The Farmer’s have been involved in the Australian beef industry for over 5 generations, with a presence around the Rockhampton region dating back to the 1870’s.
Claude Farmer (formerly of Sangralee) first purchased 19 Droughtmaster females from Chap Atkinson in 1962. From that day on Droughtmasters have always been the dominant breed of choice for the Farmer family commercial breeder herd.
When Graham drew “Calveston”, a brigalow ballot block north of Clermont in 1971, he took with him 70 droughtmaster females purchased from his father Claude. These female were some of the descendants of the original Droughtmaster bloodlines and have continued to be joined to Droughtmaster bulls (amongst others) to form the basis of the commercial herd we have today.
The stud base was established in 1992 under the prefix of Calveston, with the purchase of three heifers from the September National sale. Another two heifers were added the following year along with the purchase of the Warrina stud herd (a number of these cows were later sold back to the Warrina Stud). Over the years the stud herd has continued to grow with the inclusion of some select females purchased from the Kengoon, Cungelella and Ivanhoe herds.
With the Purchase of Comanche in 1994 the Farmer family returned to the Rockhampton region where they ran three properties North West of Rockhampton (Comanche, Glenroy & Lake Learmonth). Like Steven, Claire also has a long family history of Australian agriculture. Both Claire’s grandfathers were involved in the early Droughtmasters with Jarvis Collins Snr selling at the first sale in Townsville in 1960 (Wandilla Stud, Marlborough). Arnie Kirk (Rocky Springs, Mundubberra and later Rockley, Bajool) was also a successful early breeder of stud Droughtmaster cattle.
With the inclusion of Claire into the management team in December 1999 a large number of select commercial females were upgraded under the “D system”. During this time the stud herd consisted of 500 females all performance recorded using Droughtmaster group breedplan.
With the sale of the property “Comanche” in December 2011, and “Glenroy” in January 2013 – Steven, Claire and their three children Hugh, Hamish and Lara purchased “Mt Elsa,” north of Yaamba, to relocate their renowned stud “Comanche Droughtmasters” (brand com).
In April 2015, 300 stud cattle and the name and brand (com) were sold allowing Steve, Claire and their three children to form their new stud SC Droughtmasters (brand SC).
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