The Greswick Angus story

The home property 'Hilmont' has been a family farm in continuous operation since the late 1800's. John and Janelle Spearpoint returned to the family farm in 2000 to pursue fulltime careers in agriculture and to bring up their two sons Hayden and James in a rural environment. Hayden and James now represent the 5th generation to live and work on the family farm.

The name Greswick originated from the locality name given to the area surrounding the home property 'Hilmont' at the time of settlement, however this and other smaller neighbouring localities have now been included in the wider area of Seaham. 'Hilmont' was part of an original land grant of 168,000 acres on the eastern side of the Williams River given to the Church and School Corporation in 1826 to be held as a revenue source for schools and churches for youth in the colony of NSW.

In 1845 John Melbourne Ireland occupied a leasehold and later purchased at auction from the Church and School Estate a portion of land, alongside land purchased by his sister Sarah Ireland which contained a stone house fifty feet long by thirty feet wide. Remnants of this house still remain in what is referred to as the Stone House Paddock. Just prior to 1900 this land was then leased and subsequently purchased by William Brooks, great-grandfather to Janelle. During this time the property was highly regarded and well known for its vineyards, dairy, orchards, tobacco and honey production.

Historically, the property's mainstay was dairy production, and milk was transported off farm in milk cans via steamship from Clarencetown to Hexham. Declining returns from dairying and changes to river management along the Williams River resulted in the closure of the dairy in the early 1970's. At that time the family decided to enter the commercial beef market and chose Angus cattle as their preferred breed.

Given the dominance and confidence in Angus cattle in Australia, John and Janelle decided to take the next step in 2001 developing a performance recorded herd, integrating an Angus stud with their commercial Angus herd. Today Greswick Angus livestock are highly sought after for their temperament, structural soundness and value for money.
 

The Greswick Angus herd

After the closure of the dairy on the home property 'Hilmont', Angus beef cattle were selected for their easy calving, easy care and superior fertilily.

The Greswick Angus herd comprises 200 performance recorded stud animals and 400 commercial Angus animals, operating on properties within the Hunter Valley of NSW.

The Greswick Angus stud herd operates on the home property at Seaham. Stud foundation females were purchased from the Merric Performance Angus (Scone) and Oak Hill Angus (Walcha) complete herd dispersals. Other females have been selectively added to the core breeding herd and include genetics from Booroomooka and Farrer herds. These animals were primarily chosen for their depth of breeding over many years and for providing a solid base for future breeding.

Each year large artificial insemination (AI) programs are conducted on-farm by John, using both proven and new genetics to complement the base attributes within each female. Using a high proportion of sires with documented and superior genetic merit, along with high EBV accuracies and known pedigrees, John individually mates breeding stock consistent with their aims of producing functional breeding animals suitable for a range of markets.

Through intensive sire selection, use of AI and strict culling, genetic progress is fast-tracked. All stud animals have well documented pedigrees registered with the Angus Society and animals are performance recorded through Breedplan. Each animal is individually identified to enable the collection of detailed animal statistics from birth to sale.

Operating on leased properties are commercial Angus breeders, joined to Greswick Angus stud bulls or selectively artificially inseminated. To maintain maximum numbers of breeding stock, steer calves are sold off as weaners at 8-10 months and a proportion of weaner heifers are retained as replacements, either for commercial herd replacement or for sale as breeding stock.

The Greswick Angus breeding program produces animals suitable for a range of markets, always conscious that a tender meat product needs to be delivered at the end of the marketing chain. Only best practice stock handling procedures are used in the regular handling and inspection of the herd. A lot of emphasis is placed on cattle temperament so customer satisfaction results from easy care animals.