Venturon Livestock wins supreme award

There was no shortage of show ribbons to be handed out at the cattle pavilion last Friday, with these going home with well-deserving exhibitors and handlers who put in lots of effort leading up to show day.

Show judges Stephen Branson, Banquet Angus, Mortlake, Victoria, and Kevin Yost, Liberty Charolais and Shorthorn studs, Toodyay, had a tough time picking their competition winners and favourites throughout the day, with some of WA's most outstanding show cattle parading the show ring.

Three categories made up the competition again this year, with Specialty breeds kicking off proceedings, followed by British breeds and European breeds.

Ten breeds were represented by more than 70 head of impressive, well-presented led cattle spread across 37 classes and entered by 13 exhibitors and their respective handlers.

The age range of the cattle entrants was from seven-month-old halter broken calves to as old as six years, creating a diverse level of competition.

At the completion of each category, a champion junior bull, champion senior bull, champion junior female and champion senior female were sashed winners, earning the right to go up against fellow winners for multibreed bragging rights.

When judging the multibreed classes, Mr Branson and Mr Yost had plenty of possible winners to consider, but took a particular liking to a senior female with a heifer calf at foot after it won champion senior female in the Euro breeds category.

The star of the competition, Venturon Naughty But Nice S32, exhibited by the Thompson family, Venturon Livestock Charolais stud, Boyup Brook, won the overall Commonwealth Bank supreme exhibit and champion multibreed senior female.

The March 2021-drop, Turnbulls Duty Free 358D daughter and her heifer calf, which is sired by LT Countdown, were up against three other entrants and while Mr Branson and Mr Yost said it was a tough decision, they said the Charolais pair were hard to fault.

"The senior female is an exceptional animal and beautifully made," Mr Branson said.

"She has a long neck, is fine through the shoulder and then keeps getting wide.

"Her deep flank, depth, capacity and good udder make her an overall outstanding animal - along with her calf."

Mr Yost agreed.

"She is a cow with tremendous depth and length of body," Mr Yost said.

"She really is an outstanding cow with a great heifer calf at foot."

Another supreme title competitor was a very powerful May 2020-drop sire from the Southend Murray Grey stud that weighed 1188 kilograms, Southend Roman, which made the judge's decision very tough after it won champion multibreed senior bull.

The bull had earlier been sashed with the champion senior bull title in the British Breed category.

Roman is a son of homebred parents Southend Kohan and Southend Cleopatra P330 and was applauded on his temperament and how well he held himself in the show ring.

"He is an exceptional animal that powers around the ring very proudly in a very docile manner," Mr Branson said.

"He has a very serious, strong muzzle on him with a powerful depth of flank.

"He is so well-structured and has plenty of power when it comes to both meat and muscle."

Another supreme title hopeful was an early April-drop Southend Murray Grey bull - the junior champion multibreed bull, Southend Unreal - which earlier won the champion bull title in the British Breed category.

Unreals, a son of Southend Narcissist, weighed 602 kilograms and is an exceptional young bull that was praised by the judges.

"This young calf offers a lot, he has great head and eye placement," Mr Branson said.

"He carries his head high, has good shoulders and a long, strong spine with a lot of meat on his loin.

"He has plenty of capacity to grow and become a very powerful bull."

Similarly, Mr Yost said he also has a very bright future ahead of him.

"We just couldn't look past him, he paraded very well," he said.

The remaining possible supreme title potential was a stylish 11-month-old Limousin female, Morrisvale Unforgettable Kiss, exhibited by the Morrisvale Limousin stud, Narrikup.

Unforgettable Kiss is a daughter of Morrisvale Kept Secret and earlier took out the multibreed junior female title and the champion junior female in the Euro category.

Mr Branson said the young female was beautifully made and tremendously neat.

"She is feminine throughout and paraded very well," he said.

"She has a good topline and width about her."

Mr Yost said she had a very clean front-end.

"She is a very proud female and got around the ring so smoothly," Mr Yost said.

The group classes were one of the last to run on the day and were heavily dominated by exhibits from the Wise family's Southend Murray Grey stud.

It was a pair of Southend Murray Grey bulls which were sashed the winners of the Zoetis pair of WA-bred bulls.

Mr Yost said they were clear winners.

"They were a very even pair of bulls with exceptional muscle pattern and length of body," he said.

In the pair of heifers, it was again a Southend duo that took out the top place honours.

Mr Branson said it was an outstanding pair.

"I admire the structural integrity of them both, they are of great quality and type," he said.

"They paraded very well."

The Southend stud also dominated the sire progeny group of three award with a team of two bulls and a heifer.

The judges agreed they were also clear winners.

"They are all great types and presented and paraded outstandingly," Mr Yost said.

"The bulls have characteristics that people are looking for in bulls - and the heifer too."

The Nutrien Ag Solutions Interschool Heifer Challenge resulted in Simmental heifer Inlet Views Unique, exhibited by WA College of Agriculture - Denmark (WACOA - Denmark's) Inlet Views Simmental stud, Denmark, leaving the show with the champion sash.

Unique is a GFAF Guerro daughter and initially won the sash for her class - heifer born on or between January 1 and March 31, 2023 - over three other Inlet Views entrants.

Inlet Views was also the second placegetter in the overall interschool heifer challenge, with Inlet Views Ursula from the same class.

Ursula is also sired by GFAF Guerro and won over two other Inlet Views entrants in its class.

The British breed category had some of the largest entries of the day and was heavily dominated by the Southend Murray Grey stud, which took home three blue first place sashes.

Champion junior bull was the first champion to be announced, with Southend Unreal taking the cake and beating three other entrants in its class (bull, born on or between March 7 and April 23, 2023).

Unreal went on to win champion multibreed junior bull.

Next up to be crowned champion senior bull was Southend Roman, which, although it was the only bull in its class (bull, born before January 1, 2023), the judges said he would've been hard to beat.

Roman went on to win champion multibreed senior bull.

The Southend stud continued its winning streak, taking out the champion junior female title with its April 2023-drop female, Southend Headland.

Headland is sired by Southend Narcissist and beat four other entrants in its class (heifer, born on or between March 7 and April 23, 2023), one exhibited by the Southend stud and three by the Escholar stud, Esperance Farm Training Centre, Esperance.

Mr Branson said the female was of exceptional quality.

"She has a soft coat and soft skin and will go on to do very well in the industry," Mr Branson said.

The champion senior female was won by Venturon Diana S134 with a bull calf at foot, exhibited by Venturon Livestock Angus stud, when she beat two other entrants in her class (female, born before January 1, 2023).

Diana is sired by Granite Ridge Maximum M34 and was a judge's favourite.

"They were an outstanding pair that paraded well," he said.

"The female had a good head and eye set, with a well-balanced depth of body and volume."

The European breed section had eight classes, which were packed with quality - plus making the judges' decisions hard once again.

The champion junior bull was awarded to Inlet Views Ulysses from the Inlet Views Simmental stud.

Ulysses is sired by GFAF Guerro and beat three other competitors in its class (bull born on or between January 1 and March 6, 2023).

Mr Branson said he was unbeatable.

"He moved very well and had a nice softness about his skin," he said.

Morrisvale Unforgettable Kiss was the champion junior female, beating six other competitors in the class.

Unforgettable Kiss went on to be crowned champion multibreed junior female.

The champion senior female sash was awarded to Venturon Naughty But Nice S32, with a heifer calf at foot, which was the only entrant in its class and went on to take out the Commonwealth Bank Supreme exhibit and champion multi-breed senior female titles.

The judging kicked off with the specialty breeds cattle, where two exhibitors went head-to-head.

Miniature Herefords were exhibited by Paragon Miniature Herefords, Waroona, while the Square Meaters breed was exhibited by Preston Rise Square Meater stud, Rosa Brook.

The champion junior bull was won by Preston Rise Ultimate, which was one of two from its class.

The Preston Rise Supreme son was an April 2023-drop calf and Mr Branson said he was a promising sire.

"He was an impressive bull with good weight for age and excellent structural soundness," he said.

Next up was the champion senior bull title, which was won by Paragon Lord Peter - an embryo son of SSR Cooper (imported from USA).

Lord Peter won against two other Paragon entrants and Mr Branson said he paraded well.

"He is showing great maturity and has extra muscle over his spine and a good loin," he said.

Lebastiaux Nairobi daughter Preston Rise Unique was crowned champion junior female and was the only entrant in her class.

"She is a smart young female with tremendous body capacity that holds her head high and parades well," Mr Branson said.

The last to be announced in the specialty section was the champion senior female, which was won by Paragon's Lady Remmi, which beat another Paragon female in its class.

The CSF Guage daughter (imported from USA) had a heifer calf at foot, which the judges said made a great match.

"The calf had a far superior strength of spine through the top line, as did its mum," Mr Branson said.