Garthowen Droughtmasters

Ross, Michelle, Lucy and Simon Kinbacher run a small but mighty herd of 60 registered Droughtmaster breeders beside a backgrounding business on 5000 acres around Biggenden, Mundubbera and Gigoomgan. But their initial involvement in the breed was thanks to the inquisitive mind of Ross’ father, the late Aubrey Kinbacher.

In June 1956, Aubrey decided to defy the Hereford and Poll Hereford genetics of his district and brought the first Zebu cattle into Boompa. By 1958 he purchased a Shorthorn bull, Russley Hobgoblin, for 140 pound to mate to red cows with five-eighth to three quarters Brahman blood.
The following year, he introduced Droughtmaster cows from Charles E. Pascoe’s stud at Eidsvold.

It sparked the start of the Garthowen herd which was registered in 1964, allowing Aubrey and his wife Geraldine, to sell their first bulls at Gracemere in 1966 - five unregistered sires by Russley Hobgoblin.
Today Garthowen's focus is to breed bulls that are commercially reliable but also of a high quality to meet stud requirements.

Data has become a key part of the Garthowen herd in more recent years and in 2015 it became one of the first studs to display morphology and poll gene information at the sale. Their supplementary sheet has grown to include raw figures on maternal days to calving and weaning weight.

The Kinbachers haven’t been afraid to invest in new genetics, with new sires introduced to the herd every four season. Like many seedstock producers, Garthowen has also undertaken IVF programs in the last few years - further broadening the sire battery available.

Garthowen has been a regular vendor of the Droughtmaster National Bull Sale and even topped the sale in 1992 with Garthowen Yellow ($14,000) and later with Garthowen Coil 2. In the early 90s it was one of the first studs to sell bulls as two-year-olds. That highlight was surpassed in 2017 when the stud achieved its best sale result with Garthowen Xavier 2 selling for $78,000 to Clonlara and the draft of eight bulls averaging $25,000.