About Us
Our Philosophy
At Bigwig we focus on sustainability producing outstanding animals with
ergonomic balance, breeding fewer animals but more and better beef
Our Team
Martin Luitingh
Manager
Martin Luitingh spent many childhood days assessing farms and discussing cattle traits in-depth with his father, a professor of cattle genetics and dean of the Agriculture faculty of the University of the Orange Free State in South Africa.
Martin is the founder and editor of The Bulletin and makes an annual pilgrimage to Canada and the US to search for new cattle genetics that keep BigWig and Australian breeders at the cutting-edge of Speckle Park Breeding.
Nic Luitingh
Engine Room
Nic Luitingh, a masters graduate in environmental engineering, brings a solid background in both Engineering and Systems Dynamics to his work at BigWig as an environmental engineer.
He seamlessly coordinates the planning and processes behind the execution of all the day-to-day farm activities. From a broader perspective, Nic carefully conducts financial forecasting five years in advance with adjustments for weather conditions, revenues and other unexpected expenses. This places him firmly at the centre of BigWig’s intelligence centre as a pivotal member of the team.
Marilu Luitingh
Owner
Marilu Luitingh is a postgraduate in Science and datametrics and capably manages BigWig’s administration centre. She handles registrations, correspondence, filing, licenses, and show-planning tasks Her meticulous record keeping creates both time and space for the rest of the team to perform.
Angelo Kock
Operations Manager
Angelo is our coordinator and operations manager. His remarkably diverse skills range from tractor repair to website building to agronomy and cattle health and wellbeing. Angelo is a perfectionist and always has one eye on the future while capably handling operations from day to day.
HISTORY – OUR DIFFERENCE
We started breeding with Speckle Park cattle in 2012. The gene pool was relatively confined at the time but the bulls we have used have stood the test of time and the calves born from that first acquisition were of exceptional quality. Our initial efforts relied heavily on the Legends of the past such as Lacerta 68L, John Wayne 50s and Stands Alone 300X and King George 82U. Our first thoughts were to ensure be were developing substantial carcasses with a high frame score
In the late 2019’s as a new generation began to emerge, we invested in Royal Flesh 101Y. That was a game-changer for us as he added size and carcass yield to our calves. With our cow lines supported large carcasses with Reba 154F, Theta 42T, Janette of PAR44H, Codiak Unique 8R.
In 2019 but we started to turn our heads towards more milk with Wildwood Kara 4K and Pho-finish 54P cow lines. We looked to New Zealand and invested in Mainstream E12 who has milks score of 12 and passes that on as demonstrated by her progeny in our case BGW R1 and outstanding heifer.
We have kept our eye on marbling We have brought marbling to our latest round of calves BGW R 5 # 32 has a marbling score 4 x the breed average, with BGW R1, BGW S5 # 33 and BGW S9 # 34
Plato BGW R1 was sired by another New Zealand Bull, Kidmans Cove AND Mainstream E12 that support milk scores of over 10.
In the last three years, we were drawn to some of the outstanding Bulls in New Zealand and acquired genetics from So Long George that performed well in the show ring. BGW N13 (a So Long George daughter) was a runaway winner at the Ekka in the Junior Cow Competition under 19 Months, and Nakita (a King George 82U daughter) headed first place in a massive class of heifers under 12 months. We have since also invested in Extreme E27.
Penny Black a calf put of a Pho-finish G250 (mother of the first inter-breed champion Premier and Extreme E 27 has raised a great bull calf BGW S4, Chunky with carcass weight well above average, EMI above average and marbling above average.
In 2020 we had a chat with Ken Friesen at KFC in Canada which led to us acquiring two cows that we left there for breeding. This branching out represents a new direction for us in cattle. We purchased Silvertip Electra 43 E with Ken, a Ulysses 25U calf out of Jencrest Unique 6U and Dam Dots Enticing 41E from DAM DOTS a heifer by Line Drive 60W and Spots and Sprouts 21U bred by John and Dale Herbert.
We joined our Canadian cows with Stars from Cattle Inc and have had exciting success with Breaking News and CaJa Zepplin 1b progeny hitting the ground. Canada remains an eternal source of good genetics.
This is just a snapshot of what you will find at Bigwig cattle stud in the Speckle Park division. The traits that we are concentrating on, frame score, milk production, carcass yield and marbling – together with our breeding partners and our huge client base we develop grow take advice and above all enjoy ourselves.
REGIONAL CONSCIENCE
We view our work through the lens of our Regional Conscience and keep sustainability in mind as we structure and adapt our processes. That includes the way we graze, the traits we select for in our breeding programs and the way we form partnerships throughout our industry to ensure that whatever benefits we uncover can make their way into smaller herds as well.
