An opportunity to export bulls to Vietnam for a government breeding program has given Samari Plains Red Brahman stud principals, Keith and Annabelle Wilson, Roma, a new appreciation of the diversity of markets available to them.
The Wilsons were approached to provide six Red Brahman bulls for the deal by family friend, Angus Grieve, who, after growing up on a mixed farming property at Muckadilla, has helped build the successful live export business, Lembiru Livestock.
Based in Brisbane, Mr Grieve and his business partner, Adam Armstrong, export some livestock by sea but their core business is focused on airfreight.
“We do breeding beef cattle, sheep and goats for breeding and slaughter and dairy cattle,” Mr Grieve said.
“Most of our markets are in South East Asia and the Middle East.”
Mr Grieve said he had a small order for Red Brahman bulls from the breeding centre owned by the Vietnam Government and called upon the Wilsons to help out.
The 19-month-old bulls have been trucked to a quarantine centre at Forbes, NSW, and will fly out of Sydney Airport for Hanoi later this month. Mr Grieve said the bulls would be used in the governments’ AI programs.
“The order was specifically for Red Brahman bulls,” Mr Grieve said.
“They (the Vietnamese) seem to generally like Red cattle. We have exported Red Angus and other Red Brahman bulls to them in the past.”
Although Vietnam is the second largest export market for Australian feeder cattle, Mr Grieve said there was still limited but growing demand for high-value breeder cattle.
“There is growing demand from the private sector but it’s not necessarily for high value bulls – more for commercial heifers.”
For the Wilsons, the sale also provided a learning opportunity.
“The bulls all had to be tested (for Blue Tongue, venereal diseases and morphology) so it was interesting to watch that process,” Mrs Wilson said. “We were just pleased to be able to help with the order and thought it just might lead to other opportunities.”
