It's not just the temperature that this Canadian Speckle Park visitor notices

For the young Canadian Speckle Park breeder taking part in his first Royal Queensland Show, there's some big differences between showing the breed here and in its home country.

Twenty-six-year-old Dalton Payne flew in from Alberta the day before the beef cattle judging began and was given a scratching cane and a leading role straight away.

The Jones family's Ivery Downs stud, based at Colinton, in Queensland's Somerset region, bought a heifer for $66,000 from Mr Payne's family in 2020, and Mr Payne said they'd become his second family since then.

"It's pretty cool to have the opportunity," he said, speaking about being able to take part in his first-ever Ekka experience.

While he uses the word 'cool', the temperature at his home base at Lloydminster and at Brisbane is almost the same at present, when their summer climate matches Queensland's winter.

"In December, it could be an 80-degree change; that's too much for me," he said.

The Speckle Park breed had its beginning close to Mr Payne's home base, in the province of Saskatchewan in 1959, as a combination of British breeds Teeswater Shorthorn, Aberdeen Angus and English White Park cattle, but Mr Payne says he got into the breed in 2017 and started showing the following year.

His family had been watching them at Alberta's Agribition and were impressed with what they were seeing.

Speckle Park cattle are known for their high-quality carcase, efficient feed conversion and their meat quality, as well as their distinctive hides, but for Mr Payne, the breed's best trait is the longevity of its females.

"We have females that are going into their 10th to 12^th lactation," he said.

"For cows of other breeds, the European breeds especially, they're only lasting six to eight locations.

"That makes a big difference to your profitability."

He grew up with Limousins and Angus cattle but said it had been good to work with a young breed and help implement year-on-year improvement.

He modestly says he has lots to learn, which is why he keeps returning to Australia.

"These guys, they're chasing a totally different animal than us," he said. " They're bigger, they've got to cover more ground and stuff like that, so structure is important, foot quality is important, and you definitely see that here."

It's his fifth visit to our country, taking in Beef 2024 last year, and he said he thought more Speckle Park cattle were exhibited at either venue here than they see at their Agribition equivalent.

"It's pretty cool to see this many Speckles at a show," he said.

"It's different than Canadian shows, obviously, being outside, you don't get a big show outside in Canada because it's -40 when our shows take place.

And then, we don't have all these breeds at home; we don't have Santas and that content, so it's cool to see a lot of tropical cattle."

He's having a busy fortnight in Queensland, helping the Jones family prepare for their next sale, before he returns to Canada, where they're busy harvesting and weaning calves while the snow has retreated for the summer.