"Great
food, excellent music, lots of fun, outstanding Limousin cattle and informative
technical sessions combined to make the 17th International
Conference one to remember."
That
was a nice compliment in the August edition of the North American Limousin
Foundation magazine, Limousin World which also featured photos from the
conference on the front cover and ran a three page story on the conference
written by Dr John Edwards who also took many great photos during the
conference.
It
was good to see a number of Limousin breeders put their cattle on display in
the recent southern Qld Field Days. The Tramahler, Tanholm, Glenview, Talana
and Rosehill herds all had their herds including sale bulls on display.
Langshaw
district beef producers Doug and Mary Bothams finally cracked the bit time at
this year's Gympie Carcase Classic, exhibiting the carcase most suitable for
the domestic trade after 20 years of trying.
As one of only four competitors who have entered every Classic since the
event's inception in 1987, the Bothams had all but given up on claiming one of
the major prizes. But this year, the
Bothams' Limousin/Droughtmaster calf with high saleable meat yield potential,
as well as evenness, finish and a touch of marbling, claimed the most suitable
carcase crown with a score of 82.5 points.
The
Bothams' August born calf produced a saleable meat yield of 78.71 percent, eye
muscle area of 99 sq cm, and dressing percentage of 59.69 percent. Fat depth was 11 mm and 5 mm at rib and P8
sites, and good fat distribution. The
winning calf was by a Tramacchi bred bull, well muscled and nuggety, but with
some softness as well.
The
Bothams run a predominantly Droughtmaster breeder herd, using Limousin bulls in
terminal crossbreeding programs on their ticky volcanic scrub country west of
Gympie. The Bothams basically target
the store markets through Gympie, where feedlot operators from the South
Burnett and local areas are prepared to target good Euro-infused feeder
cattle. "They don't want to be
buying cattle that will put on 14 mm or 15 mm of fat, and there is a big
distinction in price as a result," Mr Bothams said.
Runner
up for the most suitable carcase crown were competition stalwarts John and
Leslie Groves, whose Limousin steer scored 78.5 points. Third was a Limousin/Murray Grey cross
heifer from Inverell, NSW exhibitors, D and J King.
An
interesting comparison in profitability between the lowest 10 percent of
Classic entries, and the top and middle 10 percent groups revealed the vast
gulf of difference in performance between cattle of basically similar entry
weight. In terms of final value, the
lowest 10 percent group had an average value of $612, while the top 10 percent
had a value of $898. That $285 difference in performance was largely due to
differences in retail beef yield.
Since
the circulation of the Falkirk Indexes for the bulls in the upcoming Tanholm
bull sale I have had several queries about what it all means. As I understand it the Falkirk Index is a
ratio of eye muscle area and weight which seems to strongly favour the heaviest
bulls. The index does not appear to
make any adjustments for age of the bulls, age of the dam or differences in
management so should only be used to compare bulls form the same age group on
the same property.
A
final word of caution is that the measurement of eye muscle area can vary
between ultrasound technicians and their methodology. The Falkirk technicians measure width and depth of the eye muscle
and multiply it by 0.77 to estimate the area whereas the accredited BREEDPLAN
technicians measure the actual eye muscle area.
I recently received the 2006
French Limousin Sire Summary. The
relevant EBVs and Indexes for bulls being used in Australia have been posted on
the ALBS website and can be accessed from the front page.
The
next workshops are at Launceston, Tasmania on Monday 7th August and
Burnie, Tasmania on Thursday 10th August. Future workshops will be as follows:
21st
August – Northam, WA
24th
August – Bridgetown, WA
28th
August – Albany, WA
11th
September – Forbes, NSW
14th
September – Wagga Wagga, NSW
Details
and booking forms are available from the website sbts.une.edu.au or a phone
call to 02 6773 3555.
MARYVALE HERD SIRE LISTING
|
Eleven
out of the 18 bulls offered at the Casino, NSW multibreed sale sold to a top of
$5,000 and an average of $3,340. John
and Coral Winning of Glenview Limousins sold five bulls to a top of $5,000 and
an average of $3,750 and John Brown of Takura Limousins sold four bulls to a
top of $4,500 and an average of $3,250.
Tony
and Vivian Hayne sold 14 pure Limousin steers 14-16 months weighing 425 kg for
219.4 c/kg or $933 at Gunnedah Saleyards a couple of weeks ago. That certainly topped the steer section of
the Gunnedah sale that week.
Yours in Limousin
Alex McDonald