RAS Beef Challenge 2023 annual results

Millner Ag, Millthorpe, had good results in the 70-day domestic classes, with its Charolais/Angus winning the champion team on a score of 698.272.

P.A and L.M Weal, Orange, were awarded reserve champion team, also for Charolais/Angus, on 656.069.

Millner Ag's team was first in the feedlot total on 217.482, ahead of the Weal's team on 217.091 and Yulgilbar Pastoral Company, Malabugilmah, and its team of Santa Gertrudis steers on 203.949 in third.

Truro Partnership, Bellata, was placed first in the carcase judge class for its team of Herefords on 136.842, followed by Texas Angus, Warialda, on 133.684, with Truro and Texas placing equal third on 131.579.

Eating quality went to A.V and L.M Doolan, Coonabarabran, for their Angus steers on 375.38, followed by Millner Ag's champion team second on 373.41 and P.A and L.M Weal's reserve champion team third on 371.62.

In the individual classes, Yulgilbar's Santa Gertrudis steer won champion individual on 146.203 with P.A and L.M Weal's Charolais/Angus steer in reserve on 134.981.

Yulgilbar's steer was placed first in the feedlot total on 27.317 and was also first for profitability on $264.62, ahead of the Weal's reserve steer on $222.82 and Dobikin Pastoral Company, Bellata, on $218.65.

Angus steers had a clean sweep in the daily weight gain with Texas placing first at 3.088kg. A.V and L.M Doolan were second with a heifer scoring 3.029kg, while a Texas heifer placed third with 2.864kg.

Millner Ag was first for eating quality with its Charolais/Angus steer with a Meat Standards Australia score of 64.440, with Angus heifers from A.V and L.M Doolan in second and third on 64.32 and 64.23, respectively.

Yulgilbar was a strong competitor in the 100-day export class, winning champion for its team of Santa Gertudis steers on a score of 685.833. Texas Angus was reserve with its heifer team on 638.831.

The same team of Santa Gertrudis steers was awarded first in the feedlot total class on 240.601, ahead of Texas Angus and its team of Angus heifers on 231.135. Yulgilbar also came third in the class on 230.499 with its team of Santa Gertrudis/Angus steers.

Yulgilbar's champion team was awarded first place in the carcase judge class on a score of 143.148 and were also the most profitable at $1676.38

The stud finished second in the carcase judge with another Santa Gertrudis team on 137.593, ahead of Rosedale Pastoral Company, Tilpa, on 134.630 with its Charolais steers.

Texas Angus was second and third for profitability at $1622.15 and $1540.72, respectively.

Millner Ag placed first for eating quality with its team of Charolais/Shorthorns on 382.82, with Rosedale's Charolais team a close second on 382.77. Millner Ag was third with its Charolais/Angus team on 378.69.

Five teams were awarded equal first in the carcase grid on countback scores of 125, with three of those from Millner Ag, one from Texas Angus and one from Yulgilbar.

Texas Angus was a standout in the individual classes, with an Angus heifer awarded the champion individual export on 128.084 ahead of Yulgilbar's Santa Gertrudis steer on 118.193.

Texas' champion heifer was placed first in the daily weight gain at 2.768kg ahead of a Hereford/Santa Gertrudis steer from Truro Partnership on 2.658kg in second and Millner Ag's Charolais/Angus steer on 2.648kg in third.

The same hiefer was also placed first in the feedlot total on 27.016 and first for profitability on $472.29.

Another Texas heifer was first in the dressing with a score of 57.475 per cent, with two Charolais steers from Rosedale in second and third on 57.353pc and 57.249pc.

Truro Partnership was placed first for eating quality with a Hereford/Santa Gertrudis steer scoring MSA 66.09. Rosedale was second on 65.9 and Millner Ag's Charolais/Angus on 65.81.

Rosedale and Millner Ag were also placed equal first in the carcase grid on 25 and Millner Ag also won the carcase judge on 26.667.

Coordinator Michael MacCue said cattle were generally a bit leaner which was likely to be a reflection of the season.

The competition has used the same scoring system since its inception in 2011 and Mr MacCue said the results were always interesting to analyse.

"It's always astounding to see how some individual animals perform and the high you can reach when you drill down into certain aspects of carcases and eating quality," he said.

"To have dressing percentages that usually just look at the averages, but to see individuals stand out at over 60 per cent is just amazing."

Along with high dressing percentages, some animals had daily weight gains of more than three kilograms and a Meat Standards Australia index of 66.

Despite the impressive scores, no team was awarded a gold medal this year, which is given to producers with the whole team scoring above 62.5 MSA.

Mr MacCue said the regular competitors represented a good range of breeds, and the competition gave them useful feedback and benchmarks.

"We've always had that great rivalry between the guys every year and it's interesting - every year it's a different one that seems to rise to the top," he said.

"We get a kill sheet back and we just can flick through it and see the averages and check our deductions, but when you actually look down at what is valuable to the processor, and what is valuable to the feeder, and what is valuable to the bank account... you can drill down to the individual components and see where the points are allocated and why and how they can use that to then better produce for the market they're trying to hit."