About Gobongo Cattle Co.
In 1970, Barry Conroy (Matthew's father) began using Charolais A.I. sires across quality commercial cows. The upgrading process began, the stud was established and the first cattle were registered in 1974.
Today the stud has the strength of 650 registered Charolais breeding females.
We constantly strive to breed cattle that maintain optimum balance in muscling to fat cover and growth to maturity. By continually seeking out and selecting seedstock that have inherent muscling with the ability grow rapidly and finish quickly, we observe genetic gain across the Gobongo herd. This genetic improvement directly boosts the profit gained when Gobongo bulls are employed by the commercial producer.
January 2009 saw the acquisition of an additional 150 registered Charolais cows with calves at foot from the Mixhill stud. These females were individually handpicked from 480 Mixhill cows. We are extremely pleased with these females; they not only contain some of the most influential genetics in the breed, the consistency in overall structural correctness, stature and udder conformation across this group of cows is outstanding.
Embryo Transfer is utilized extensively in our breeding program, primarily to derive a higher percentage of replacement heifers from elite cows. Only mature cows with extensive and consistent production histories from the best cow families are selected as donors. 100 embryo transfer calves are bred annually.
All sale and show stock are prepared carefully on a home grown silage-based program. We continually hear positive feedback from our buyers as to the longevity and survive-ability of our bulls and believe this is due to the cool and continual rising nutrition plane of the bulls post weaning. Sale cattle are never 'spike' fed grain prior to sale.
The exhibiting of cattle at shows and field days places Gobongo stock in the 'public eye'. Showing not only provides a benchmark, it gives potential customers the opportunity to directly compare Gobongo cattle side by side with other stud cattle.