Newcomers Kunderang Pastoral Company has entered the Beef Spectacular Feedback Trial with a bang after being awarded fourth in the eating quality medals.
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Richard and Marjolijn Fitzgerald, Nundle, were thrilled with the result of their five Angus steers finishing with an average MSA index of 64.74.
The team finished eight in the carcase section with a total of 413 points out of 550 and
The steer with the highest individual carcase score of 90.5 out of 110 was marble score 5, had an MSA index of 68.64 making the Riverine Premium Beef brand.
All but one of the five steers met the specifications for the Riverine Premium Beef brand with three a marble score 2, while the remaining steer had a marble score 1 and was branded under the Teys Certified Premium Black Angus.
Mr Fitzgerald said they hadn't really been getting much information back once the cattle left the farm gate.
"In the last 12 months we have donated cattle to our kid's schools and that sort of thing for hoof and hook competition," he said.
"Then we thought we'd put some in the feedlot trial to try and get a bit of feedback to see where we need to go with our breeding program."
The Fitzgerald's entered two teams - the winning Angus team and another of Black Simmentals.
They have 150 to 200 breeders and have a split calving in spring and autumn, breeding Angus and Angus/Black Simmental.
"We usually AI a percentage of them each time, depending on the season," he said.
Mr Fitzgerald said they have a self replacing herd and also now breed their own bulls.
"Coming out of the drought bulls were so expensive," he said.
"We had always been AI-ing before that but the bulls I like tend to get for a fair bit of money so we decided to breed our own."
Mr Fitzgerald said they would use the trial results to help make decisions around which bulls to use.
They grow out their steers to 12 to 14-months where they mostly end up in a feedlot.
"We don't have enough numbers to really sell directly so we've sold to neighbours who amalgamate them into their mob and sell them on or we sell through the saleyards," he said.
While meat quality is now a strong focus Mr Fitzgerald said when they first started the AI program the aim was to increase growth rates.
"Through the feedlot just on the initial feedback I've got we've probably got to look a bit more at growth rates in the feedlot," he said.
"We're always learning - management of nutrition makes the biggest impact but then having the genetics there to make use of that."
Read more from the 2024 Beef Spectacular Feedback Trial:
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.
