The foundation on which Barronessa Farming was forged more than 35 years ago in Far North Queensland's dairy industry underpins the success of the award-winning beef seedstock operation today.
Established on the banks of the Barron River, Upper Barron, south of Atherton, quality and excellence was at the forefront for founder, Joe Strazzeri, as he built a dairy herd during the height of the industry's stronghold on the Atherton Tablelands.
Joe, with the support of wife Sharon, was big on fundamentals - get the overall structure of the animal right, and the rest falls into place.
He taught sons Shane and Jeff (son Don is a veterinarian and works off-farm), to breed high-producing animals.
His focus on breeding for excellence and continual improvement paid dividends.
Barronessa Ned Showgirl, the stud's first marquee Holstein cow, gave the family its first real show glory, with Showgirl claiming the supreme champion title at Malanda and Cairns Shows in 1985.
Numerous champion ribbons and titles followed including a reserve champion Holstein cow title at the Brisbane Royal Show in 1986, and a national title for four-year-old Holstein cow, Barronessa Warden Showgirl, the first stud in Queensland to earn the accolade.
But it was an achievement at the Malanda Show in 2004 that catapulted the dairy stud into history.
"In 2004 we did something that was not heard of back then," Joe's son Jeff said.
"We were the first stud to win champion cow of all three dairy breeds - Holstein, Brown Swiss and Jersey. We believe it was an Australian first."
Shortly after, having achieved considerable success in dairying, Jeff and Shane developed an interest in beef genetics.
The family sold the dairy herd to Sunshine Coast farmer Jim Rafter, father of Australian tennis legend, Pat Rafter.
While their focus turned to beef, the fundamentals of their dairying success remained front of mind as they developed the beef seedstock operation.
"Dad's vision was to bring across a lot of the maternal traits from the dairy herd into the beef herd," Jeff said.
"His big push was and always has been longevity, early fleshing and fast turn-off - the things that will make money for clients."
The stud began and continues today to provide seedstock for two markedly different markets - the fast maturing, good muscling traits from the Charolais and Charbray bulls, best suited to cattle destined for export markets, and the proven carcase qualities Brangus and Ultra Black bulls deliver, which are aimed towards the domestic market.
"Our first decade in beef was all about drawing on the high performing genetic traits from our herd and bringing in other genetics from around Australia and the US," Jeff said.
In 2019, Barronessa Farming re-entered the show circuit at the request of local schools who wanted to use their animals as part of their show teams.
While this exposed the stud to a new audience, winning the ACM Sire Shootout in 2021 from more than 100 bulls, catapulted Barronessa Farming onto the national stage.
The family pulled together a "last minute" promotional package for Ultrablack bull, Barronessa Holloway.
"The competition that year was massive, there were top studs from all over Australia," Jeff said.
"We knew how good Holloway was but to go and win was huge - we are a long way from the seedstock heartland in central and southern Queensland so it was real recognition."
Whether it had a hand in it or not, Barronessa Farming came to the attention of rugby league superstar Latrell Mitchell, who reached out on social media, visited the Upper Barron farm and even had a bull calf named after him.
Barronessa Latrell will be part the 2023 sale team at the National Brangus Sale in Rockhampton later this year.
As Jeff and Shane continue to shape the seedstock operation - drawing on an undeniable eye for identifying quality animals - they have never strayed from their father's breeding philosophy.
It's driven them to place great emphasis on the whole cow herd.
"Dad taught Shane and I a lot about the importance of the overall structure of an animal," Jeff said.
"We were taught that if you are a good judge of an animal, you should be able to look at that animal and determine if that cow is going to perform for you.
"To breed a fantastic female is a challenge in its own, but a very important one as they are reproducing all the time.
"You can meet all the carcase qualities and produce an animal that does all these fantastic things, but at the end of the day if that cow is not calving then you don't have any of those things."
