Our Background

The Glen Ruth prefix has a long and proud history. Volume One of the Droughtmaster Stud Book quotes that the stud was registered in 1930. It wasn’t until 1956 that the term Droughtmaster evolved. Glen Ruth is a Foundation Stud.

R.L.(Monty) Atkinson spent many years experimenting and upgrading the Glen Ruth herd that were mainly Shorthorn and Devon cattle. Using crossbred Zebu bulls from various sources including Waverly Station at St. Lawrence and Taronga Park Zoo in Melbourne, Monty’s objective was to develop a breed that could handle the environmental and the parasitic barriers that faced North Queensland beef producers. Along with the work of some other forward thinking cattlemen, our great breed was taking shape.

This early development was taking place on the headwaters of the Herbert River, south of Mt. Garnet on the property, Glen Ruth. This country is relatively phosphate deficient forest country, grassed primarily with Black Spear and Kangaroo grass. Almost every year, this part of Queensland experiences a protein drought and along with the Cattle Tick, British bred cattle barely survived. The introduction of Bos Indicus blood changed all this. Monty’s goal was to develop a breed of cattle consisting of British and Brahman blood, possessing a sleek red coat and preferably polled.
After being developed in North Queensland, Droughtmasters have really performed well when given an opportunity on more productive pastures in other parts of Queensland and Australia. Some studs to draw foundation breeding stock from Glen Ruth include Mungalla, Valley, Lamont, Farnham, Cashmere and Swan.

Presently situated at Katandra, between Hughenden and Winton in North West Queensland, Glen Ruth Stud consists of about 250 registered females and is run alongside 2000 high quality commercial purebred breeders. Current Studmaster, Rob Atkinson is Monty’s grandson.