Ben and Wendy Mayne, Texas Angus, Warialda, were “over the moon” when they won a class in the hotly-contested Beef Australia 2018 ANZ National Carcase Competition.
A pen of three Angus steers entered by the Maynes were victorious in the pen of three 100-day grainfed export chiller bullocks 300-420kg carcase weight.
They entered six pens in the Beef 2018 competition - from a handful of steers left on the place late last year - never dreaming they would win against the best producers in the country.
The 1077 head entered in the competition were processed at 21 plants from every state in Australia.
The Maynes started entering carcase competitions three years ago to benchmark their cattle against other breed and genetics and to identify sire lines suitable for the grainfed export trade.
Mr Mayne said Texas Angus was recognised for breeding growthy, high performing bulls and he was keen to prove these types of cattle also produced high-quality carcases.
They have enjoyed great success in the Sydney Royal Beef Challenge, winning the last two grand champion 70-day domestic pen awards plus a swag of other prizes.
Texas Angus also won the prestigious RAS Perpetual Consumer Trophy for Champion Export Taste Test Carcase in 2017.
Their Beef 2018 steers were sent to the MacCue family’s Wilga Feedlot, Bellata, where Mike MacCue and Ben Hiscox from BJA, Inverell, helped select the steers into pens of three.
They were entered in Class 6 for 100-day grainfed export chiller bullocks, the biggest class in the competition with 492 head, 330 more than any other class. All their pens finished in the top 50.
Mr Mayne said they were keen to compete in Queensland because the state’s beef industry was export-focused and 80 per cent of the 200 or so bulls they sold each year went north of the border.
The Maynes run a 600-head herd and sell bulls into every state.
Their winning steers scored 241.18 points out of a possible 300.