Establishing The Beef Industry In

Spade-Work [?] in

The P Ng Territory

!n the New Year, the first 130 head of cattle were settling in at t Anderson property at Gusap, at the head of the Markham Valley, ;w Guinea. Other shipments will shortjy follow. This project is just e of many independent cattle enterprises that may one day make pua-New Guinea housewives independent of the freezer and imported sat.

R. L. ATKINSON, principal of Cashmere Downs Station, Mount Garnet, Nth. Queens and Mungalla Stud, Ingham, Queensland, conceived the idea e cattle project in the Mark area of New Guinea, a holiday trip he was struck ,e quality of the country and, he returned to Australia, he ached Mr. S. Staines, who be manager of the company l was formed to develop the ) block. i Atkinsons and Mr. Staines teen interested in the develop of Zebu-cross cattle, with the of evolving a breed of beef suited to tropical climates.

Atkinson has spent a fortune is. ut 1943, he bought a champion

Polled Hereford bull at the Sydney Show (“Milton Duntroon”), from Mrs. Anthony Hordern for 750 guineas—probably the best British bred bull ever to go to North Queensland. But the results of crossing this animal with existing North Queensland strains were generally negative.

Mr. Atkinson had seen Zebu cross bred cattle doing so well under hard conditions in North Queensland that he decided that, with British breeds alone, he was on the wrong road. He decided to try mating a few Zebu bulls with his good quality Hereford and Polled Shorthorn cows. The results were markedly successful. The calves outgrew and outweighed, at weight for age, all other British cattle on the property.

Mr. Atkinson decided to begin

breeding the Zebu-cross. His re sults were remarkable and are well known in Queensland. He has made up his mind that his Zebu-cross cattle will do well in New Guinea.

Not all of the cattle brought to Gusap are Zebu cross-breds. He has included a few Herefords and a few Polled Shorthorns, with a view to continuing the experiment further.

While all the cattle have done well at Gusap since they arrived in December, it Tias been noted already that the cross-bresS are better than the purely European strains.

They now have at Gusap a pure bred Santa Gertrudis bull at the head of the stu ( d which is to be established at Gosap. Mr. Staines

said; “While he is doing excep tionally well, he isn’t going any better than any of the Australian bred Zebu cross-breds.

“We anticipate being able to supply to cattle-breeders in NG bulls by the Santa Gertrudis bull, from the Zebu cross-bred cows, which should be ideally suited to local conditions.”

Results, so far, suggest that pre sently the NG housewife may be able to forget about freezer meat and get the equal of the best fresh beef in the world for her table — it is a matter of a local killing and cold-store organisation.

Gusap is about 94 miles up Mark ham Valley. The first shipment of Atkinson cattle (130) was brought in on the barge Wewak early in December, and taken to 3-mile quarantine station at Lae, for a fortnight. They then walked 20 miles on the first day; were yarded and sprayed again on the second day at Erap; and arrived on the property at Gusap after si-days walking, in good condition.

The Agricultural officer at Erap, when told it was anticipated that the cattle would arrive at Gusap within 5 1 days, exclaimed, “They are not racehorses.” To which Mr.

Staines replied: “No, they are Zebu cross-breds—and they’ll do the journey OK.”

On their 23,000 acres at Gusap— undulating country, ideally suited for pasture improvement—the Atkinson interests are conducting

experiments with some of the well known tropical grasses, such as Para and Mollasses. The whole area will be ploughed and planted with artificial grasses.

Zebus and the cross-breds are the only cattle in the world which do not run a sun temperature. They appreciate shade but it is not neces sary for them. The Zebu-cross is

bred primarily to withstanor rigors of tropical climates anoi duce first-quality young beefi ft Mr. Herbert J. Price, Secrete the Vacuum Oil Copmany, n in March after 30 years with company. He is credited with an ing for most of Vacuum’s 6 etc., in P-NG and Pacific Islae