Gippsland farm couple finds exciting niche with Texas Longhorn 'wow factor'

A young Gippsland farm couple has found a niche with the Texas Longhorn cattle breed's "wow factor".

Jordana and Jason Perry, Toongabbie, first got into the breed during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

They now produce calves for sale to smallholders and hobby farmers across Victoria and into NSW and South Australia.

The breed's notoriously long horns haven't been a deterrent for the couple, who said the cattle were quiet and very easily managed.

Their stud JP Cattle Co now includes 10 mature cows, a bull and followers, with the Texas Longhorns run in conjunction with an Angus beef herd.

"They're something a little bit different," Ms Perry said.

"I think a bit of an American western influence came into it as well.

"They're a bit addictive and everyone says that."

She said the breed was known for its multitude of colours and horn shapes and this meant breeding was a luck-of-the-draw process.

"They're always interesting and you never know what you're going to get," she said.

"They're all different colours and there's not one that's the same.

"They're really exciting and we're pretty happy with what we produce, colour-wise."

Ms Perry said in Australia, the breed's horns typically got to 80-90 inches from tip to tip, and the standard was kept to inches in line with the American measurement standard.

With more years of breeding and a bigger gene pool, the breed's horns grow to as much as 100 inches in width in the US.

"It's a bit argumentative because all your horns come in different shapes and sizes," Ms Perry said.

"As we get more and more genetics over from the US and we start experimenting, there's no reason why we won't be hitting those goals over here pretty quickly."

The horns really start to grow when the Texas Longhorns hit 12 months of age.

"By two, you really know if you're on track for something that's impressive," she said.

"They do most of their growth before they hit two and we measure them as often as we can."

She said the breed was also excellent at performing in tough terrain.

"They've got a great temperament and they're feed efficient," she said.

"They'll eat a lot less than your traditional beefies and they're roughage cattle as well.

"In tougher conditions, they'll eat your trees as opposed to perishing.

"They can eat a lot of dry matter and run on a lot less."

The couple's black and white speckled bull is throwing calves which are a multitude of colours and Ms Perry said these were "marketing really well".

"At the moment, we'll sell everything that hits the ground from now on unless we find something that we really want to retain," she said.

"Our biggest market is definitely the hobby farmer, someone who wants something different, cool, friendly, quiet and easy to handle."

All of the stud's cattle are halter trained and this means the herd was easy to manage, something which is important when the horns are so long.

Ms Perry said they used a side crush to close in on any of the cattle, rather than a traditional yard set-up.

"We like to handle them a lot," she said.

"We will get rid of anything that isn't calm, quiet, collected."

She said she would love to see the breed exhibited more at rodeos around Australia.

"A lot of people don't ever really see them and we're pretty proud of how quiet and relaxed they are," she said.

"Don't be intimidated by the horns."

For now, Ms Perry said they had found a "sweet spot" in the market and looked forward to producing cattle with bigger and longer horns in future.