HE WAS part of the team that established the RAS Beef Challenge through his work on the RAS council and beef cattle committee, and now, five years later, Yulgilbar Pastoral Company general manager Rob Sinnamon is celebrating a long list of awards in this year’s competition.
It’s one of many annual competitions entered by the Baryulgil-based business, which runs 5500 head of stud and commercial Santa Gertrudis cattle.
In the export team results, Yulgilbar was second in the live assessment, second and third in the feedlot total, and second in carcase judging.
In the export individual category, Yulgilbar took out second and third in dressing percentage, second and third in carcase judging, third in proftability and second in feedlot total.
When it came to the domestic individual results, Yulgilbar was first in the feedlot total, third in the live assessment, and received overall reserve champion.
Yulgilbar also received two silvers and a bronze in the taste test.
Mr Sinnamon said the results back up the work done by the stud and commercial operation in producing cattle with good weight gain and performance.
The beef challenge results came after success in the EKKA Paddock to Plate feedlot challenge earlier this year, when Yulgilbar was second overall in the export pen, second in the export individual, first, second and fifth in the 70-day domestic pen, and first in the domestic individual competition.
“We’ve a quite a bit of success in the competitions,” Mr Sinnamon said.
“Feedlot competitions are very relevant to the industry and this success shows the commercial relevance of our Santa Gertrudis genetics.
“We use these types of competitions to promote the benefits of buying a Yulgilbar bull for weight gain and performance.”
Yulgilbar uses the competition as a benchmarking tool for the business, Mr Sinnamon said.
“The average commercial cattleman can relate to steers.
“If they look at their steers compared to those that are winning, it gives them something to benchmark off.
“For us, the beef challenge gives us the ability to benchmark our steers’ performance against some of the best seedstock operations in the country.
“We’re thrilled to see the consistency in performance of our cattle across a number of these competitions in Australia.”
Carcase yield and quality is the focus for Yulgilbar’s commercial and stud operations.
“Our cattle gain weight very quickly, but it’s also very important that we continue to focus on the best carcase quality we can,” Mr Sinnamon said.
Yulgilbar commercial cattle are sold through a range of markets, including the feedlot market.
“Our cattle perform very well in domestic weight ranges, as well as the heavier export weight ranges.
“The ability of our cattle to perform across a wide range of markets gives us flexibility in how we market and sell our cattle.”
