Warialda-based Angus breeders Ben and Wendy Mayne cemented themselves as one of the country's leading carcase competition entrants, securing four of the eight championships in the RAS Beef Challenge recently.
The couple, who operate Texas Angus and run about 600 breeding females, dominated the 100-day export competition, winning both the champion and reserve team awards and also individual champion.
They then claimed the reserve champion individual in the 70-day domestic.
It followed their strong performance in the live judging at Wilga Feedlot, Bellata, where they won both the team and individual award in the export class and had the highest average daily weight gain for a domestic pen at 2.392kg/day and second for an export pens with 2.352kg/day.
The couple entered five teams of both steers and heifers from a range of sires; three teams in the 70-day domestic class and two teams in the 100-day export class.
They placed first and second overall in the export category and third, fourth and sixth in the domestic.
The fifth-year entrants, who have won a champion ribbon every year, believed the competition was one of the most industry relevant events and had major benefits for their stud enterprise.
While they use a range of sire lines, no female lines have been introduced since 22 heifers were sourced from Scotland in 1936.
"(The competition) gives you factual information of how you are actually performing within the industry," Mr Mayne said.
"Breedplan and EBVs (estimated breeding values), they are fantastic tools, but at the end of the day you have still got to have the actual facts to back up what they represent.
"Probably within the stud, it's really reassuring the maternal lines and how strong they are because no matter what sire lines we are using they are performing. We pride ourselves on probably having the highest performing Angus cattle in the industry."
A notable win among their trophy haul was the highest team profitability in the 100-day export with a pen of heifers that were selected after failing to get in calf.
The team of six had a $844.17 total profit, almost $400 ahead of the second place steers from MacCue Trading Pty Ltd, Bellata, with a team profit of $471.78.
The Maynes spend a significant amount of time analysing the competition data and performance of specific cow and sire lines to build their Angus program.
Breeding profitable animals that hit carcase grids was an important objective and Mr Mayne said they wanted their cattle to be well placed when DEXA, an objective measurement tool, became paramount within the industry.
He said they pushed the boundaries on a lot of beef traits but always maintained balance.
"At the moment there is a strong wager towards low mature cow weight and high fat that pretty well goes against profitability because those cattle finish way too early and don't get enough weight," he said.
"Yes, carcase quality is paramount but there is no reason why you can't get all that carcase quality on the higher performing animals.
"At the end of the day it's about dollars per hectare, not dollars per how many cows you can run, it's how many dollars you can run on each hectare and if it means you can run a couple less cows and be more profitable that way, well I think that is the smart way to be."
The Texas animals were some of the top performers for eye muscle area and marbling scores but Ms Mayne said eating quality was just as important and being able to receive taste test feedback only added to the appeal of the competition.
With so many crossbred entries, she said it was just as impressive that their purebred herd could stand up against hybrid viguor.
Lucy Kinbacher
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
