PARTAKING in the Beef Spectacular Feedback Trial has enabled James Millner, “Rosedale”, Blayney, to gather information on the performance of his steers.
“We have been going in quite a lot of trials, with the intention of evaluating our stock against other breeds and producers,” Mr Milliner said.
“We are getting feedback for a ‘level playing field’.”
He said this made the analysis of the information provided significant because all cattle had been assessed under the same conditions.
Mr Millner manages the 1214-hectare property with his wife Sarah, and his parents, Michael and Jenny.
They annually join 400 Angus and black baldy females to Charolais bulls, used as terminal sires, from their Rosedale Charolais stud.
“The Charolais over British breed cows works well for us, we are very much into practicing what we preach,” he said.
“Entering this trial helps identify characteristics to improve. It also helps us keep in touch with commercial reality which is sometimes overlooked when breeding stud cattle.”
Mr Millner selected the two teams out of the 30 steers which fitted the weight range at the time of Feedback Trial entry.
One team won the feedlot performance section of the trial, before going on to be placed sixth overall.
The winning pen of steers was also assessed as being the most profitable, with a team profit of $1326.92 above the average of all trial teams.
“We were blown away by the results. The average weight gain of our winning pen was over half a kilogram a day better than the trial average,” he said.
“The performance of our steers was pleasing, and it was interesting to see the pure Charolais steers compared well with their F1 (first-cross) peers.”
There was consistency among the steers, with an even grouping in terms of weight gain in the feedlot and carcase scores.
Mr Millner said there was always room for improvement.
“We have established our growth rates are comparable, but we could look at certain intricacies within the carcase results.”
