FLOODS have tempted Ken Holland to walk away from farming over the years but an attachment to what he calls Australia’s own cattle breed has kept him on the land at Fernihurst.
The former nurse and third generation district farmer remains as committed to the Murray grey breed as was his father Frank  who first purchased a stud bull almost 60 years ago.
Among successful exhibitors at last month’s Royal Melbourne Show, Ken has stayed with the breed with 50 shades of grey in the decades since the industry became wrapped in Angus “black cows” and the Waghu push by the markets.
“Everyone became convinced that would be best and that the colour (of the cow) had to be black to be any good,” Ken said last week as he put out feed for his 60 breeders.
“Murray greys are quiet, playful and good milkers ... and butchers tell me have the most tender meat to cut.”
Ken, said the Murray greys were still tops in the show ring early this century, being awarded the supreme exhibit at Sydney’s Royal Show.
And Ken’s attachment to the Murray greys is strengthened when he says it Australia’s breed for Australian conditions.
Ken said that according to the Australian legend, the first Murray Grey was born on the Thologolong property of Peter Sutherland in New South Wales in 1905, to a light roan shorthorn cow and an Aberdeen angus bull.
The Australian breed, he said, had faced competition this century from European breeds but nothing could beat the “50 shades of grey” with breeders in North America also using the Australian genetics.
Secretary of Murray Grey Association Australia, Ken said: “We are aiming to keep the purity of the breed because of its great traits.”
“The judge in Melbourne this year said it was good to see us staying true to the colours of the Murray greys instead of trying to become another black breed,” he said.
This year’s Royal Melbourne Show had seven studs showing 26 cattle. Numbers are still to reach pre-COVID levels when South Australian breeders would pop over the border.
But exhibitor numbers also reflect changes in the industry. “We run 60 breeders today whereas 20 years ago we had 200 but that was before dairy farmers went away from Murray greys,” he said.
“I’m still breaking in 10 heifers a year, keep four or five bulls and then meet advance orders from dairy farmers and those chasing a good animal for dairy and meat mix.
“And people buying bulls are keeping them for double the time they once did.”
Ken spent several decades as a nurse. He met wife Michelle while training in Melbourne. He returned full-time to the farm when his father retired.
“Dad loved cattle and started taking them to shows soon after buying his first Murray grey bull. That was 1967 and he had saved the money to buy it” he said. 
“He was originally breeding Murray Greys via Angus. He really liked the temperament, they calved easy and fattened well. If one didn’t behave, it was quickly sold.”
Ken said popularity of the breed extended to Western Australia where there were two large studs. 
“We aim to keep the breed going, keeping it as it was meant to be - shades of grey.”
- CHRIS EARL