The Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge started its 10-year celebration when it officially kicked off for 2024 with its open day at the Mount Barker Regional Saleyards on Saturday, January 6.
The Gate 2 Plate Challenge committee hosted a strong crowd of onlookers who enjoyed an early sneak peek at the competition before the 2024 challenge teams were delivered to the Willyung Farms feedlot on Saturday afternoon to commence the hard work.
Visitors to the open day were able to dine on a steak from the barbecue donated by Coles and cooked by staff from the Bendigo Bank Cranbrook, Tambellup, Mt Barker and Albany branches.
All the proceeds from the barbecue sales went to the Regional Men's Health Initiative.
The challenge has grown in popularity, interest and credibility, producing useful data for entrants, processors and competition followers over the years.
The composition of the teams and the number of head in each team has changed this year.
Teams will comprise of only steers and be a minimum of three steers, up to a maximum of four steers.
Points from the three best performing steers will be combined to identify the overall winning team.
This year, 53 teams and a total 205 steers have been entered in the challenge, including teams from six new entrants.
The teams come from Esperance, Great Southern and west coast regions and were all presented extremely well and are of high quality.
The challenge has a charity steer again this year.
It was donated by Wayne and Evonne Mitchell, Mountain Valley Livestock, Albany.
The charity steer will be fed throughout the challenge and processed with the rest of the cattle.
The proceeds of this sale will be donated to a charity chosen by the committee.
The charity steer doesn't yet have a name, but you can have a say in this as the committee is running a competition on its Facebook page to name it.
Follow the steer's journey in the challenge on the challenge's social media platforms. https://www.facebook.com/gate2platechallenge
