DSK Angus

DSK Angus Stud was founded in 1988 with the purchase of females from the great Calleen herd, then Dulverton, Te Mania, Strathtay and No. 1 Angus studs. All these females were the essential beginning of what we have today. 

In 1992, the Embryo Flushing program began and every spare cent and energy from then on has gone into building the Angus herd to today’s level of over 300 registered females. The level of genetic strength seen in the DSK Angus females is what makes our herd so consistent and balanced. The Angus sires that have made an impact were with the initial input of Black Velvet Willyboy J31 in 1991. Willyboy J31 went on to win the Grand Champion Angus Award at Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane Royals in 1991 & 1992. It took 15 yrs. for another Angus bull to achieve this result. Willyboy made a tremendous impact in the early days and can be seen prominently in the background of nearly all of our great breeding females today but there has probably been no more of an impact in the DSK Angus herd than the introduction of SVF Hi Road 956 in 1998.

DSK Commercial Operation is run in conjunction with the studs with the majority of females being used as embryo transfer recipients. A lot of females from our stud herds are also used as recipes and then bred to either Angus or Charolais bulls to maintain our Charolais/Angus cross genetics. Only 80 bulls are kept each year from a stud herd of 400 Angus and Charolais combined stud females as well as implanting over 100 embryos per year. Our entire cow herd numbers 550 adult breeders with the retention of 30 commercial or crossbred females as well 60 Angus and Charolais stud females. The rest of the steer and heifer progeny are grown out to reach 450 kg liveweight on grass where available before being opportunity grain fed for an average of 90 days where they have reached a liveweight of 600 kg at milk tooth. These steers and heifers are then trucked to the Tamworth Cargill facility where the steers average 325 kg or 54% and the heifers average 290 kg or 52% of a liveweight of 550 kg. The difference between the purebred Charolais and Angus or crossbreed carcase yield’s are minor and the results show that choosing long bodied animals with adequate muscling on a wide and deep frame equates to dollars in your pocket independent of breed statistics. Right across the breeds and into our commercial female herd, our emphasis is on strength, capacity, structure & maternal traits and we believe we have the right ingredients in our cow herd to breed great sires for the future. It is the cows that have to do the work in the paddock and the genetic maternal influence of the sire is a major factor in our sire selection. We sell 80 bulls at our annual On-Farm Bull Sale. Fast Growing, Easy Finishing, Optimal Muscling, Even Tempered, Structurally Sound, Fertility Plus and Strong Maternal Values. We are seedstock producers who make the majority of our income from carcase production of Heavy Local Trade Commercial Beef Cattle.