WITH a sole team of five Angus steers, first-time entrants Scone Pastoral Company, Scone, were suggested to enter by the Trio Angus stud where it purchases its bulls from.
Hoping to collect data for themselves as well as the Trio stud at Cassilis on how the sires were performing in the herd, Scone Pastorals Company principal, Col Morrow, said he went in to the competition knowing that his steers were not bred to suit the market and was unsure of what the results would show.
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"Our cattle aren't probably big enough to fit that market, "he said.
But after receiving the information booklet, Mr Morrow was particularly happy with the results.
"They marbled well and their fat coverage was good," he said. "We thought they may have been over fat at the end of the trial but they still fell in to the specifications."
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Scone Pastoral Company runs a commercial Angus herd with approximately 600 breeding females operating on a grass-fed system.
"We are trying to breed a good fertile, productive, female that can climb the hills," Mr Morrow said. "We just hope the steers following them are just as good."
Being an early spring-calving beef cattle operation based at Scone in the Hunter Region, it was not easy to find steers to suit the trial.
"To enter a calf (in the trial) that is 460 kilograms isn't easy to get off our country, and they then had to get to a 360kg carcase," he said.
"We didn't fit in to the Teys market for our carcase weights so we were always going to be penalised for that."
Mr Morrows said the majority of their steers go to backgrounder operations but when they can, they will keep them and try to do a grass-fed job.
He will definitely be looking to enter again this year.
"It will be good to see if our steers are consistent or if it was a one-off for marbling and their fats," he said.
"As a cattle breeder, it can be very difficult to get that type of feedback on your stock. There are not many places that you can get such detailed information."
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