Named after the famous Murray river, all Murray Grey cattle originate from the Thologolong property 75 kilometers above Albury in Australia. Peter Alexander Sutherland acquired the 20,000 acre property in 1898 and was the founder of one of the earliest Aberdeen Angus studs in Australia. He was a regular importer of bulls from Britain and would only have black cattle on Thologolong, but a severe drought in 1902-03 depleted stock numbers and saw him purchase 50 Shorthorns, and the herd included a roan cow, almost white, with a fine udder and of big frame. She was drafted out to become the house cow, and kept in a paddock used by Angus bulls when they were not running with the breeders.
And in 1905 she dropped her first gray coloured calf, which the Sutherlands called a 'mulberry'. By 1917 she had dropped 12 'mulberries', and had it not been for the express wishes of his wife Mrs Ena Sutherland, Peter would have surely eliminated the hybrid breed from his flock as it was seen as a liability.
When Peter died in 1929 it was Helen Sutherland (nee Player) who married his son Keith, that secured the eight 'goldens' as she prefered to call them, for eight pounds each at the dispersal sale. She set about fixing the breed systematically cross-breeding according to Mendel's Laws (Gregor Johann Mendel 1822-84, Austrian monk, the father of genetics after discovering the fundamental laws of biological inheritance).
Keith and Helen Sutherland's near neighbours the Gadd brothers, were induced to experiment with the Greys, and the younger Melvyn Gadd began a breeding program in the 1940's that clearly demonstrated that Greys were beating the Blacks. Murray Greys reared similarly, weaned at the same time and fed in the same paddocks had a dressed weight difference of 60lb per head higher. This proved to Melvyn that the Greys were better weight gainers than the Blacks and he consequently began to take his Greys to shows for which there was no class and no competition.
In the mid 1950's an American expert at a Melbourne abattoir tested the Greys against five other established breeds and found a much greater depth of meat, 10-12% more meat and not too much fat. The Murray Grey became flavour of the month.
The Murray Grey Beef Cattle Society held its inaugural Annual General meeting on 12th November 1962, to establish and maintain the breed standards of general appearance, colour, head, legs and skin.
Live cattle exports started in 1970 to New Zealand via Tasmania, to Canada and the United States in 1972, and the United Kingdom in 1973. They are established in several countries and islands of the Pacific rim, including China and Russia. The Murray Grey's now represent a significant contribution by Australia, to the world beef industry, thanks to two women and a shrewd cattleman.
