Jeanne Seifert
Born and bred on Belmont research station Rockhampton, in 1963, the third child of Dr. George and Mary Seifert – I am very ‘Belmont’.
Together with my parents and older siblings George and Karen, we lived at Belmont research station from 1962 to 1967 where Dad was the research scientist who developed the Belmont whilst working there for CSIRO. In 1967 he won a bursary from the Australian government to go to the USA to do his PhD. We lived in Ames, Iowa in converted army barracks for nearly three years on the university campus. Dad completed his PhD in Genetics and Statistics and my mother did her Masters in Biochemistry. I started school and acquired an American accent that has never completely left me. When my parents were doing their final exams, we three children went to South Africa to live with our grandparents for six months. I was six. I attended school in Durban, where I struggled with the bilingual curriculum but loved the beach. It was also a time of strong sibling bonding. I have been to South Africa five times and it remains the only country I wish to revisit.
We returned to Rockhampton in 1970, and Dad continued research at CSIRO. Before long the first farm was bought and he put into practice what he preached. I thrived on the mustering and yard work. Every weekend and holidays we worked together as a family. Dad had no employees. This made us a close family and imbued in me a passion for the land and cattle breeding.
My secondary schooling was at the Range Convent, Rockhampton, where I was more interested in art and acting than academia. Despite this I gained entry to do a bachelor of Occupational Therapy at the University of Qld. I worked as an O.T. extensively in Brisbane and England and travelled at every opportunity until starting a family in 1992. I have three children, a daughter Anastasia 17 and sons Aleksei and Sebastian 15 and 12 years old respectively. To quote my father “my children are my greatest achievement.”
When the children started school I resumed horse riding. I became interested in Parelli Natural Horsemanship and within 18 months achieved my level two. At this time I also bought 30 registered Belmont cows and a bull from Dad and started a modest Belmont stud on 100 acres at Mt Cotton in Brisbane. My desire for breeding cattle soon surpassed the acreage. With no sign of Dad slowing down, the chance of an early inheritance was looking unlikely. Consequently in 2004 ‘Roslyn’ was purchased. It is 5000 acres of light forest country 70km north of Toowoomba. Here I run 500 breeders plus followers and bulls. My philosophy is to breed genetically and environmentally superior but affordable cattle.
Jeanne Seifert.
Bachelor of Occupational Therapy
Belmont Australia Association Council member
Team Leader of Emu Creek Farming and Livestock Interest Group
Member of Emu Creek Landcare