History

Murdeduke was founded in 1993 with the purchase of four leading Te Mania cows with heifer calves at foot. From there, Murdeduke’s ambition was to create an elite herd of females from which superior Angus bulls could be produced. Eighteen years on, we have our cow herd and are offering 150 plus bulls annually for sale.

The Stud herd is run in conjunction with extensive prime lamb and cropping enterprises. A free range piggery, which is the home to the branded pork brand Otway Pork, can also be found at Murdeduke.

Competition between the enterprises ensures that commercial drivers help determine our breeding principles.

Murdeduke’s Breeding Objectives

Murdeduke Angus is striving to produce bulls for sale with superior attributes. We are not only looking at growth and carcass traits but also the traits cattlemen look for softness, shape and doing ability.

In our quest to supply superior animals we not only collect all the required breed plan data and have our cattle independently structurally assessed annually but we ensure that nutrition is not compromised in our moderate rainfall environment. By managing nutrition and rumen function for optimal performance year round our bulls express their potential without compromising joint and bone development which can be the case with short term sale preparations.

To unlock the potential of Murdeduke’s quality assurance program we encourage producers to also adopt cutting edge animal nutrition and management techniques. Early rumen development and appropriate animal health measures ensure calves maximize their performance on farm and hit the ground running when they enter a feedlot.

Murdeduke’s Emperor  Investment

2011 saw Murdeduke invest heavily in the future of the Angus breed. In March with partners Aberdeen Angus Tumut, ABS Australia and New Zealand’s Storth Oaks Angus Murdeduke took the lead in the acquisition of Te Mania Emperor for an Australian record price of $91000.

In ABS manager Bill Cornell’s words “Emperor is a rare gem indeed, he covers all the bases the Australian Angus industry has been waiting for”.

We see Emperor as a tool to take Murdeduke to the forefront of the seedstock industry. He provides us and our clients with an opportunity to access phenotype, outcross genetics’ and elite “numbers” backed up with on ground performance. Even after running with 40 open females Emperor was still the heaviest and biggest EMA scanned bull out of 401 contemporaries at Te Mania in 2011.

Interest in Emperor has been enormous with many leading studs making the decision to use him. As part of the release of this exciting sire we have Emperor embryos out of our leading cows for sale. Semen for both stud and commercial uses is also available.

Murdeduke’s Client Services

Murdeduke is situated 1.5 hours South West of Melbourne just off the Princes Highway at Winchelsea. Our client base stretches from the SE of South Australia to East Gippsland to as far north as Rockhampton in Queensland.

We hold an annual bull sale in March and have a large selection of rising 2yo bulls for private selection in the spring. Semen for both commercial and stud purposes is freely available from our leading sires.

As part of our service we value the opportunity to visit clients on their properties as it gives us an insight into their production systems and how our cattle may be fit into them.

Sire lines featured in the herd over the next few years include Emperor, Kansas Aberdeen, Bartel E7, Clunie Range Legend, Coonamble bulls Hector, Bairstow and Jester and our own Emperor sons Hussar H211 and CSWJ428.

Bulls used to ensure calving ease is maintained in our herd include, our newly acquired stud sire, Milwillah Krakatoa, Complement, Black Pearl, Millah Murrah bulls Klooney and Loch Up and Matauri Reality.

Murdeduke has a J-BAS score of 8 being formerly accredited M.N.1 under the MAP program.