Established in 1957

Charlie, Terry and Vic Marks arriving at Winvic in December, 1957

Winvic was established in 1957 when Vic Marks drew the brigalow black soil downs block in an ex-servicemens ballot.

The Marks family of Winvic Clermont have been quietly breeding Braford cattle since the late 1960s and today the family are focused on continuing the tradition with the infusion of leading Red Brahman, Poll Hereford and Braford bloodlines into the herd with a strong focus on producing polled animals whilst not compromising growth and carcase traits.

The Winvic Braford Stud was established in 1971 and operated until the early 80s when the focus shifted to an entirely commercial operation supplying cattle into the Jap Ox market. The stud herd remained in operation albeit not registered, for the purpose of breeding replacement bulls and females for the family’s commercial herd and for paddock sales of herd bulls to local cattleman.

Left: Winifred and Vic Marks at the Kilcummin Land Ballot, 9th of October 1957. Right: Evon and Charlie Marks Beef 94 Champion Steer feed conversion.

The commercial focus saw the introduction of Simmental genetics throughout the 90s. Later, in 2011 Poll Herefords were introduced and have become the crossbreed of choice for the operation since. The business is run by Darren and Alice Marks alongside their three daughters across four properties in the Central Queensland Region.

In 2019 the Marks’ acquired 32 registered Braford Females from Doug and Susie Barnett’s renowned, Baroma Downs Stud in NSW and have since classified 20 high performing Winvic Braford females. The Winvic Stud Prefix was reregistered with the Australian Braford Society in the same year and will, for the first time since 1983, register progeny with the Australian Braford Society in 2020.

The family join 1200 breeders, with 200 stud females producing performance recorded progeny through the Tropical Composite Group BREEDPLAN. Superior animals identified through performance recording and genomic testing are building a unique stabilised herd of tropically adapted flatbacks. Bulls are sold annually at the Bendemeer on property bull sale and paddock bulls are available year round by enquiry.