A NEW name was added to the Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge honour roll last week when a purebred Gelbvieh team from the Pugh family's Summit Gelbvieh stud, Narrikup, was announced the overall winners of the 2021 competition.
Along with having the honour of winning the competition, the Pugh family took home $5000 for taking out the top award ahead of 61 other entries from 49 other producers.
In total, 12 Western Australian beef producers shared between them $17,000 worth of prize money, which was given out at the competition's presentation dinner at Centennial Stadium, Albany, on Friday night.
This year's competition attracted 62 entries from producers located right across the State, from Yandanooka in the north to Esperance in the south east, who were all looking for feedback to help improve their beef operations.
Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge Inc president Jarrod Carroll said the committee congratulated all the competitors who took part in this year's competition.
"We hope you have enjoyed being part of the challenge and the data generated from it will provide you with valuable information that you can utilise in your operations," Mr Carroll said.
"The challenge is all about the producer, so thank you to all who participated this year but also over the past seven years.
"Also a big thank you to our sponsors as you are critical to the success of the program and thank you also to the committee.
"The challenge is an event that runs over 10 months of the year and demands the commitment of the committee and a broader volunteer network.
"The Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge events simply would not happen without the significant amount of time, which has been given up voluntarily.
"Finally thank you to the Forrest family for seeing the benefit to producers of the challenge and enabling the challenge to facilitate a platform to enhance greater knowledge and understanding of the whole supply chain from farm gate to plate."
The competition, which is into its seventh year, is all about the performance for the cow-calf producer and the scoring system for the competition is based on factors that are measurable and influence profitability at each stage of the supply chain and eating quality, which is important for the consumer.
The teams of three (two steers and one heifer) owner-bred cattle are all individually scored for their feedlot performance (50 points), processing performance (50 points) and MSA grading (25 points) before the points are combined to give a team score out of 375 points.
There is also room for the teams to score bonus points in each section when they show consistency of performance within the group.
The competition sees all the teams fed in the Willyung Farms feedlot, at Albany, with the heifers on feed for 70 days and the steers 85 days before they are processed at Harvey Beef.
When the Pugh family's name was read out as the overall winners of the competition they were over the moon and thrilled to win.
The Pughs have been entering the competition since its inception in 2015 and in that year they took out overall second place.
When accepting the award, John Pugh said it was exciting to win the competition.
"We are very proud to win and it is a real team effort," Mr Pugh said.
"It is very impressive people take the effort to put this competition on, as it is not easy work.
"This competition was started by some very good people so we could learn a bit more about our cattle and I certainly watch these results very closely.
"It is certainly great to finally win as we have had a few big experiences in the beef industry from running a large feedlot to my involvement in the Meat Industry authority.
"In general, it is exciting times to be involved in the beef industry, but let's hope everyone is making a dollar at these high prices."
Equally happy to see the family win was Mr Pugh's daughter Clare King, who said it was a very big shock to hear their names called out.
"We have a very small breed, but we have a huge belief in it, especially when it comes to its multi-purpose traits," Ms King said.
"The team at Gate 2 Plate do a great job and we have been with the competition since the beginning and our involvement in it has been to get the valuable data that comes out.
"It is really valuable to get the feedback and we are thankful the competition exists."
The family's winning team consisted of three April/May 2020-drop calves, which were all sired by Summit Goldfinger and finished on 187.295 points, to be 6.322 points clear of second place.
Along with ranking first overall in the competition, the team also ranked first for processing performance with a score of 45.303 points, second for feedlot performance with 1.734 points and seventh for MSA with 59.713 points.
Individually in the steer category, totalling 124 head, the two steers ranked 67th and 19th overall while the team's heifer ranked first overall out of 62 head plus first in the processing section.
"We are certainly excited to win but what we were most excited about was to see the heifer in our team rank as the best performing animal over the whole competition," Ms King said.
"We knew she was a very good heifer/breeder and she was sired by a sire which throws high muscling animals, but she had scurs so we couldn't keep her in the stud as we are aiming to breed poll animals.
"So it was great to see her come out on top as it highlights the multi-purpose traits of the breed which we really like.
"We believe in the Gelbvieh breed as it has both good terminal or maternal traits, meaning you can either feed the progeny with good success or, when it comes to the females, you can keep them as replacement breeders."
The Summit team had average daily gain (ADG) of 1.61 kilograms (heifer), 1.49kg and 1.71kg (steers) and dressing percentages (DP) of 55.82 per cent, 55.23pc and 54.17pc to register profits from the feedlot of $98.22, -$84.29 and $3.42.
When it came to the processing and MSA side of the competition, the heifer had a fat depth of 9mm, a hot scored carcase weight (HSCW) of 259kg, a 87cm2 eye muscle area (EMA) and an MSA index of 64.26.
The two steers had HSCW of 248kg and 260kg respectively, with 5mm fat while their EMAs were 74cm2 and 80cm2 and their MSA indexes were 63.33 and 63.49.
The team had an average intake weight of 336kg, while it averaged 464kg out of the feedlot after the heifer was fed for 70 days and the steers for 85 days.
While the Pughs are reaping the rewards of running the Gelbvieh breed, they haven't always been in the operation's breeding program.
Before they had Gelbviehs, Mr Pugh and his wife Kim were running a Simmental/ Hereford herd but they decided due to a few issues they wanted to try something different that was a bit more low maintenance but still had high performance.
As a result they AI'd a large number of their cows to a different breeds, including Gelbvieh, Limousin, Angus, Red Angus, Belgian Blue and Blonde d'Aquitaine and took notice of the progeny.
Ms King said the Gelbvieh progeny hadn't impressed her father at first, but they did shine through later.
"He noticed a bit later that the Gelbviehs had good muscling and they produced good female progeny with good milk, making them a bit multi-purpose and that was the key to deciding to go with them," Ms King said.
After that trial, Mr Pugh saw an opportunity to purchase some stud Gelbvieh females at the Ballanee dispersal sale in Victoria.
In the sale, he purchased cows for his four daughters Alexandra, Clare, Harriet and Georgia, as he believed they were becoming too involved in horses.
These females became the foundation females for the Summit Gelbvieh stud when it was established in 1995.
Over the years the Pughs have introduced some North American bloodlines into their herd and Ms King said when they did, they started to make a lot of inroads.
"It was a new type and a bit more of a modern style and it certainly helped move the herd forward," she said.
"We went for the bloodlines that could perform in the Australian environment and had the ability to lay down fat."
Today the Pughs are running the largest Gelbvieh stud herd in Australia, consisting of 300 breeders alongside a commercial Gelbvieh composite herd (Angus, Red Angus and Shorthorn) of 800 breeders.
Second place overall went to second year entrants Richard, Christine, Chris and Tim Metcalfe, Koojan Hills Angus stud, Manypeaks, with a team of pure Angus, which scored 180.973 points.
Chris Metcalfe said the Gate 2 Plate Challenge was a great competition and nice to be a part of.
"This is our second year entering and we are looking forward to being part of this competition for many more years to come," Mr Metcalfe said.
"The number one benefit to us in regards to being involved in this competition is the networking side of it.
"You get to meet people from all different sectors of the industry and learn from them.
"Another benefit is it also provides you with a good benchmarking tool for the herd."
Mr Metcalfe acknowledged former Koojan Hills principal Lew Smit who died recently, saying he would have loved to see the success the stud had in the competition.
"It is an honour to continue his passion for breeding Angus cattle," Mr Metcalfe said.
Along with finishing second overall, the team finished third in the feedlot section on
-2.039 points, second for processing performance on 124.121 points and 19th for MSA grading on 58.891 points.
Individually the calves ranked at 11 (heifer), 27 and 32 (steers) overall, with the heifer also ranking third for processing.
Their ADGs were 1.87kg, 1.74kg and 1.76kg with DPs of 51.03pc, 53.53pc and 54.32pc to register profits of $5.32, -$6.69 and -$19.02.
All three calves were sired by Koojan Hills L188.
While the family's winning team were all Angus, they haven't always run the breed and Murray Greys had been their preference.
Their first foray into Angus occurred at the end of 2015 when they purchased the Koojan Hills stud from Mr Smit.
Mr Metcalfe said they decided to go down the Angus line as they could see the market was shifting towards the breed and it was a good option to be able to add some new genetics to their commercial herd, which was Murray Grey.
"From a commercial point of view it allowed us to access the Angus gene pool and add some marketing versatility to our commercial herd," Mr Metcalfe said.
Today the Metcalfes run 500 Koojan Hills Angus stud breeders and 200 Melaleuca Murray Grey stud breeders alongside 800 commercial Murray Grey and Angus breeders.
Narrikup producers John and Wendy Miell and daughter Libby, JR & WR Miell, took out overall third place with a team of Limousin-Gelbvieh-Murray Grey cross animals, which finished on 175.648 points.
The team ranked fifth for feedlot performance (-3.471 points), sixth for processing (120.394 points) and 21st for MSA grading (58.725 points) with ADGs of 2.09kg (heifer), 1.96kg and 1.88kg (steers), DPs 52.49pc, 49.79pc and 51.81pc to return profits of $114.43, -$105.50 and -$43.63.
Individually, the team's heifer ranked second overall and second for its feedlot performance.
The May/June drop calves were all sired by Morrisvale Profitable and out of Gelbvieh-Murray Grey females based on Summit Gelbvieh bloodlines.
The final two places in the top five went to two teams of pure Limousin breeding.
Fourth place overall went to Max and Heather Farley, M & HA Farley, Lonaker Limousin stud, Narrikup.
The apricot coloured team finished on 172.720 points overall, with its breakdown of points being -2.585 (feedlot), 116.970 (processing) and 58.338 (MSA) and which saw it rank fourth for the feedlot, 13th for processing and 34th for MSA.
The team recorded ADGs of 1.69kg (heifer), 1.72kg and 1.67kg (steers), DP of 51.70pc, 52.54pc and 55.73pc with profits of -$15.97, -$54.43 and $44.53.
All three animals in the Farley's team were sired by Maryvale Magnificent M16.
Limousin breeders for 35 years, Murray and Jenny Fouracres, Hazelmere stud, Manjimup, have been entering the competition for five years and have had a top five finish on all but one occasion.
This year they placed fifth overall, after finishing third in 2020 and 2017 and fourth in 2018.
With these consistent results over the years the Fouracres also won the award for the highest performing challenger from 2015 to 2020.
This year their team, which finished fifth, accumulated 172.086 points across the competition, with 11.077 points from the feedlot section, 121.697 from processing and 39.313 from MSA grading.
With these points the team ranked first for feedlot performance, fifth for processing performance and 52nd for MSA grading.
The team recorded ADGs of 1.43kg (heifer), 1.45kg and 1.66kg (steers), DP of 57.76pc, 57.2pc and 57.14pc with profits of $98.57, -$25.48 and $37.68.
At an individual level the team's heifer ranked third overall and third for feedlot performance.
The Fouracres' heifer and one steer were sired by Hazelmere Masterful M45 while the other steer was by Hazelmere Masterful N4.
Angus cattle dominated the top three placings in the MSA grading side of the competition.
Angus and Charolais breeders Bruce and Gaye Campbell, AS & M Campbell & Son, Cooara stud, Keysbrook, topped the MSA Grading category with an Angus team that were sired by Musgrave Stunner 316 (heifer) and Cooara Effective L134 (steers).
The team finished with 60.425 points for MSA grading section and individually the team of three ranked 25th (heifer), seventh and 39th (steers) and recorded MSA indexes of 64.23, 65.32 and 63.81.
Overall the team finished 20th in the competition, placing 17th for feedlot performance and 44th for processing.
Second place in the MSA grading went to a team of Angus from Austin Park, Napier, which finished on 60.340 points, while third went to SA & SH Smith, Narrikup, also with three Angus calves sired by Tullibardine Angus sires that scored 60.171 points.
Third place in the processor performance section went to the Avery family, WC, BE & DC Avery, Scott River and Monterey Murray Greys, Karridale.
Their team of Murray Grey-Gelbvieh-Santa Gertrudis cross calves scored 122.364 points in the section.
Also gracing the winner's podium and collecting two awards was the WA College of Agriculture, Harvey, which took home the awards for the most improved team and the best performing school team with a team of Black Limousin-Angus cross calves.
The team, which were sired by Balamara Now or Never and out of purebred Angus cows, finished with a score 159.589.
The team finished 12th overall, 12th for feedlot, 25th for processing and 36th for MSA.
The award for the best newcomer went to Porongurup producer Graeme Bell.
The team of Murray Grey calves based on Southend and Monterey bloodlines finished with a points tally of 151.582, which ranked the team 19th overall.
The team ranked sixth for MSA grading, 12th for processing and 25th for feedlot.
The Summit Gelbvieh award again went to Wayne and Serena Matthews, Kangarabbi Farms, Narrikup, the Angus Society award was claimed by Bruce and Gaye Campbell, while the Limousin award for highest commercial team sired by a Limousin sire went to the Miell family.
Evensong Farm, Serpentine, claimed the award for the highest performing team sired by a Blonde d'Aquitaine bull.
Willyung Farms' Sandy Lyon said in his feeder report in the competition results booklet that producers would likely be disappointed on the profitability outcomes but the reality is that there is not always a profit.
"It has been an unusual year, cattle prices have been amazing to producers but have made feeding a challenge," Mr Lyon said.
"The competition is set to rules and regulations, dates and timelines that are similar every year to keep all data relevant from year to year.
"This year, in a thriving cattle market with huge Eastern States pressure on rebuilding their herd after years of drought, there has been an effect on the profitability of the cattle through the challenge.
"While producers will likely be disappointed with the profit figures, I hope producers look at the performance figures of their cattle as these play a large part in profitability even though purchase price and sale price were major contributors to profit figures this year.
"Even with the high store sale prices the top performing cattle made a profit of up to $176 a head and the top 25pc had a $230/head difference to the bottom line than the bottom 25pc.
"Cattle performance is a large contributor to profitability and is a major focus of the challenge, so I hope competitors focus on the performance of their cattle rather than the monetary return this year and strive to increase herd performance which will result in improved returns and profits in future years."
Mr Lyon said both average daily gain and dressing percentage were two important figures to look at as a high average daily gain increases profitability as animals reach desired carcase weight faster while the higher the dressing percentage the more carcase you have to sell which increases profitability.
The top 25pc of cattle in this year's competition had an ADG of 0.33 kilograms a day above the bottom 25pc, gaining an extra 18.45kg throughout the challenge.
When it comes to dressing percentage, the top 25pc yielded an extra 2.14pc than the bottom 25pc which increased their profitability by an average of $35/head.
The processor summary for the competition, supplied by Harvey Beef, stated this year's competition had seen an improvement in the suitability of carcases for the processing sector.
This year's competition saw an increase in the average HSCW per animal.
The heifers averaged 229.92kg HSCW with a dressing percentage of 52.47pc, while the steers averaged 250.46kg HSCW with a dressing percentage of 52.68pc.
The summary said the increased dressing percentage indicated an improved carcase composition along with a greater saleable yield based on the liveweight of the animal.
When it comes to rib fat (coverage of fat on eye muscle) it decreased to 5.4mm in 2021 from 7.6mm in 2020 with steers at 4.9mm rib fat and heifers at 6.3mm while P8 fat depth of the carcases increased from 6.75mm in 2020 to 7.13mm this year which means the body score of the carcases was better overall.
Speaking on behalf of major sponsor Harvey Beef, Harvey Beef senior livestock buyer Campbell Nettleton said on behalf of Andrew and Nicola Forrest and the management of Harvey Beef, he wanted to thank all the producers who entered, the sponsors and the committee for another successful Gate 2 Plate competition.
"This competition provides important feedback to enhance the overall quality of the beef supply chain and Harvey Beef remain proud participants and sponsors of the competition," Mr Nettleton said.
"It is also great to see another room full of people at the dinner after a COVID-19 affected 2020."
Mr Nettleton also gave an insight into what has been on the agenda at Harvey Beef.
"It has been a busy couple of years for us, we have had some major construction at the plant," Mr Nettleton said.
"We are halfway through a $19 million upgrade to our boning room and extra chiller capacity and we have also recently commissioned our covered anaerobic lagoon (CAL), a $6m spend which will see it produce 25pc of our gas required for hot water production as we aim to carbon neutrality.
"The big one is our Koojan Downs Feeding facility, it is 75pc complete and we will be opening it in August/ September and looking for livestock to fill it."
