Tarramba Red Brahmans was established in 1979 by Wallace & Kate Gunthorpe with a base of Rockley purebred Brahman cows bred by Kate’s father, Arnie Kirk.
In those 30 years Tarramba has invested genetic power from top studs in Australia and the USA and has met the herd bull demands in northern Australia, selling 255 bulls in 2007, this included a run of robust Charbray bulls which are also sold annually. We annually join 1100 cows with 550 being purebred red Brahman and 550 brahman cows to charolais bulls.
The common goal at Tarramba Red Brahmans is to breed beefy, fertile and functional cattle that meet the highest expectations of the market.
Our constant focus on five main areas of breeding includes fertility, type, colour and temperament whilst we also pride ourselves in breeding for perfect uddered females and have zero tolerance of bad uddered cows. 30 years of diligent pregnancy testing ensures that Tarramba females are doing their job.
Artificial Insemination is a breeding tool that has been utilized annually for the last 27 years; we believe this maintains the wide genetic base in our herd and takes advantage of the proven genetics. In more recent times Embryo Transfer and IVF have been used on our top females
Top sires have been regularly purchased over that last 30 years from studs such as Cherokee, Garglen, Rockley, Kandoona, Fairy Springs and Mt Callan with several significant purchases in excess of $30,000. The strongest influence of sires has come from Rockley, with many bulls being purchased over the years, more recently Rockley 2388 (RBWS 2008) and Rockley Mortlock (privately 2008).
Semen rights and embryos have been purchased from some of the leading studs in America, including HK Cattle and Santa Elena Ranch Texas USA. The purchase of VL Rojo Grande 4/95 from Santa Elena culminated in the sale of Tarramba Warrego 1255 (ET) for an Australian Record of $40,000 for a Brahman bull under 12 months of age.
Over the years Tarramba has bred the 2nd top priced bull at RBWS, the top priced bull at February All Breeds Sale, the record priced herd bull at Roma Tropical Sale in 2008, top red average Roma Tropical sale in 07 and 08 and the champion pen of bulls 08. International sales have seen Tarramba heifers sold to Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam.
Females are sold annually at the great Western Female Sale during Brahman Week; this sale is a combination of our elite heifers and a display of our up and coming young sires.
We value our customers greatly and have confidence in our product with all cattle fully guaranteed. With 80% repeat buyers in 2008 & 2009 we believe that our customers have faith in our cattle to go out and do the job.
