Young Fleurieu Peninsula stud breeder Annie Palmer has found limitless opportunities in the beef industry, so it is fitting that she and her husband Jordan should name their business Limitless Cattle Company.
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In 2019 the young couple - in partnership with Rod and Jean Walker, Cloverlea Dairy, and Wes and Rita Hurrel, Rockwella Dairy - bought Annie's family's BoonARKM Angus stud at Mount Magnificent.
Since then, they have more than doubled the size of the Angus herd and, along with the Palmers' Limitless Angus and Simmental studs are now running about 60 females and intend on growing this further.
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"We have bought a fair few Angus and Simmental females as well as putting in a fair few embryos in the last two or three years, which has helped with our numbers and also keeping the quality up," she said.
"We have spent a lot of money on our cow base rather than just improving our herd with only AI sires and I think it shows."
BoonARKM has a growing clientele, largely on the Fleurieu Peninsula and in Adelaide Hills, selling yearling and 18-22 month old Angus and Simmental-Angus bulls.
The Palmers' other successful venture is Limitless Show Supplies, selling everything to prepare cattle for the showring from halters to nose clips to blow dryers and grooming products.
Annie knew from an early age she wanted a career in the beef industry with fond memories of having days off school to attend dispersal sales with her father, Robert Boon, when he was starting out the BoonARKM stud.
In 2010 they made their debut at the Royal Adelaide Show and it was not long until Annie was bitten by the show bug.
"My job was always to get up early and feed the show cows which I loved doing," she said.
Through the years they won many championships, both with stud cattle and led steers at Adelaide and also Melbourne Royal.
Annie says a trip to the United States in 2017 to Michigan winter Beef Expo, the headquarters of Sullivans Supplies, and other farm visits was the catalyst to her becoming an Australian stockist of Sullivans' products.
"We could see there was an opportunity, especially in southern Australia, to be suppliers - the first container came across the year after that," she said.
Most of Limitless Show Supplies' orders come online and are shipped around Australia but Jordan and Annie and their young son Isaac enjoy attending major events, such as the Sydney Royal Easter Show and the SA Junior Heifer Expo.
Limitless Cattle Co's foray into Simmentals began with some registered Simmental-Angus females from the Gubbins family's Coolana dispersal in Victoria in 2017 but were so impressed with the progeny, they decided to register a stud.
The Palmers' foundation female bought from Woonallee stud, Furner, was the senior champion and grand champion female at the 2017 Simmental National Show and Sale.
Since then, they have implanted embryos from Hobbs Livestock, NSW and Woonallee, Furner, as well as their own donor cows and also bought several top Angus and Simmental females.
"The Simmental-Angus crosses have all the attributes of the Simmental with higher yields while having the softness and marketability of Angus," she said.
Annie - who recently was awarded the Angus Foundation scholarship to attend the Angus National conference in Tamworth, NSW, - says it is exciting knowing the bulls they are breeding are helping the genetic gain in the wider beef industry.
"We are seeing people realise that buying good genetics does pay off," she said.
"The data we are now collecting as an industry as a whole, but particularly the Angus breed, and researching of new traits mean we are always striving to improve."
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