FOR Simon and Di Matear of Wantabadgery Pastoral Company, Wantabadgery, the 2023 trial has been their most successful yet with their first top 10 finish in seven years of entering.
One of the two teams entered by Wantabadgery was the reserve champion in carcase, reserve champion for the Riverine Premium Beef pen and finished eighth overall with a total of 729.5 points out of 1000.
In the carcase section the Wantabadgery team received 434.5 points out of 550 with one of the five steers on the team recording 92 points out of 110.
This was the third time Wantabadgery has been reserve champion for Riverine Premium Beef and Mr Matear said they were over the moon to take home the reserve champion carcase and finish within the top 10.
"We were extremely pleased," he said.
The Matears run a commercial Angus herd and join 1700 breeders a year using bulls from Yamba Angus, Orange. Their steers and some heifers are sold into the feeder market.
"We've been using Yamba Angus for about 14 years," he said.
"We think their genetics are heading in a good direction and the results in the trial seem to back that up."
The two teams entered were both 12 months old at induction and were pure Yamba Angus-blood steers.
The Matears have been breeding cattle for about 31 years and opted for Angus over other breeds.
"We saw that they were more commercially relevant and they were more suited to our environment than other breeds," he said.
Mr Matear said their main breeding objectives were for moderate birthweight with positive calving ease, above average growth rates and marbling as well as cattle with structural soundness.
The results of this year's trial reflected those aims.
"The other thing that was really satisfying for us this year was all of our steers that we had in the trial marbled, which we were really pleased with because we place some emphasis on that with our bull selection," he said.
All steers in both teams entered were a marble score two and all steers reached the specifications for the Riverine Premium Beef brand.
The winning team had an average MSA Index of 63.69 while one steer in the team had an MSA index of 67.30.
The average hot standard carcase weight (HSCW) for the winning team was 344.9kg.
The single highest point scoring steer in the carcase section on 92 points, had a HSCW of 342kg, 54.1 percent yield and 12mm P8 fat with a lean meat yield of 59pc and MSA index of 64.07.
Mr Matear said entering the trial was a good way to make sure their genetics were headed in the right direction.
"We want to keep track of the performance of our cattle in a commercial environment," he said.
"It's great to be able to compare them to other breeder's cattle and see how we're performing."
With the data gained from the trial, Mr Matear said it was a way to keep track of the health of the cattle in a feedlot environment, weight gain and carcase attributes.
Mr Matear said they would continue to enter future trials.
"We really enjoy the trial and it's a great way to keep track of our genetic progress over time," he said.
"We want to continue to improve marbling where we can and also continue to improve our weight gain."
Alexandra Bernard
Journalist based in Wagga Wagga covering all things agriculture in southern NSW.
Journalist based in Wagga Wagga covering all things agriculture in southern NSW.
