Tim told us his grandfather and grandmother, George and Irika Kakis, established the stud with three pedigreed females, at Orana Park, Healesville in 1972. Those three females came from the Swansea Stud at Swanpool.
As numbers grew, they moved the stud initially to Tolmie and then in 1995 to its current location.
Today farm manager 27 year old Tim, his father Ian Finger and Irika's daughter Vera Finger, his mother, run about 300 stud females on Nillahcootie Park. Tim's sister Kate works for the Birchip Cropping Group in the Mallee and is a consultant to the farm operation.
Muscling, marbling, yield and other important characteristics determining meat eating quality are continually being refined within this female base, Tim said.
Riga concentrates on selling bulls as yearlings – their next sale is on the property on April 13 – and one previous customer, recorded 100 pregnancies from one such Riga sire, in one year. With such activity, it took him a while to grow out though, the customer said!