. The properties are north of Jandowae, south of Eidsvold, and north of Dalby in Queensland, and range from ‘ticky’ iron bark breeder country, to brigalow backgrounding country, and some cropping country.

We are an inseparable, and completely hands-on couple, both working together on and in, every aspect of our business, from paddock to office. We are passionate and unapologetic, in our uncompromising pursuit of excellence, to create the best Belmont Reds ever bred, every year.

Our Market
Currently we select our best 350 males annually to supply bulls to beef producers Australia wide, from small-scale family farms to large-scale corporates, across QLD, NT, WA, NSW and Victoria. To cater for the growing demand for our genetics, we are in a business expansion phase to supply 500 bulls annually by 2024, and 600 bulls by 2025. In keeping with our philosophy that ‘everyone should have one’, we will continue to offer 100 bulls at our annual Bull Sale in early August, with paddock bull sales available all year round.

Our History
The Belmont Red is the longest performance recorded breed in Australia, and Seifert Belmont Reds are the purest Belmont Reds available in the market today. Our proven pedigrees can be traced back 67 years, to the original CSIRO Africander and Belmont Reds of 1956, with modern DNA guaranteeing ongoing accurate Seifert Belmont Red pedigree verification

Our Philosophy
We stake our reputation on high integrity, accurate and trustworthy data. Our entire herd is Breedplan recorded, which provides EBV (estimated breeding values), and all stud and sale bulls are genomically DNA tested, providing GBV (genomic breeding values). Our animal selection however isn't carried out in isolation of phenotype, with Ian having an expert eye for structure, soundness, and type. Ian’s experience has shaped our bulls to deliver capacity and muscling, with broad toplines, length and elevation. Jeanne’s expertise is to drive genetic progress using EBVs, and individual male and female performance. Most joinings are individually statistically designed to increase maximum profit and minimize inbreeding. Together, our balanced approach to breeding, combines our best genotypes with our best phenotypes every year. In addition, our deep and pure Belmont Red pedigrees, ensure that in cross breeding systems, our genetics deliver highly consistent and predictable F1 calves for our clients.

Our Traits
At Seifert Belmont Reds we target the economically profitable traits of exceptional fertility, impeccable temperament, real tropical adaptation, and carcase quality. To maximize these profitable traits, specifically planned genetic combinations are applied through natural single sire mating groups, FTAI and IVF, to meet our breeding objectives. To date Seifert Belmont Red bulls hold the top ten profitability rankings on BreedObjects self-replacing $index. Two special top indexing cows are also being cloned.

Bull calves are semen tested for morphology and motility at 12-14 months of age. These early puberty, high libido bulls are used as single sires in mating groups of 50 to 80 females. This very short intergenerational interval means they have produced their first calves by the time they are two. Significantly these young bulls breed highly profitable early puberty progeny, and daughters with low lactation anoestrus, which drives ongoing generational herd fertility.

Our Performance Pressure
Even though our stud produces seedstock bulls, our herd is run under strictly commercial conditions. Seifert Belmont Reds are one of a rare few in the cattle industry who never treat for ticks or buffalo fly. Our superior tick resistance and fly resistance is permanently fixed in our genetics from five decades of no chemical intervention in hostile ticky environments. This guarantees the most tick resistant, truly tropically adapted genetics, are in our Belmont Reds. Only females that wean a calf each year, despite the heat, ticks and flies, and with no special care, remain. These principles of ‘survival of the fittest’ ensures genuine environmental adaption and survivability are naturally preserved as permanent heritable traits, in our genetic pool. This sees our bulls thrive in both wet and arid ticky environments, well above the topic of Capricorn, in Northern Australia, the gulf, the NT, the Kimberley and Pilbara of WA, PNG, and Paraguay.

Seifert Belmont Reds are active participants in R&D of our herd performance.

Research & Development
Seifert Belmont Reds have been active participants in R&D and our herd performance, especially with respect to fertility, is benchmarked in major Australian beef cattle research. Research results have seen our genetics emerge with top results.
The MLA Northern Beef Genomics project (Prof. Ben Hayes) validates our claims about fertility, with our females ranked in the top 5% for early puberty in the Northern Australian, in the research population of approximately 30,000 females.
The MLA CashCow project was the largest project researching fertility in northern Australia. Results showed that our pregnancy rates, on our first calf lactating heifers, in a 12-week joining, was 45.5% above the research average of approximately 73,000 females.
Seifert Belmont Reds have also been involved in, or contributed data to, the MLA Phosphorus Challenge, UQ poll horned research, UQ buffalo fly research, and CRC3, with our pedigrees also represented in CRC1 and CRC2.
2023 – 2028 will see Seifert Belmont Red females participate in the MLA Repronomics Research Project.

And Agritech
With our strong focus on data to drive genetic progress, we are proactive adopters of agritech. All animals are BREEDPLAN recorded -not just a select few. We use Practical Systems ‘Stock Book’ livestock software whole of herd recording, and capture data at each property in real time, using crush side laptops and TSI, to maximise data accuracy. We use genomic DNA technologies, with all males, and all females from 2022, undergoing DNA testing for sire verification and the poll/horn gene. 98% of our herd is polled, with about half our bulls being Homozygous Polls (PP).
In conjunction with a joint venture partner, a third of our heifers are tested annually for net feed efficiency and meat quality at the UNE Tullimba Research GrowSafe feedlot NSW.
We strongly believe in being good custodians of our land and our animals. To care for our country, we use CIBOlabs satellite remote sensing technology to assist us to manage our feed base by estimating paddock pasture biomass levels, stocking capacity, ground cover and land condition. At all times, we demand the highest standards of industry best practice for pain management, low stress stock handling and animal welfare.

Our Carcase Performance
Carcase performance and meat quality are important to us, and we are fortunate to see our cattle grade MSA 100% of the time at the meat works. We have had modest success in all carcase competitions entered, and have been very pleased to have placed or won in every steer competition to date:

2023 Callide Dawson Beef Carcase Competition (first time competitors)

Champion Grain Fed Steer Carcass
Trophy for Champion Grain Fed Carcass
3rd Grain Fed All Rounder
2nd Class 5 pen of 3 Grain Fed Steers
2nd Best Live Weight Gain in Feedlot Trade Steer
3rd Best Live Weight Gain in Feedlot Trade Steer
3rd Class 7 pen of 3 Trade Steers
5th Class 7 pen of 3 Trade Steers
2018: 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, BEEF Australia ANZ domestic 'Pen of 3 steers'

2017: 3rd - BEEF Australia ANZ domestic 'Pen of 3 steers'

2012: 1st - Pacific Beef Carcase Comp (ABCAS- MSA & yield) 'Individual carcass'

2012: 2nd - Pacific Beef Carcase Comp 'Pen of 4 trade steers'

2012: 4th - Pacific Beef Carcase Comp 'Individual carcass'

2011: 2nd - RNA Paddock to Plate 'Taste section'

Our international Reach
While performing well for producers across Australia, our genetics are also exported to the Philippines, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, and Paraguay. In 2019 we established a satellite herd of Seifert Belmont Reds in South America, with partners from Paraguay and Germany, by exporting our own pure-bred frozen IVF embryos. The stud is called Paraguay Belmont Reds. The first Belmont Red bulls ever offered for sale in South America, were sold by our partnership in Asuncion 2022. Pleasingly our yearling bulls sold above the average, compared to all other breeds at the sale.

In Summary
In summary, Seifert Belmont Red bulls deliver hybrid vigour - providing growth, marbling, and high yielding MSA flat backs, that reach puberty early and rebreed quickly, in one docile, short sheathed, tick and fly resistant, sleek, tropically adapted, polled, low-cost package!
Finally, we value our client relationships very highly. We relish feedback and continually strive to improve. We are proactive to meet the needs of our clients, and industry. We are passionate and proud of the Belmont Red breed and remain most grateful for the support of return buyers and new inquiries.

Ian and Jeanne