PREVIOUSLY a dairy farmer in Stanhope, Ken Manton was a master breeder of stud Holsteins, and though he loved his dairy and enjoyed the breed, he was inspired to try something different the more he learnt about Charolais.

Taking the advice of his brother, Ken began Clarinda Charolais on moving to Rushworth in 2007; later relocating the enterprise in 2015 Ken and wife Georgie moved to its current location in Hansonville in the North East .

"It was my brother who initially talked me into Charolais," said Ken.

"It's a breed that's going places, he said.

"They've got a great temperament, with good growth rate and they're easy doing.

"And he was right.

"It was the best advice I've ever taken.

"It was definitely the right move, and over the last fourteen years there have been absolutely no regrets."

Valued for their composite qualities, Charolais cross well with every other breed and Ken believes that the weight Charolais put on is second to none.

And though hybrid vigour is a term that gets a fair amount of usage, Ken said no other breed can match the Charolais for consistent weight gain from an early age.

"They grow faster and bigger and leaner," said Ken

"At 200 days, 400 days and 600 days, Charolais are consistently in the top one per cent for weight," he said.

Over the last 12 months, the stud has seen a lot of calves out of their own Clarinda Downtown Q32, and they're looking good and breeding true to type

"His semen was sold into quite few of the nation's leading Charolais studs," said Ken.

In validation of the stud's breeding program, Clarinda Downtown Q32 is also now part of Agri Genes Charolais bull team and is the leading bull on growth figures.

"Clarinda Downtown Q32 was 678 kilograms at only 14 months of age, and that was without being pushed," said Ken.

"He was just running with the other bulls, and he just put on the big weight in muscle mass.

"Reports of breeders with his progeny have been very overwhelmingly positive, with the cows all calving very easily to him."

Clarinda Charolais aim for medium to large cows, with great conformation that ensure calving ease, with the stud's herd prone to early calving.

"The herd is predominantly homozygous polled, and we have concentrated on breeding out any cattle that demonstrate recessive genes," Ken said.

With bloodlines from formerly–renowned studs Paringa Park and Ashwood Park, Clarinda Charolais also have genetics from Rangan Park sires, and more recently have been building up their cow families with cattle bought from DSK.

"We've used a cross of American, French and Australian bulls over the fourteen years, to get to this point where repeat customers are our main market," Ken said.

"The bulls we are using at present are Clarinda Downtown Q32, Turnbulls Duty Free,Charnelle Panama and Cedarlea Galveston.

"There is always a strong turn–out at our Beek Week Open Day, which will be held on January 30 this year."