Stud History

The Mandayen stud was founded in 1995 with very selective purchases of proven lines that matched our breeding objectives. Numbers were slowly increased in line with demand for bulls, while maintaining very high quality. Demand increased significantly, from 2000 onwards in particular, and in order to meet this demand, extensive Embryo Transfer and Artificial Insemination programs were instigated using the highest performing stock.

The Mandayen breeding aim is to produce red and black polled Limousins with outstanding docility and structural correctness, plus the natural softness that comes with easy doing cattle. However we are still maintaining the thickness, muscle definition and high yielding capabilities that the Limousin breed is renowned for. Mandayen has undertaken a showing program in the past to not only display our stock before a wider potential client base, but also to be independently assessed for structural soundness and breed type on a regular basis. We were fortunate to win broad ribbons at the Adelaide Royal throughout the years. 2005 was our last showing and was a particularly successful year; with major wins at the SA Junior Heifer Expo, Adelaide and Melbourne Royals.

Mandayen Limousins

We displayed our cattle and supported feature sales at Naracoorte and Colac over the years with great success; regularly topping the Limousin section at Naracoorte in particular. When demand outstripped supply in 2004 and 2005, we were forced to withdraw one of our reserved sale teams each year. However, through our AI breeding expansion program, from 2003 we were working towards our inaugural auction sale, successfully staged in February 2006. The highlight of this sale was the offering of the first ‘Cookie Monster’ progeny in this country. He was the result of a successful sire search in the USA and is now the number one sire in the breed for docility. His first 14 sons sold to the sale top of $16,000 in 2006 and averaged a very solid $6,732; all going to commercial breeders.

Always seeking improvement and forever on the lookout for the new AI or herd sires to enhance our breeding objectives and quality, we secured the Australian breeding rights to Wulfs ‘Noble Prize’ in 2006, along with the Premier and Summit herds. He promises to be an outstanding addition, with embryo lots sired by him being offered at lots 66 & 67 in this catalogue. In a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity, in 2006, we purchased the entire Ramornie herd from Rick Tindal, Wagga, NSW, taking our total herd to some 220 registered females, with approximately 300 calves being dropped (including ET calves) in 2006.

The Ramornie herd was established in 1989 through the importation of top bloodline embryos from Wulfs Limousin Farms in the USA. The original bloodline was maintained, with subtle infusions of other Australian and English bloodlines being introduced from time to time. These cattle blended ideally with our own, having a lot of performance, great maternal strengths and very good docility. While we are never afraid of independent assessment of our cattle, we get no better satisfaction than seeing and hearing from clients on how well Mandayen genetics are working in their commercial herds.