A PUREBRED Angus steer from Pymble Ladies College has taken out top honours in the 2021 Upper Hunter Beef Bonanza competition.
Winning supreme champion carcase among a field of 141 head, the overall supreme exhibit known as Knowla Rambo R554 was bred by the Laurie family of Knowla Livestock, Moppy, and scored a total of 94.38 points from a possible 100.
Out of a purebred commercial Angus cow, he was sired by Farrer Maxwell M99 which the Lauries purchased as the top-priced bull out of the 2018 Farrer Memorial High School Angus bull sale.
"We broke him and another steer in and got him started at home, before they went to Pymble in June and they finished them," Ted Laurie said.
Pymble head of agriculture and coordinator of the cattle team, Grant Jackson, said they were thrilled with the results especially since majority of the students had been in lockdown for months.
"Since June he was fed Alexander Downs beef finisher for about 120 days," Mr Jackson said.
The top performing steer carcase had a hot standard carcase weight of 301.4 kilograms and a dressing percentage of 55.2 per cent. It measured eight millimetres for P8 fat, an eye muscle area of 91 square centimetres, a Meat Standards Australia (MSA) marble score of 470 and MSA Index of 67.59 which was the highest in the competition.
"The Laurie's steers are always good at meeting the carcase specifications," Mr Jackson said.
"The might not be as showy as some of the others, but they hang up well, meet specifications and produce a magnificent end product which is what it is all about - that is what counts."
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He said to score 94.38 points you have to have everything right - genetics, nutrition and management - and fortunately everything aligned and the Pymble school ended up on top.
Ted's daughter Georgia helped start the Pymble steer program in 2016 when she was in year 10, and they have been supplying steers since.
"When selecting steers temperament is first - they need to be quiet as about 90 per cent of the kids at Pymble in the cattle club are Sydney-based girls and this is their first experience working with livestock," Mr Laurie said.
"We then look for shape and muscling, and that is why we selected the Maxwell M99 blood steer - he is breeding them wonderfully quiet with a bit of shape."
Knowla-bred steers exhibited and prepared by Pymble have previously done well at the Upper Hunter Beef Bonanza event, with one winning reserve champion heavyweight carcase in 2019.
Mr Laurie said their primary objective to contributing to the Pymble program and going in steer competitions is to give students an opportunity to work animals.
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"Obviously it is good to be able to put animals in a multi-breed and crossbred situation and see how they actually perform, but we are committed to helping Pymble and giving those girls an insight into agriculture and working with animals," he said.
"If they can win a ribbon or two and some prize money along the way that is fantastic, but our primary objective is providing opportunities to those that don't have access to these experiences and may not have any animals."
The supreme carcase won a swag of additional awards including heavyweight champion carcase, heavyweight jackpot and overall jackpot. He was unplaced in the live judging.
The results were announced via Facebook on Tuesday last week.
Less than one point behind the overall champion on 93.47pts was the reserve champion heavyweight carcase, a purebred Shorthorn steer from Red Bend Catholic College, Forbes. It was bred by Ryan Morris, Tarraganda Shorthorns, Young and was originally started on feed by Ben Toll of St John's College Dubbo before Red Bend took him on.
Middleweight champion carcase went to St Joseph's High School Aberdeen with a Limousin steer which scored 91.51pts. It also won the middleweight jackpot and was the highest scoring Limousin or Limousin cross carcase.
St Mary's College, Gunnedah, exhibited the reserve champion middleweight carcase which went to its 88.90 point-scoring Charolais/Angus cross steer.
Champion heifer carcase went to St Mary's College, Gunnedah, Wallawong Premium Beef and Heath Birchalll, Duri with its Murray Grey heifer which scored 85.86pts. It also won the heifer jackpot and was the highest placing Murray Grey carcase of the competition.
The inaugural group of three carcases was won by Lachlan and Kate James of Wallawong Premium Beef, Curlewis, with their team of Murray Greys on 264.36pts. Runners up went to Scone High School on 257.4pts.
The Limousin/Red Angus cross live judging supreme exhibit from Red Bend Catholic College went on to score 88.27pts and place fifth in its heavyweight class during the carcase component.
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