Why Speckle Park?

• S1 Ep14: Robert Constable – A Speckle Park Butcher for More Than 15 Years, and Not About to Stop

  Robert Constable has been an award-winning butcher based in the NSW Hunter Valley for 34 years, and still operates his popular Robert’s Meats butcher shop at Singleton. Robert has held leadership positions with the Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC) for more than 20 years, and is the current Deputy Chair of the Board, and Chairman of the Retail Council. He is a Technical Advisor to the Board of MINTRAC, National Meat Industry Training Advisory Council. He is a multi Sausage King competition winner stemming back 30 years, and is the current Chairman of the World Butchers’ Challenge. Robert just got back from Paris, where he judged this global competition. He has worked with Speckle Park beef for more than 15 years, so has unique insights to share about the product.   Robert’s parents are Mark and Colleen Constable, who operate Ersyldene Speckle Park and supply Speckle Park animals to their son’s butcher shop. Robert operated up to six butcher shops across the NSW Hunter Valley and another at Forster on the Mid North Coast. But he is now back with just the one butcher shop, and he likens this to “semi-retirement” by comparison (although he’s still flat out!). One of Robert’s biggest joys is mentoring his apprentices into confident operators themselves.   On Speckle Park, Robert’s answer to Amy’s signature podcast question, “Why Speckle Park?” is simple: why not? “I don’t think there’s anything better out there,” he says.   If you enjoy this episode, please share it among your network, and leave a review. Thanks for listening!  Podbean.

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• S1 Ep13: Tim Weller – Speckle Park Breeder Shares His Experiences with the Breed, and Industry

  Tim Weller is the Marketing Manager of genetics company, World Wide Sires, where he has worked for the past 12 years now. He and his wife, Lindy, also run their Wellerlou Speckle Park stud on their property at Coolamon in the Riverina region of south-west NSW. Tim has built his career around relationships and people – not just sales and numbers. Instead, it’s about moving forward together with customers in a win-win relationship. Tim was among a group of 10 individuals who started World Wide Sires in Australia in 2013, where he has been the Marketing Manager ever since. In this podcast episode, Tim speaks about the positive role genomics has played in the dairy industry while also cautioning the need for raw data to be submitted to Breedplan to validate genomically-enhanced EBVs. Bringing in carcase data to Breedplan from large groups of commercial Speckle Park animals is one method Tim is lobbying to enhance EBV accuracies and validation. Tim speaks about the power – and need – for strict culling in a stud program, and the need to bring in outside females from other studs, from time to time, to benchmark their own animals and not get “owners’ disease” – where stud owners think their animals are the “best” in the breed. If you enjoy this episode, please share it among your network, and leave a review. Thanks for listening! You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or Podbean.

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• S1 Ep12: Jake Furst – Award-Winning Fine Dining Chef Who Says Speckle Park Beef is “Exceptional”

  Jake Furst is the talented Executive Chef of fine dining restaurant, Cinder, which is nestled within the bluestone walls of the 150-year-old Terminus Hotel in Fitzroy North, Melbourne. Jake won the prestigious AHA Victorian Chef of the Year Award in 2023, and you may have seen him interviewed for ABC Landline in March, in Tim Lee’s report about Speckle Park beef. A key to Jake’s career success has been his commitment to never say ‘no’ to an opportunity, and thankfully that included answering the call from Speckle Park breeder, Paul Guy, Speckle Park Certified, to try Speckle Park beef in late-2024. Jake’s first impression of trying Speckle Park beef – which originated from JAD Speckle Park - was the obvious lower melting point of the fat and then the “exceptional” flavour in the beef. It was some of the best eye fillet he’d ever had – a cut known for its tenderness but not so much for its flavour profile.   Jake says Speckle Park beef has got a good story and “it’s a really, really good product” – very rarely do those two elements line up. His chefs are “screaming out for more” Speckle Park beef. “Everyone’s always after a good news story and to eat healthier, and to have options that are better for the environment, better for the farmers, better for the cows, better for everyone,” he says. “There aren’t many products on the market that tick the boxes that Speckle Park are ticking.” If you enjoy this episode, please share it among your network, and leave a review. Thanks for listening! You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or Podbean.

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• S1 Ep11: Andrew Hosken – A Livestock Agent's View of Speckle Park

  Andrew Hosken operates his agribusiness sales and consultancy, Hosken Stock & Land from Tamworth in northern NSW. He has had an extensive career as a livestock agent spanning 40 years, across eastern Australia. This included over 25 years at Elders, where he finished as the zone livestock manager covering northern NSW, Queensland, and the top end of the Northern Territory. One of Andrew’s major clients is Minnamurra Pastoral Company, the home of Minnamurra Speckle Park at Coolah in Central West NSW. When Minnamurra first went into Speckle Park – back in 2011 - Andrew was a typical sceptic. But then they won their first carcase feedback competition, then their second. “When it got to the 5th, 6th or 7th time that they won an award in just about everything that they had entered, I thought well OK, there is something inherently in these cattle,” he says. “And it’s gone on from there… There is something inherently good about the performance of Speckle Park.” “I think you will find the Speckles have a very strong place in the industry,” he says. “I don’t think there’s any feedlot or any abattoir we’ve sent (Speckle Park) stock to that haven’t wanted to buy them again… We’ve had a number of abattoirs and feedlots across all states put forward various comments about the consistency and the quality of the cattle that come in from Minnamurra.  Now, that to me says a fair bit. There’s definitely a place for the Speckle cattle. Andrew talks about consistency of Speckle Park cattle a lot in this episode. He says their carcase data is “consistently very, very good”, regardless of where the cattle have been processed, or breed composition in a cross with Speckle Park sires. As the breed increases in volume, so too will its broader awareness and appreciation by our commercial beef industry. If you enjoy this episode, please share it among your network, and leave a review. Thanks for listening! You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or Podbean.

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• S1 Ep10: Mark McKenzie - New Zealand's Speckle Park Pioneer, 17 Years On

  Mark McKenzie is a pioneer of the Speckle Park breed in New Zealand, teaming up with a colleague to import the breed into the land of the long white cloud, back in 2008. Adding Speckle Park to the long-running and well-respected Maungahina Stud prefix no doubt raised a few eyebrows among staunch Hereford breeders, with Maungahina having over a century of renown in the whiteface breed. But alas, Mark pushed forward with introducing Speckle Park to New Zealand, and he has worked hard in the years since to refine the breed to suit his conditions and industry demands. Mark is the fifth generation McKenzie at Maungahina, near Masterton at the bottom of the north island. He operates the property with his father, Bruce, wife, Melissa, and their daughter, Molly, has recently joined the family business as the sixth McKenzie at Maungahina! Mark has always taken a ruthless approach to culling, leaving him with a Speckle Park herd he is proud of. With the rise of the Speckle Beef meat brand in New Zealand, Mark sees a very bright future ahead for the breed – as long as the right animals are produced, with the right genetic merit. If you enjoy this episode, please share it among your network, and leave a review. Thanks for listening! You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or Podbean.

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