The Murray Grey originated in southern New South Wales, Australia. The preferred color is silver-gray although there are numerous variations in the shading of gray. In 1905, on the Thologolong property of Peter Sutherland, a particular roan Shorthorn cow, when bred to various Aberdeen Angus bulls, dropped only grey calves, 12 of them by 1917. Because Mrs. Eva Sutherland liked these grey calves, her husband didn't slaughter them although he feared they would reflect poorly on his black Angus herd. When her husband died in 1929, Mrs. Sutherland sold the herd of Greys to her cousin Helen Sutherland who started a systematic breeding with 8 cows and 4 bulls.

 

In the early 1940's Mervyn Gadd started a second Murray Grey herd as a commercial venture, using a grey bull from the Sutherlands and breeding up from Angus cows. Gadd was convinced that the Greys were better and more efficient weight gainers, but is wasn't until 1957 that a demand for them developed. Butchers paid a premium price for the Greys because of their consistent high cutability and less wastage. Breeder after breeder turned to them and in 1962 fifty breeders banded together to form the Murray Grey Beef Cattle Society of Australia. The name of the breed comes from the color and the site of origin along the Murray River that divides New South Wales and Victoria.

 

The Murray Greys began to win carcass competitions in the early 1970's and have continued to dominate the steer and carcass classes at the Royal Shows in Australia. Murray Greys are one of the two breeds preferred by the Japanese for importation, due to their easy fleshing and high-quality meat production.

 

 

Introduction to the United States

In 1969, three importers, New Breeds Inc.; Murray Grey USA, Lubbock, Texas; and Firetree Production Stock of Shelbyville, Kentucky, brought Murray Grey semen to the United States. In May 1972, a bull calf and yearling heifer of this breed arrived in the United States. Although several more Murray Greys have been imported into the United States, the total number of importations has been relatively small and the expansion in the breed has been largely through the grading-up process.

 

Murray Greys - A Sensible Breed for Profitable Beef Production, a booklet by the American Murray Grey Association, indicates that twenty-eight purebred bulls and nine purebred heifers were imported from New Zealand or from Australia by way of New Zealand. In the 1976 Yearbook, published by the American Murray Grey Association, eighty-three bulls in the United States were listed as foundation sires and their semen was available fordistribution, and twenty females were listed as purebred females.

 

 

Traits of the Breed

The calves of the breed are small at birth. The cows are good mothers and milk well, and the calves have good rates of growth. Docility seems to be agenuine asset of the breed both in the herd and in the feedlot. The cattle have relatively small heads and bone and are polled. Their survival and reproductive rate has been very satisfactory under a wide range of climatic and management conditions.The color of the Murray Grey can be both an asset and a liability. The gray is a very practical color that reflects more heat than dark colors. The skin should be heavily pigmented or dark-colored and this helps keep away certain eye and skin problems, such as eye cancer and sunburned udders. Unfortunately, the inheritance of the color pattern is not well understood from a genetic standpoint. Studying the data available indicates that, in addition to the basic color pattern genes involved, diluting or modifying genes also seem to play a definite role. Multiple gene effects always make it more difficult to get a true breeding condition.

 

 

Registries & Breed Associations

 

Australia

The Murray Grey Beef Cattle Society Inc.
P.O.Box 250
Armidale, New South Wales, 2350 
Telephone 067 715151
Fax 067 715144

Canada

Canadian Murray Grey Association
Wendy Adam, Secretary
Box 50, Site 8, R.R. #1
Okotoks, Alberta
T0L 1T0
Phone: (403) 938-7643
Fax: (403) 938-0042
E-Mail: damnfarm@worldweb.com

New Zealand

The Murray Grey Society of New Zealand Inc.
Mrs. Robyn Lundin, Administrator
P.O. Box 1702
Palmerston North, New Zealand
Phone/Fax: 64 6 357 6335

 

United Kingdom

UK Murray Grey Beef Cattle Society
Pen-Twyn
Llangenny
Crickhowell
Powys
NP81HD

 

United States

American Murray Grey Association 
P.O. Box 188 
Mayport, PA. 16240 
Phone: (814) 365-2369 
Fax: (814) 365-2481 
Email: americanmurraygrey@yahoo.com

Ohio Murray Grey Association
Mary Ellen Wozny, President
PO Box 112
Coolville, Ohio 45723
Phone: (740) 667-6191
Email: wozny@frognet.net

Murray Grey International Association
Murray Grey International
Carole J. Brown, Secretary
601 SW C Avenue, #201
Lawton, OK 73501
Phoen: (580) 353-1211 (office)
Fax: (580) 353-5482
Email: beavercreekfarms@yahoo.com

Murray Grey Foundation
President: Joel Haddad, QUEBRACHO S.E.C.A., Asuncion, Pauaguay
ranch@quebracho.net
Administrator: John C. Wozny
PO Box 112
Coolville, Ohio 45723
Phone: (740) 667-6191
Email: wozny@frognet.net 

 

 

References

Briggs, H.M. & D.M. Briggs. Modern Breeds of Livestock. Fourth Edition. Macmillan Publishing Co. 1980

 

Promotional materials, American Murray Grey Association

 

Handbook of Austrailian Livestock, Australian Meat & Livestock Corporation,1989, 3rd Edition