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It was time for&nbsp;Stock &amp; Land&nbsp;Beef Week to head north to give studs in Northern Victoria and Southern NSW the chance to open their gates for the public. In Day Five of the nine-day event, 15 studs of multiple breeds participated. These included Challambi, Dunoon, Eurimbla, Garren Park Genetics, Hicks Beef, Huon, Kanimbla, Kenmere, Le Martres, Ravensdale, Rennylea, Sugarloaf Creek, Table Top, Warwick Court and Wirruna. Lots of people from far and wide were out and about during the open day. Were you there? Have a look through our gallery&nbsp;above to see if we snapped a photo of you. We would love to see your photos too! Share them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, using the hashtag #BeefWeek2019, and by tagging us in them.

Photos by Shantelle Stephens and Jamie-Lee Oldfield.

WIRRUNA: Wirruna Poll Herefords, Holbrook, NSW, are celebrating their 70th birthday at their first bull sale for the year on March 13. Principal Ian Locke said the first Wirruna calf was born in 1949, and as third generation in the business he was very appreciative of the long selection history that came before him. “Over the years things have changed as we have moved from showing world to advent of performance recording and now what you see is a culmination of that, we are leading the breed for marbling and this lot of sale bulls average in top 5 per cent for dollar index values,” he said. Mr Locke’s bull Wirruna Matty is the first to be featured in Hereford Australia’s Hereford True Genetics Super Sires program, which aims to make bulls that target industry more accessible to breeders. “There is no doubt Herefords have lost market share to Angus over the past two decades, and that has been driven by Angus breeders driving eating quality through marbling - not that Herefords don't marble, we just haven't selected for it as diligently - with Matty at top end of marbling it is a signal for big companies like Teys and TFI that we also have bulls that can meet MSA premiums and target top beef markets. Mr Locke is pictured with return clients Nick and Alan Odewahn, Bona Vista, Walla Walla, NSW.

CHALLAMBI: Nigel Spink, Challambi Charolais, and Landmark stud stock agent Tim Woodham, inspecting heifers. 

CHALLAMBI: On display were donor cows, ET calves and heifers. There are 25 bulls for sale this year in the spring and via private treaty. The stud will also sell heifers and embryos at the Southern Charolais Breeders sale in Yea. This is the studs fifth year in Beef Week after registering the stud in 2011.

DUNOON: Lincoln McKinlay, GTSM, and Jock Harbison, Dunoon Angus.

DUNOON: John Williamson, Whorouly, inspecting some of Dunoon Angus' herd.

DUNOON: Craig and Des Singe, Henty, NSW, checking out Dunoon's bulls.

DUNOON: Peta Schiller with Sam and Natasha Harbison, Dunoon Angus.

EURIMBLA: Jill (right) and Ian (not pictured) Coghlan, Eurimbla Red Polls and Shorthorns, had plenty of fellow breeders visiting during Beef Week, from as far south as Nar Nar Goon and north as Braidwood, NSW. Young Red Poll enthusiast and member Carlie Mackelmann, Congupna, started her Glenwin Red Poll stud six years ago, and last year used a Eurimbla bull over her herd. She became interested in the Red Poll breed because her grandfather used to use a Red Poll over a Hereford herd. She said it started as a commercial interest and the members got her involved. She really liked their colour, ease of calving and temperament. Mr Coghlan said they were currently undergoing an embryo transfer program in recipient herds including three embryos purchased at the Spry Shorthorn sale, out of The Grove Primrose and by The Grove Gigabyte.

GARREN PARK: Garry and Karen Hedger, Garren Park Limousins, Culcairn, NSW, had their first sons of Canadian sire Richmond Zodiac on display during Beef Week, including the bull they are pictured with. Mr Hedger said Zodiac’s overall outlook and moderate frame attracted him to the bull. “And he suits all Australian conditions, which is just the type of cattle we were looking for in a total outcross to Australian genetics,” he said. “He's exceeding all our expectations and we are looking forward to his daughters calving down.”

HICKS BEEF: Kate, Andrew and Tom Hicks, Hicks Beef, opened their gates for day five of Beef Week.

HICKS BEEF: Ollie Paton, 3, Thowlga Valley, Corryong, inspecting bulls with his dad during day five of Beef Week.

HUON: The number of cattle on show sired by a standout Canadian-blood bull used at Huon Charolais three years ago is a testament to the results it has produced in the herd. Huon principal David Gray, Jindera, said Rangan Roundup K18, sired by Canadian bull Merit Roundup, had sired eight of the 10 females in his heifer challenge team, and a majority of the sale bulls as well. “They have a great temperament, and are big long stretchy calves - that's where you get all weight from, especially in crossbreeding,” he said. “And he’s Homozygous polled like our last three sires – last year we had four calves over 110 with horns superb. Mr Gray and wife Judy offloaded 200 cattle in October, and said it turned out to be a great decision – “the prices were good and we had extra feed for the cattle that were left”. They had sold three of the 20 sale bulls they had for offer this year by lunchtime during Beef Week, and hope to sell all them privately by the spring.

KANIMBLA: Jenni O’Sullivan, Elders Livestock, Wangaratta, with Kanimbla stud co-principal James McWilliam.

KANIMBLA: Up-and-coming Kanimbla stud principal George McWilliam.

KENMERE: Kenmere Charolais principal Anne-Marie Collins (pictured with stud manager Glenn Trout and overseer Jared Baldry) classifies her sale bulls this year as “an all-rounded even group of bulls - carcase weight with moderate frame”. Ms Collins said while everyone referred to the suitability of the Charolais bull to be used over other breeds as a terminal sire, it was time the focus was put on what they could do as a straight line. “These bulls are bred with quality milk in their female lines - they don't just have to be terminal sires,” she said. “We breed vealers out of own commercial Charolais females and they top the market. We need to start to hone in to industry they aren't just about crossbreeding - they are good breeding type of bulls and prove that by what doing it in their own herds - they are doing the job.”

LE MARTRES: Leon Martin, Le Martres Limousin, Table Top, NSW, has been breeding Limousins of both colours for 31 years, and says he continues to focus on what the industry demands. “In terms of carcase assessing and scanning, we continue to lift fat cover and marbling in European cattle, it is something we are very focused on to make Limousins more relevant to the Australian Meat industry,” he said. Like many across the country, Mr Martin’s Table Top property is experiencing tough seasonal conditions, having a poor spring and only having one dam left with water. As well as adding more and more troughs to paddocks, Mr Martin has purchased an irrigation property new Cobram to weather-proof his operation. “We usually make silage ourselves and couldn't, and the hay we usually buy they couldn’t supply, so we were faced with how we were going to protect the business - so we bought a farm.”

RAVENSDALE: Ravensdale stud principal Brian Burgess and livestock manager Simon Ward. On display are Dubbo and Wodonga National Bulls, a combined team of 25, and 28 paddock bulls on display for private sale, with a handful already sold at Beef Week. All bulls are rising two years-old. Also on display were heifers in the heifer challenge; Ravensdale was a finalist last year. Ravensdale has just been awarded 5-star accreditation on data submission. Stud principal Brian Burgess was really happy with the way his program was going with breeding a performance focus herd.

RAVENSDALE: Ravensdale cattle relaxing in the shade.

RAVENSDALE: Jenni O’Sullivan, Elders Livestock, Wangaratta, inspecting Ravensdale's cattle.


RENNYLEA: Phil Lavis, Bungowannah, NSW, and Lucinda Corrigan, Rennylea Angus.


SUGARLOAF CREEK: Errol and Sharon Cochrane, Glenroy, Tumbarumba, NSW,purchased from Sugarloaf Creek for the first time in Beef Week 2018, and were back again to view bulls before the sale. They are pictured with stud principal Andrew Klippel.


SUGARLOAF CREEK: Sugarloaf Creek stud principal Andrew Klippel with Lincoln McKinlay, GTSM.

TABLE TOP: Neville Watkins, Charleroi, has been using Table Top Angus bulls bred by Tim and Jessica Scott since he moved from dairy farming to selling beef heifers on the point of calving about five years ago. And while this year’s results weren’t as strong as previous recent sales, Mr Watkins (pictured with Mitch, Jamo and Amelie Scott) said it was rewarding presenting the females for sale. Jessica Scott said more than half the yarding at the annual Barnawartha female sale in January was either bred by or joined to Table Top bulls, which was a good reflection of their operation. “We also had a really good weaner sale ourselves, selling 79 Angus steers, five to six months, at $765,” she said. “We had to weight up the cost of feeding them or selling them now, and we are glad we offloaded them, they were headed to Tasmania.” The Scotts had sold five bulls by mid-morning during Beef Week, a good sign for the day to come.

WARWICK COURT: A focus on marbling attracted plenty of interested parties to Bob and Sue Holdsworth’s Warwick Court Hereford and Poll Herefords, Jindera, NSW, during Beef Week. “We sold three bulls, which was on par with last year, including one to a stud,” Mr Holdsworth said. “Most people were reasonably impressed with the cattle, the two buyers were return buyers – if they have been away and used our bulls before they seem to generally return.” Mr Holdsworth said many of his visitors were pulling back to see how long the drought was going to go on. “If the season broke in six to eight weeks’ time and we got rid of this hot weather shortly, things would look up immediately,” he said. “People were interested in the heifers we had to sell, but couldn’t take them on given conditions the way they are.”

It was time for&nbsp;<i>Stock &amp; Land</i>&nbsp;Beef Week to head north to give studs in Northern Victoria and Southern NSW the chance to open their gates for the public.

In Day Five of the nine-day event, 15 studs of multiple breeds participated.

These included Challambi, Dunoon, Eurimbla, Garren Park Genetics, Hicks Beef, Huon, Kanimbla, Kenmere, Le Martres, Ravensdale, Rennylea, Sugarloaf Creek, Table Top, Warwick Court and Wirruna.<br>

Lots of people from far and wide were out and about during the open day.<br>

Were you there? Have a look through our gallery&nbsp;above to see if we snapped a photo of you.

We would love to see your photos too! Share them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, using the hashtag #BeefWeek2019, and by tagging us in them.

Beef Week Day Five photos - Northern Victoria and Southern NSW

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