Huonfels Brahmans
Huonfels Brahman Stud is situated 48 km northwest of Georgetown in North Queensland and is owned and operated by John Bethel along with two of his three children Melissa, 22, and Damien, 16. John’s eldest daughter Rebecca, 24, still maintains a small herd within the stud but is currently living in Emerald with her husband Tom. The stud was founded in 1986 with the initial purchase of a line of red polled heifers from the late Fred Drew’s Mt Utchee Brahman stud at Mena creek near Innisfail. Today the stud consists of both red and grey cattle with embryo transfer being utilized in the top 5% of the herd and AI programs being run on the majority of the remainder.
Huonfels aims to breed easy care, early maturing cattle with clean underlines and plenty of muscle and bone. We have always maintained that bulls should look like bulls and cows should be feminine and functional and have tried to avoid extreme animals. One such result of this breeding program is the prolific polled red sire Huonfels Jacob Rio who was sold at Big Country Brahman Sale in 1998 to Fairy Springs Brahman Stud for $19000 and has had an enormous impact on the red Brahman industry in Australia.
The stud has seen many improvements in the facilities since 1986 with a small feedlot complex completed in early 2009 which will aid in the finishing of sale cattle as well as ration feeding donor cows. We are currently in the process of building an improved embryo transfer facility which, when completed, will provide the opportunity to flush donors from outside studs.
We are always pleased to have visitors here at Huonfels so please feel free to call in and we’d be happy to give you a tour of the stud.