Newsletter for the Week Ending 20 August 2004

A Memorable Experience

Most of the 50 Australians who attended the International Limousin Conference arrived home this week. A group of 28 also spent four days in France, the home of Limousin, prior to the ILC Conference.

In France we visited the Lanaud bull test station and Limousin headquarters, the Moussours female progeny test station, the Plainemaison processing plant and 10 Limousin herds, so we saw a great cross section of the Limousin breed as well as gaining a much better understanding of the French selection program and production systems.

We saw the bulls and/or progeny of Milou, Mas Du Clo, Heros Bis, Nelson, Junior, Malibu and Nenuphar which are all available in Australia.  We also saw daughters of the latest Sersia bulls Nadrac, Neophin, Neuf and Nexen with the fertility, milking ability and moderate size of the Neophin daughters having most appeal for me.

We also saw daughters of the next group of "O" bulls under progeny test at Moussours but the data on their daughters is not yet available.

It was encouraging to learn that all of the 600 young bulls entering the Lanaud bull test are tested for temperament and excluded if they do not measure up.  The daughters and sons of the progeny test sires are also scored for temperament (I have requested the results of this scoring at Moussours).

On the last day we soaked up a little of the history of France in the Loir Valley where many of the Kings and Queens of France built castles as far back as the 17th Century with some quite amazing gardens. This was followed by a memorable evening in Paris.

Highlights of the International Limousin Conference in the UK were:

• Visit to the famed 250 cow Ronick herd. The owners of Broadmeadows Cannon ad breeders of Ronick Iceman, Ronick Hawk and Ronick Member.
• Visit to the 800 cow commercial herd of Peter and Murray Alexander. All cows were at least 50% Limousin and a sire battery of 24 Limousin bulls.
• National Limousin show of 450 Limousins at the Beef 2004 event in Edinburgh
• High level of interest in attending the 2006 ILC Conference in Australia at the Australian trade stand at the Beef 2004 event.
• Visit to Grahams 50 cow pedigree herd. Breeder of National Show Champion Grahams Sampson recently sold for the 55,000 guineas record price and the three top priced bulls at the ILC Sale. Also runs a 350 cow Jersey herd to supply branded Jersey milk products
• Visit to Hudscales Herd of William Cowx
• Technical Conference (see later section)
• Visit to Robertson commercial herd of 400 Limousin X cows joined to Limousin bulls. Seorus Robertson played a major role in the introduction of Limousin to the UK.
• Visit to the Greenwell pedigree herd of 50 cows. Outstanding temperament and moderate sized cows with good maternal traits very suitable to Australia. First 30 bulls from their senior sire Ronick Member have averaged 5148 pounds.
• Visit to Whinfell Farm to view 150 cow pedigree herd established after commercial herd was wiped out by Foot & Mouth disease control.
• Visit to the 14,000 ha Chatsworth Estate with historic Chatsworth House, the home of the Duchess of Devonshire, and their 140 cow Limousin herd.
• Good response to the promotional video promoting the 2006 Conference shown at the closing dinner.
• Likelihood of semen from several new UK sires to be imported to Australia.

I have prepared a detailed eight page report on the visit to France and the International Limousin Conference which is available by email or by post on request.

Back Home

Lisa Adams did an excellent job of keeping you up to date with events such as the Northern Limousin Breeders' Sale at Scone and the Ekka stud and steer results. One small correction is that the Champion Junior Led Steer or Heifer Carcase at the Ekka was exhibited by Holy Trinity School at Inverell not St Johns College. The steer was bred by a Benamitchy bull purchased from Director Geoff Haack.

Contrary to some adverts in Queensland Country Life the Cyclone High Points Achiever Award for an exhibitor of any breed who exhibits both stud cattle and led steers/prime cattle was won by John & Rosemaree McCarthy of Rosehill Limousins. They are $2,500 richer for the effort. Congratulations!

Woolworths Win

Another excellent result from Brisbane not yet reported was the Single and Group of Three win in the Woolworths Performance Based Payment Competition with Limousin X Droughtmaster cattle from Eddie and Liz Nolan of "Kurrawa Downs" at Moonie, Qld.

This competition attempts to find the ideal balance between meat quality, fat and retail yield. Once the carcase meets the Woolworths specification of 0-2 teeth steers and heifers, 210 to 270kg carcase weight with a minimum of 3mm of rib fat and an even fat distribution, the retail yield of the carcase is estimated using VIAscan video image technology.

The predicted retail yield percentage is then used to calculate the price per kilogram carcase weight paid for each carcase. The predicted yield varied from 66% to 72% causing a variation in price from $3.60/kg for the lowest yielding carcase to $4.18/kg for the winning Nolan carcase.

The winning carcase weighed 241.5kg and with payment of $4.18/kg made $1010.20.

The group of three averaged 251.5kg @ $4.08/kg to make $1027.29.

While Woolworths monitor the yield of carcases from their dedicated supplier network of feedlots they do not appear to pay price premiums for yield.

We also know from bone out competitions such as the Gympie Carcase Classic that the VIAscan equipment underestimates the heal differences in yield especially for high content Limousin carcases. Fortunately there are some butchers and processors who know just how high the yield of Limousin carcases is.

Some interesting notes from Drovers Journal in the USA

NCBA Endorses Bush for President
At the organization’s summer conference in Denver last week, NCBA members voted unanimously to support the re-election of President Bush. The resolution, passed virtually without discussion, directs the NCBA’s political action committee to “financially support and endorse” the Bush campaign. The NCBA traditionally has not endorsed political candidates, but members in attendance believed strongly that the current administration’s policies fall closely in line with those of the NCBA. For more information on the endorsement and on other policy decisions passed at the NCBA summer conference, go to www.drovers.com

A best guess is that about 90 percent of NCBA’s members will vote for President Bush in November. And the NCBA has been pleased with the Bush Administration’s stance on hot button issues such as the proposed ban on packer ownership of cattle and country of origin labeling. But endorsing a presidential candidate can backfire. Senator Kerry is on record supporting both the packer ownership ban and COOL. Should Kerry win, and several polls show him with a slight lead just 75 days ahead of the election, his administration may look unfavorably on the NCBA and views of its leadership. However, several cattle industry leaders acknowledge, endorsement or no, their agenda will stall under a Kerry Administration. — Greg Henderson, Drovers editor

Survey Shows Japanese Cautious Over U.S. Beef

The Japanese online research company Macromill announced the results of its latest attitude survey of Japanese consumers on U.S. beef. The company surveyed via the Internet on August 6-7 a total of 1,033 people age 20-59 living in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Of the respondents, 39 percent said that they do not want to eat U.S. beef while 20 percent want to eat it. Also 40 percent favor thoroughly screen-testing all U.S.-originated cattle as a condition to resume importing U.S. beef to Japan.

Canadian Producers Sue US Over Import Ban

A group called Canadian Cattlemen for Fair Trade announced last week that it will launch a $150 million lawsuit against the U.S. government under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Under Chapter 11 of NAFTA, damages can be sought by someone who has made an investment in doing business in another country covered by the NAFTA agreement and who has incurred losses due to a trade action by that country. The CCFT group claims the U.S. government’s policy of keeping the border closed to imports of live Canadian cattle is arbitrary and discriminatory. Rick Paskal, a founding member of CCFT says “We Canadians have invested a lot of money in this industry on the promise of an open border and a single North American Market. There’s just no good reason for the border to remain closed.” For more information on the group and the lawsuit, go to: http://www.ccft.info/

The closed border has been a devastating financial blow to Canadian ranchers and feedyard operators. The border has now been closed for 16 months, and indications from Washington are that it will remain closed until after the November election. It would seem that those who claim this is a political issue and not a science issue are correct. — G.H.

Wanted

I have a request from Argentina for semen from a good LimAngus bull (50% Limousin 50% Angus).  If you have such a bull which is registered or registerable please let me know ASAP.

Upcoming Sales

Upcoming sales in the busy Spring Bull Selling Season in northern Australia are:

27 August Goldenwest Bull Sale at Roma (45 bulls)

2 September Agshow Bull Sale at Toowoomba (26 bulls)

4 September 14th Annual Hunter Valley Bull & Female sale (30 bulls and 5 females)

28 September QTL Limousin Bull Sale at Rockhampton (37 bulls)

Tops at Moss Vale

Jim Hindmarsh & Co at Moss Vale report that local butcher Graham O'Donnell paid 233 c/kg or $1048 for a 450kg grain fed 12 month old black Limousin steer last week. They also reported the sale of two 950 kg Limousin bulls account Elwood Farm for 177.8 c/kg or $1689.

Wauchope Tops

Limousin devotees Tom and Cheryl Lawson sold 337kg Limousin cross steers for 219 c/kg or $738 and 377kg Limo X heifers sold for 210 c/kg or $792. In what Wauchope agent John O'Brien described as the dearest market he had seen for 30 years.

Warragul Tops

Limousin X steer vealer 370kg @ 230.6 c/kg = $853, acc M Hewet, Willow Grove

1 Limousin X steer vealer 475kg @ 229.2 c/kg = $1088, acc T Renshaw, Lillico

1 Limousin X steer vealer 490kg @ 217.2 c/kg = $1064, acc Trafalgar

1 Limousin X bullock 645kg @ 188.2 c/kg = $1213

1 Limousin X bull 705kg @ 177.6 c/kg = $1252, acc V Minchello, Drouin

1 Limousin X bull 735kg @ 175 c/kg = $1286, acc S Baillie, Yallourn North

Wodonga Tops

3 Limousin steers 646.7kg @ 188 c/kg = $ 1215.73, acc Carbery Estate, Mullengandra

7 Limousin X yearling steers 407.9kg @ 222.2 c/kg = $906.26, acc K, R & T Williams, Rand

2 Limousin heifer vealers 372.5kg @ 232.6 c/kg = $878, acc CH & RM Morris, Howlong

5 Limousin X heifer vealers 377kg @ 220.2 c/kg = $830.15, acc K, R & T Williams, Rand

Yours in Limousin

Alex McDonald