What is the
Blue-E story?
The Blue-E line of cattle is an open composite, initially base on combining Angus x Shorthorn genetics up until 2018 when predominately Simmental based composite genetics were introduced to the Blue-E program. These cattle have been developed by Jon and his parents, the late Harvey and Barbara Wright of Coota Park.
The Blue-E concept was initially conceived by Jon after 5 years work as Cattle Manager at the Trangie Research Centre in NSW Australia. The research investigated the value of feed conversion to the beef industry.
After seeing firsthand the enormous value in selecting for feed conversion, Jon returned to Coota Park and initiated the Blue-E cattle, we built our own on farm Efficiency Testing Facility and started testing bulls in 48 individual pens.
With the Angus breed in Australia and around the world having made such incredible progression into performance recording we made Angus the male side of the program. We have accessed some of the best Angus genetics from around the world.
Coota Park Blue-E accessed Shorthorn genetics from many well-known Shorthorn herds across Australia as the base females to our program.
The first Blue-E progeny were offered for sale in 1999. The Blue-E bulls come with the benefits of hybrid vigour which is taking the best of two or more, breeds to create a more superior line of cattle. We recognized the strengths that genetic diversity can generate, leading to a stronger, more profitable and sustainable beef system.
Coota Park Blue-E have endeavoured to remain industry relevant and check ourselves against industry cattle. We have participated in many steer trials over the years, including Beef Spectacular and also Australian National Field Day Steer Trials with very encouraging
results.
Because of our respect for science, we have collaborated with the University of Sydney on trials involving the Green Feed technology system which measures enteric methane emission from cattle, both on feed and on grass. We have also worked with Agscent and Optiweigh trialling their combined unit measuring body weight and methane output of mature cows on grass.
Another exciting research project is a $19 Million collaboration with the University of New England (UNE) and Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) and Angus Australia, to breed low-emissions livestock.
Our herd has an enormous data set going back 25 years that can help establish relations between feed efficiency and methane, carcass, fertility marbling and many other traits. We are a demonstration herd for the trait of feed efficiency.