Aussie Beginnings
It was in the year 1995 when six Business men and women, later known as Rural International Marketing Pty. Ltd., took the initiative and made a trip to the Point of Rocks Ranch http://www.minihereford.com/ in Texas USA, researching the importation of Miniature Herefords. Their initial contact was Mr. Rust Largent, Rust was already an elderly man in 1995. Rust’s family has a very strong history with the American Hereford Associationhttp://www.hereford.org/tailored.aspx and the breeding of registered Herefords. Rust was vice-president of the Association and his brother and father were each presidents of the AHA at different times. As the story goes, Rust resigned his presidency on the grounds that he was not happy that more and more emphasis was being placed on breeding larger, leggier animals at the expense of the beautifully conformed animals that he and others had breed over the last 100 years.
What he and his Son Roy R. Largent The Third then did, was to take five separate bloodlines of carefully selected registered stock and systematically line breed them over five generations, selecting only for small size and beefy conformation. This process gave him a fairly wide range of animals from which he could then out-cross within the five herds. Most importantly, it gave his Miniature Hereford’s very high genetic stability, and “they will breed true to type”.
From this base Superior Stock Selection purchased in the beginning of 1996 eight very young heifers and one bull through a Canadian Breeder for easier importation. This stock was advertised for up to $50,000 each. They also imported a few batches of embryos, with the first batch of 30; 80% or more being males. At the start you could buy this embryo/calf’s for $5,000 for unsexed ones, or $9,000 for heifer born ones. With demand the price for these heifers rose up to $12,000, then $15,000 finishing at around $21,000 (this encouraged others to import also).
Due to the majority of embryos turning out to be male, the Company endured financial difficulty and was eventually taken over by Frank Crute the majority share holder of Superior Stock Selection and renamed Miniature-Hereford International, after a short time this was sold to Joe Flint.
Joe was quite successful in marketing his Miniature Herefords but also selling his Paragon Stud in 2007. Paragon is still the largest Miniature Hereford Stud in Australia to date, as of 2009 there is 40 registered Miniature Hereford Breeders and they are located in every State of Australia.
Today’s prices are more affordable and range from $800 for first crosses to $5,000 for fifth generation AMHCA registered Animals. There is no $20 000 Miniature Hereford sold by any AMHCA Member as claimed by an Australian Miniature Hereford XBreeder, for integrity and quality assurance sake you should only source your new Miniature Herefords from a reputable AMHCA registered Breeder.