The Murray Grey cattle are a breed of beef cattle from Australia. It was developed in the upper Murray River valley on the New South Wales. The breed was developed in 1905 from an initial chance mating of a black Aberdeen Angus bull and a roan Shorthorn cow during the Federation drought.
From these matings the resulting thirteen dun-grey calves were kept as curiosities. And then Peter and Ena Sutherland bred them on the Thologolong property along the Murray River in New South Wales.
Murray Grey cattle grew faster and were good converters of feed and produced quality carcases. These are the reasons this animals become very popular after their development. And local farmers became interested soon in these animals and began breeding them. The first large scale commercial farms were established in the 1940s.
Today the breed is available in many countries. Both live Murray Grey cattle and embryos have been exported to many countries such as Canada, South America, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and United States. The official Murray Grey Cattle Society was created in the 1960s. Read more info about the breed below.
Murray Grey Cattle Characteristics
Murray Grey cattle are of medium to large size, possess sound structure and have good walking ability. Their hair color ranges from very light silver to chocolate or dark grey. Some animals can be black but most of them are silver to a silvery-dun color.
There are dark pigmentation on their skin which helps them to prevent eye cancer, photosensitivity reactions and sunburned udders. These animals are naturally polled and have no horns. The bulls on average weight between 817 and 1135 kg. And average body weight of the cows vary from 500 to 700 kg. Photo and info from Wikipedia.
Murray Grey cattle are mainly a beef cattle breed. They are used primarily for meat production. But they are also used for crossbreeding in many countries.
The Murray Grey cattle are known throughout the world for the economically important traits of carcase quality, easy calving and feed efficiency. They produce marbled beef carcases with intramuscular seam fat of the type that is preferred in Japan and other Asian markets.
They are pretty hardy breed and grow relatively quickly than other beef cattle breeds. They can adapt themselves in almost all climates. The cows are good milk producers and produce enough milk for their calves. Murray Grey cattle suffer less by common leg problems, because they have strong legs. And the animals are generally quite healthy. They are used for crossbreeding to improve other cattle breeds in many countries.
These animals are generally of good behavior and have docile temperament. However, review full breed profile of the Murray Grey cattle in the chart below.
Murray Grey Cattle | Breed Profile
|Breed Name||Murray Grey|
|Special Notes||Strong, hardy, well adapted to all climates|
|Breed Size||Medium to large|
|Weight||Bulls||817 to 1135 kg|
|Cows||500 to 700 kg|
|Climate Tolerance||All Climates|
|Coat Color||Coat color range from dark grey to light silver, with some rarer black or dun variations|
|Country/Place of Origin||Australia|