WESTERN Australian beef operations were once again well represented in the winners list of this year's ANZ National Beef Carcase Competition when it was announced last week at Beef 2021 at Rockhampton, Queensland.
Eight producers and feedlots from across WA entered cattle in this year's competition and four of them tasted success.
Claiming the biggest win among the WA entrants was the Galati family, John Galati Family Trust, Brunswick, when one of their entries won the highest scoring pen award over the competition's seven classes.
The Galati family's champion pen won the top pen award by a mere 0.92 points with a score of 281.43 out of 306 points.
The entry was eligible for the top pen award after finishing ahead of 12 other entries in class four which was for a pen of three grainfed medium trade chiller steers or heifers weighing 180 to 260 kilograms hot scored carcase weight (HSCW).
The three owner-bred steers had HSCWs of 252kg, 249.5kg and 258.5kg along with MSA marbling of 360, 390 and 330 and MSA indexes of 63.85, 64.10 and 63.36 respectively which helped them score a combined 136.78 out of 150 for the eating quality section of the judging.
In the market specifications section the three carcases scored a perfect combined 30 out of 30 with rib fats of 5mm, 5mm and 4mm and P8 fats of 6mm, 5mm and 6mm.
When it came to the lean meat yield section the three carcases combined achieved a score of 111.64 out of 120.
They scanned 79cm2, 78cm2 and 97cm2 for EMA and had lean meat yield (LMY) measurements of 60.99, 61.44 and 63.65.
Individually out of 100, the three carcases scored 92.25, 92.69 and 93.49 points and also achieved a pen bonus score of five out of six.
Rodney Galati said the three steers were sired by veteran Limousin sire Willendaise K8, which was purchased as a yearling and were out of Angus cows.
Along with winning the champion pen award, the Galati family had another three entries in the competition.
These steers were sired by Downunder Charolais bulls and out of Angus cows.
Two of these entries were successful in class five - grainfed heavy trade chiller steers or heifers weighing 260.1-340kg HSCW, when they placed third and sixth in a field of 46.
Mr Galati said all of their steers in the competition were dropped in February/March 2020 and had been on a grain ration for 85 days in the family's feedlot before they were processed at Harvey Beef on February 26.
Exhibiting for the second time in the competition was the Bendotti family, G & B Bendotti, Pemberton, which had five entries of January to March-drop Angus baby beef bodies in the judging across class one (pasture fed medium trade chiller steers or heifers 180-260kg HSCW) and class two (pasture fed heavy trade chiller steers or heifers 260.1-340kg HSCW) and all five entries placed in their classes after being processed at Harvey Beef on December 18, 2020.
The family's best results were in class two when they made it back-to-back wins.
The Bendottis also placed third, fifth and sixth among a field of 45 entries in this class and also placed sixth in class one.
Their first-placed entry finished with a score 278.10 out of 306 points after the three carcases individually scored 93.77, 89.75 and 92.58 points out of 100 and the entry received a three point pen bonus.
The three calves weighed 540kg, 548kg and 530kg liveweight with their carcases recording HSCWs of 281.5kg, 293kg and 277kg respectively to go with MSA indexes of 66.57, 65.70 and 66.25, while their rib fats ranged between eight to 10mm and their P8 fats were all 10mm.
They had EMAs of 92cm2, 77cm2 and 81cm2.
John Bendotti said the two heavier calves in the winning class were aged 10 months and sired by Little Meadows Knockout, while the other calf was by a Lawsons Momentum bull and was the second last calf born for the 2020 drop but still scanned the highest EMA out of the three bodies at eight months of age.
The family's third, fifth and sixth-placed entries in class two scored 273.98, 273.79 and 273.24 points.
In class one, which attracted 14 entries, the Bendotti family's entry finished sixth on 273.43 points.
Previous champion ribbon winner the Campbell family, AS & M Campbell & Son, Cooara Angus and Charolais studs, Keysbrook, was again successful in this year's competition with their four entries all gaining places.
The family had three entries in class one which finished on 275.73, 275.58 and 273.45 points and they took home the second, third and fifth placed ribbons, behind the winning entry from a Victorian operation which scored 278.35 points.
Their entry in class two finished second on 276.77 points behind the Bendotti family's winning entry.
Bruce Campbell said he was pleased once again with the results they had achieved in the competition with the four groups of steers they entered.
"Our two second placed pens were both pure Angus while the other two pens were Charolais-Angus cross," Mr Campbell said.
"The steers which placed second in class one were all by GAR Momentum which I picked out particularly with this competition in mind due to its ranking in the top 1pc of the breed for EMA and IMF.
"The rest of the steers were all sired by homebred bulls."
The March/April drop steers were all processed at Harvey Beef straight off their mothers.
The class one entries were killed in December 2020, while the class two entry was killed in February.
Harvey Beef along with processing the winning WA entries also had seven entries of its own in the competition, which were a mix of owner-bred and purchased in steers.
It had two entries in class five which placed fourth and fifth as well as five entries in class six (grainfed export chiller bullocks 300-420kg) where it placed third and sixth in a field of 87 entries.
Harvest Road general manager of agriculture Kim McDougall said the operation's entries in the competition came out of the Harvest Road supply chain and had been fed for a minimum of 100 days by their long-term feeding partners.
"We use the competition to benchmark our homebred cattle and also the cattle we buy in and put on feed against other operations in the country," Mr McDougall said.
Other WA exhibitors in the competition were JS & EN Bagshaw, Boyup Brook; OM Dunnet & Co, Nannup; Kalgrains, Wannamal and Kevin Armstrong, Benger.
Eluding the WA exhibitors by a small margin were the champion and reserve champion carcase ribbons which were both won by Terry Nolan's Cooloola Blondes, Gympie, Queensland.
The champion carcase exhibited by Mr Nolan scored 94.54 points and came out of class four.
The steer carcase had a HSCW of 251.2kg to go with an MSA index of 63.16, fats of 4mm rib and 5mm P8, while its EMA was 104cm2 and its LMY was 65.63.
The reserve champion carcase had a score of 94.16 and was also in class four.
This steer carcase had a HSCW of 257.2kg to go with an MSA index of 65.07, fats of 4mm rib and 5mm P8 while its EMA was 88cm2 and its LMY was 62.72.
In the individual classes Mr Nolan placed third, fourth and fifth in class four and quinellaed class five plus was third in class seven (open class heavy trade steers or heifers 260.1-360kg HSCW).
Carcase competition chairman David Hill said exhibitors should be "justifiably proud" of the quality meat they produced considering it was less than 30 years when the MSA was established because of inferior meat.
"The progress of the industry has been nothing short of amazing," Mr Hill told the audience of hundreds including Federal senators Susan McDonald, Matt Canavan and Bridget McKenzie in the so-called Long Paddock.
- For the full table of results for the competition go to beefaustralia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/RESULTS_2021_withnames.pdf
