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- George & Marilyn Kusely
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The Directors
In their thirty five years of marriage, George and Marilyn Kusely have been blessed with four children; two boys and two girls. During this time George had one of the largest domestic Plumbing and Drainage business' in Sydney in which George was the managing director and founder. Marilyn spent much time with the company in a secretarial capacity. The business was very successful and had reached 50 employees, however after a 29 year business career, George decided to 'call it a day' and sold the business. In the midst of his business activities, George was also involved with coaching Rugby League in the junior ranks, coaching from U8's to U12's for Hills District Junior Rugby League Football Club and then progressed to Coaching U19's Jersey Flegg side for North Sydney Rugby League Club. George was also involved in power boat racing for ten years which saw him travel NSW and participate in most ski races and also helped co-ordinate events. "We have always been involved with cattle as it was a love we shared and after selling our business it was an opportunity for us to buy a larger property in Meadow Flat which is in the Central West of NSW. Our property "Bimbadeen" is a highly productive property which is 1150 meters above sea level; it has snow in winter and is hot in summer with good rainfall and underground springs. We have produced very good weaner calves and have had very successful on property sales." With the purchase of "Bimbadeen" George now had a chance to expand his herd of stud Poll Hereford cattle along with the commercial cattle. At the time of the herds expansion in numbers and bloodline direction, George and Marilyn met Greg and Kerrie Ebbeck who offered invaluable advice and direction with the stud cattle. As the cattle numbers grew and the desire to expand their genetic knowledge and to see breeders overseas, George and Marilyn traveled to Canada to attend the show Canadian Western Agribition where they saw the Canadian Speckle Park cattle. While in Canada and after spending the time to view numerous herds and consult with the breeders, it became apparent that the genetic combination of this breed had vast genetic capabilities and will offer the commercial breeders in Australia a distinct and diverse cross. "We believe the Speckle Park is a superior breed of cattle and will work towards it's development in Australia." Born, raised and schooled at Young in the South West of NSW, Greg was brought up with beef cattle in his blood. Apart from a short stint in the 'big smoke' of Sydney in his late teens, Greg's life has been one of breeding, rearing and showing cattle from day one with a passion for pedigrees and pure bred blood lines. Married to Kerrie with six children, all of whom have been involved in the Beef Business. Greg has been breeding cattle for over 45 years, running the family owned EBBECK FAMILY FARMS and the world renown "EBBX" Poll Hereford Stud. Having been at the top of his profession in the Poll Hereford breed for most of that time, Greg brings a vast amount of knowledge and hands on experience to the Speckle Park Cattle Company and the breed in general. He has had many memorable achievements, some highlights of those are following. In conjunction with the Late Don Anderson, he imported live, some of the first New Generation Poll Herefords back to Australia in the early 1980's from North America. He has since imported scores of live cattle, bred, selected and imported thousands of embryos and straws of semen from all parts of the world. Greg has been at the cutting edge in the use of artificial breeding of cattle and has years of experience in Artificial Insemination and Embryo Transfer. He was one of the first in Australia to use these technologies to further the genetic base in many breeds including successful years in the Romagnola and Red Angus breeds as well as Poll Herefords where they had great success in both the purebred, show and commercial sectors. EBBX has shown and bred a record 14 Grand Champions in his much beloved Poll Hereford breed at Australia's premier beef show, The Sydney Royal Easter Show as well as numerous All Breed "Champion Of Champions" and other Grand Champions throughout Australian, USA and Canada including National Champions in the USA ,Canada and bred the Sire of National Champions in England, Ireland, Argentina and New Zealand. EBBX has had no less than 6 Australian Sire of The Year awards in the Poll Hereford breed, a feat that may never be repeated and has bred the only Grand Champion Poll Hereford bull at Sydney Royal that has bred a son that has been awarded the same Grand Championship at Sydney, that being the beef icon called "Hustler" and his son "Flex." Sales of EBBX cattle have been a feature of the Australian Beef Sale Calendar for over 3 decades with bulls topping at $114,000.00, cows to $48,000.00 and embryos to a World Record of $25, 000.00 with their annual sale topping the National all breeds average for the year,on numerous occasions. Greg has been a Director of the Australian Poll Hereford Society, The Australian Romagnola Society as well as President of numerous State and Regional Cattle Societies and office bearer of Agriculture Shows. Greg has Judged Cattle at many Royal and regional shows in Australia and overseas and was a Junior Champion judge at state level at age of 17. Greg is now a Director of both Speckle Park Cattle Co and the Australian Speckle Park Association and is looking forward to being involved with this great new breed that Greg has been admiring and studying for the past four or five years. He and his family have already spent countless hours inspecting every animal in Canada used in The SPECKLE PARK CATTLE COMPANY breeding program and predicts this breed will become one the most sought after, admired and revered breeds to ever come to Australia and New Zealand. His other passions and interests are racing thoroughbred horses and studying their pedigrees, playing golf and following the Mighty Manly Sea Eagles Rugby League team. Being part of the hectic life of Greg are six diverse, energetic yet always supportive children. Life is never dull. Also someone who is part of the hectic life of Greg and is the "rock of his life," is his wife Kerrie. Kerrie was born and brought up in the Regional town of Wollongong, NSW. She moved to Sydney at a young age but had the 'land' and 'animals' in her veins with her mother and close family being dairy farmers in Australia and Scotland. She had her roots in the country, albeit over ridden by the hustle and bustle of the city. Kerrie soon became very attracted to horses even though she lived in the city, she managed somehow to convince her parents to let her have a horse. She kept it and numerous other individuals over the ensuing years all over the inner city areas of Sydney whilst living in Leichhardt Sydney. Tethering horses in all sorts of vacant blocks allowed Kerrie to partake in her passion of riding and she became the animal lover she is so well known for. She had horses stabled at Centennial Park next to the old Sydney Show Grounds and rode competitively for many years until the pressures of family life put it on hold till recently where she has taken up showing horses again with her two youngest daughters. After leaving school she took up a position as a Veterinarian Nurse and is a position and career she has continued to be involved in today. Kerrie has worked in many and varied Vet Practices throughout the country and cities in NSW. Large animals to small, Kerrie has been a sought after nurse all her working life. She has many great friends all over rural Australia from various meetings made through her caring for animals both big and small. Kerrie for the past 2 years also teaches at TAFE in the subjects of animal handling and trainee vet nursing. Kerrie and Greg have six wonderful children. Over the past years Kerrie has certainly been a hands on partner to Greg in their cattle operations. Kerrie has been to every Royal show in Australia many times over and is always on hand to keep 'show days' as free from stress as she can. Kerrie is well known throughout Australia and North America as having a great eye for cattle and has Judged at numerous cattle shows with Greg as a husband and wife pair and is heavily involved in all aspects of Ebbeck Family Farms day to day running, from office and secretarial work to help at calving and AI time to sale day coordination. She has prepared and led many Champions in her own right operating the well performed Grekez Romagnola and Red Angus studs in the late 80's and early 90's exhibiting the Grand Champion Female at Sydney Royal at her first outing. She went on to do the same at Melbourne Royal and has sold cows to a record $10,000.00 Kerrie also had the honor of being awarded the Champion Parader at the Melbourne Show. Kerrie has traveled extensively with Greg to many countries in their search for new and superior genetics. Her input and constructive thoughts on cattle are always welcomed by other breeders. It was while on one of these trips five years ago she first saw and was impressed and taken with Speckle Park cattle and has been a driving force to get the breed established in Australia and New Zealand. She is now a Director of both the Speckle Park Cattle Co and Australian Speckle Park Association. Throughout this time managing to juggle the demands of six young children, now older, but non the less demanding, a house that is always full of cattle clients, overseas cattle friend's sons and daughters, or just youngsters staying to get experience at the Ebbeck farm for a week or two or month or three and of course taking care of her husband Greg. It has been no mean feat. But she enjoys her role of being Mother, Friend, Nurse, Teacher, Farmer and Wife. To say she is busy is an understatement, but happily busy and always with her infectious smile to the fore. Kerrie does make time for her favorite things - going to the thoroughbred and harness races (she now owns a 'trotter' -- pretty good too we hear! ) horse riding, "a good red" and a day shopping in the city. Mark was born at Parkes in country New South Wales on a cropping and grazing property. He pursues a career in corporate law. Recently he is a senior lawyer with Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), an organization with over 4,500 scientists, with legal responsibility for animal health and nutrition amongst other things and is based in Canberra. He has previously held positions with Case IH and New Holland Ag companies and with InterContinental Hotels Group. In both cases, he was based in Sydney. He joined with Michael Todd to found Kanimbla Poll Herefords in the early 1990s. This stud utilizes genetics from Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Mark has been to Canada on a number of occasions and has keenly followed the progress of the Speckle Park cattle to becoming Canada’s first registered cattle breed. Mark is the first president of the Australian Speckle Park Association and a director of the Speckle Park Cattle Co Pty Ltd. Mark has also held at various times a number of other directorships. He has in the past been president of his University College, an examiner and tutor, a member of Lions Club and has from time to time participated in charitable events. Mark’s hobbies include hang gliding and drag car racing and have in the past included ultra marathons. Mike was born in Sydney. After an initial career in the printing industry, learning what it takes to run a successful small business he moved to a property in the Kanimbla Valley west of Sydney. This was where Kanimbla Poll Herefords commenced. Initially buying and fattening steers for both the fat and feedlot markets and getting a good understanding of what was required of buyers including what it took to produce a finished beast. Mike then moved from steers to breeding poll Hereford cattle. He realized that the size of the property in the Kanimbla Valley had its limitations which then brought about the decision to expand that then moved Kanimbla poll herefords to Oberon located high on the central tablelands of New South Wales. Here it was important to know how to keep cattle going and doing their best through long harsh cold and snowy winters. Mike started there with mostly commercial cows and calves and a herd of registered poll herefords with a view to increasing the size of the stud operation turning Kanimbla poll herefords into now one of the larger showing poll Hereford studs in Australia. Winning numerous broad ribbons in local and royal shows. While in Oberon, Mike took interest in the local community sponsoring the northwest equine expo, donating steers annually to be sold at the local sale yards for charity, and becoming deputy captain in the volunteer bush fire brigade amongst other community events. At this time Kanimbla Poll Herefords acquired another property in Forbes on the central west slopes and plains of New South Wales. This property mostly used for commercial cows and cropping and the fattening of weaners from the Oberon property. After a fifteen-year stint in Oberon it was then decided to make another move. This business is now conducted on substantial properties located at Holbrook, located on the South West Slopes of New South Wales, and Forbes. Mike has been continually involved with the beef and seedstock cattle industry since the late eighties. He was for a while president and then secretary of the Central Tablelands Poll Hereford Society and has taken an active interest in what is now called Herefords Australia Limited. Mike visits Canada bi-annually looking for new genetics and at all breeds of cattle. He first saw Speckle Parks at agribition in Canada is impressed with how Speckle Parks have developed and improved in such a short time. He is also enamoured with the versatility and carcass traits of the Speckle Park breed. He believes that there is a place for cattle of this caliber in the world market. Mike is an officeholder of the Australian Speckle Park Association and a director of the Speckle Park Cattle Co Pty Ltd. Mike is a keen enthusiast of cross-country skiing.Introducing our Canadian Development and Liaison team . Jason and Sara run the Notta Ranch Speckle Park Stud, they have been breeding Speckle Parks for over ten years. Jason has been coordinating the flushing of the Canadian females we selected over the past two years including many of his own fine cows. He has been running with cows to ET centers and bulls to AI studs. A task he does with his usual good humor and professionalism. Jason is not only a accomplished cattle breeder, but a very fine showman and presenter of both purebred Speckle Parks and carcass show Speckle Parks. His crowning glory was at the 2007 Canadian Western Agribition where he had the honor of exhibiting both bull and female Grand Champions of the breed. Australian Speckle Park Cattle CO was especially excited with this result as we had flushed both Dams of the Grand Champions the same way as these two magnificent exhibits. The Grand Champion female had been flushed with resulting 30 embryos before she was rebred. Those 30 embryos have now been implanted and will be some of the Australian base Speckle Parks. Jason's hard work also saw him prepare our two bulls for the show at Agribition and the Speckle Park National Sale One bull sold for the top price and the other was awarded Junior Champion Bull. Sara has the task of looking after their two young daughters as well as secretarial duties for Notta Ranch. Jason and Sara both have a love for horses and breed fine quality Quarter Horses and are both accomplished riders. Jason breaks and trains all their own working stock. We look forward to long and successful association with our good friends Jason, Sara and family. |
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