ABOUT US
Lakeview Senepol Stud was established in early 2018 and is located in the Northern Rivers area of NSW.
While we are still in the early stages of growth as a stud, we are expanding faster than we could have imagined. This year we are looking to implement an AI program that will continue to diversify our genetics and allow us to further select for the traits that drew us to the Senepol breed originally.
We are also using the senepol genetics to cross over angus cattle to produce a Senegus (Angus x Senepol) progeny. This captures the tropical adaptability traits of the Senepol breed while still maintaining the Angus quality and temperaments that are highly sort after. We have a number of Senegus bulls available this year that would be an asset to any breeding herd
ABOUT THE BREED
The N'Dama, a native (Bos Taurus) of Senegal, North West Africa was crossed with the British breed, Red Poll.
The two Breed composite was developed on the island of St Croix in the Caribbean, at the beginning of the 20th Century, The result of infusing the Red Poll was a combining of the N'Dama's superior traits of heat tolerance, insect resistance and ability to thrive on poor quality forage, with Red Poll's carcase quality, high fertility, feed efficiency, quiet nature and renowned maternal and milking ability.
The Senepol has been a fixed breed now for almost a century.
The development of the breed placed high natural selection pressure on structural soundness, hardiness and fertility. The island environment of St Croix encompasses both wet tropics with high humidity and rainfall and hot dry savannah country. Tropical parasites and cattle tick are abundant and the native feed low in quality. This 'home' of Senepol has produced a tough adaptable breed of cattle with the ability to thrive under harsh conditions, maintaining fertility, tropical resistance and feed efficiency whilst producing an excellent eating quality carcase.
Senepol are best described as being of medium frame - extremes of muscle and bone having been avoided in striking a workable balance of feed efficiency to growth, fertility and calving ease.
TRAITS
Females reach puberty earlier than Bos Indicus breeds
Slick coat gene- confers a very short haired, sleek coat. Senepol is the only breed available in Australia that is known to be a carrier of this gene
Strongly polled
Heat Tolerance
Disease and Insect resistance
Solid red colour, ranging for dark red to a lighter honey colour
have good eye and skin pigmentation
docile temperament - being easily managed and handled in extensive pastoral conditions.
CROSS BREEDING
Senepol offers Cross Breeders excellent hybrid vigour from a tropically adapted Taurine breed, with a genetic package which has not been subjected to unbalanced "single trait" selection.
Senepol admirably complement tropical beef production where traditionally Bos Indicus derived breeds are used. Senepol are the ideal Bos Taurus for cross breeding with British and European breeds in hotter country and for use in the development of tropical composite herds.
Two popular crosses have been Senepol x Angus and increasingly Senepol x Charolais to produce sleek-coated, adapted hybrid bulls for northern cross breeding programs. The breed is a carrier of a genetically dominant ‘slick-coat’ gene that confers similar heat resistance to Brahmans to animals with one or two copies of the gene. US researchers have mapped the gene to chromosome 20 and in time a DNA test may be developed. It is believed that Senepol is the only breed in Australia that carries this particular gene.
Senepol and Senepol-derived bulls are being used today in cross breeding programs across Queensland and the Northern Territory and in Western Australia.