Newsletter for the week ended 19 March 2004



Nominations for Nationally Elected Directors
Five nominations have been received for the two vacant positions of nationally elected director. They are Andrew Cross, Mathew Friend, Keith Grimshaw, John McCarthy and Alwyn Wolff.
Ballot papers will be posted with the Annual Report prior to Easter

Limousins to NT
The following email was received from Simon Vogt of Maryvale Limousins at Tarlee in SA this week
Last week we sold a further draft of 10 Limousin bulls to a repeat client who operates four stations, three in the Northern Territory and one in the north of SA. The stations which he owns collectively represent some of the toughest environments for cattle in the NT & SA. The bulls which we previously supplied have been performing exceptionally well on two of the four stations having grown out well and continuing to do their job of servicing cows in between walking long distances for feed and water.

The point of interest however is that the client has traditionally been a very strong and avid Poll Hereford enthusiast and the fact that this most recent draft of bulls will actually be sent to the remaining two NT stations where in the past nothing else other than Poll Hereford bulls have been used. The reason for the change...the client has experienced a number of eye problems on the two NT stations which are dominated by Poll Herefords and was struggling to source Poll Hereford bulls with sufficient eye pigmentation...the answer came to him at 10.30pm the night before he came to look through our bulls...perhaps he could solve his pigmentation and eye problems in one hit by using Limousin bulls on these two stations! Excellent result...we will now have Limousin bulls working on all four of his stations.

It was also great to hear from the client that the back-grounders and feed lotters who buy a large proportion of their weaners have been requesting the calves with Limo content!

Thanks Simon. With the number of white face cattle in Australia there is potentially a huge market for Limousin bulls to "fix up eyes" and add the extra carcase yield that our domestic market is so keen to get.

Limousin Cross on top at Gresford NSW

Limousin cross cattle stood out in a new and strongly contested hoof and hook competition run in conjunction with the Gresford Show near Newcastle NSW last weekend.
The Champion led steer was a Limousin x Hereford/Devon paraded by Abbie Hand of Glen Oak.
The Champion Carcase was a Limosuin x Angus bred by the Farrell family and paraded by Brisbane Waters Secondary College from Umina.
The led steers were judged by the principles of Langley Meats who are large Sydney wholesalers and buy a lot of Limousin and Limousin cross cattle from the Hunter Valley.
All steers and heifers were auctioned to a strong field of buyers with most making over $3.00/kg liveweight.
A heifer donated by Allan Ball to the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service sold for $10/kg or $3425 which was a great result.

Naracoorte Bull Sale
A Limousin bull topped the Naracoorte (SA) European Bull Sale yesterday at $7,000.
The top priced bull was Mandayen X200 a Wulfs Rambler son which sold to Anthony Allen who uses Limousin bulls over his 800 cow herd at Willalooka SA.
The same buyer purchased Mandayen Rambler X261 for $4,250. In what was a fairly difficult sale for Simmentals and Charolais, there was a complete clearance of the 6 Limousin bulls offered for the highest breed average of $3,500. Prices are on the web.

Another Donna Valley Correction!
The sole purchasers of the bull at $6,500 were Ron and Elizabeth Menz of Yeo near Colac Vic (not Yea).
My apologies to Ron and Elizabeth but I was quoting directly from The Land report of the sale (never believe what you read in a newspaper).

Colac (Vic) Sale Next Tuesday
Forty-one bulls and nine females will be offered at the 13th Annual Colac Sale on Tuesday 23 March. This catalogue is on the website.

Sydney Royal All Black
Three bulls, six females and two embryo packages will be offered at the Sydney Royal Sale at 3.00pm on Sunday 4th April. The catalogue is on the web.
The selected black bulls and females will be shown earlier in the day with 128 other Limousins.

Sydney Royal on the Web.
The Limousin breed has been chosen as the breed to take part in a trial webcast of judging at Sydney Royal. I am not sure quite how it will work but we are honoured to be chosen.

Sale Topper at Warrnambool
Joan Symons has faxed in a sale topping price for a young Limousin heifer they sold at Warrnambool saleyards. The 290kg heifer sold for the top price of 192 c/kg to return $556.80.
British breed heifers made from 131 to 145 c/kg in the same sale.

Millmerran (QLD) Limousin Feature Show Results
John and Rosemarie McCarthy of the Rosehill Limousin Stud at Allora QLD had a very successful day at the Millmerran Limousin Feature Show winning five of the six Champions. The Grand Champion Cow Rosehill Tartan 6 went on to be the Champion European Breed cow, and then Grand Champion Bull Rosehill X289 went on to win the Champion European Bull. The McCarthy's also took out the All Breeds Breeders' Group of Three.
Millmerran Results:
Champion Heifer Calf Rosehill Honour 4
Junior Female Champion Rosehill Gabrielle 15
Senior & Grand Champion Female Rosehill Tartan 6
Champion Bull Calf Burnstead Yea
Junior Bull Champion Rosehill X319
Senior & Grand Champion Bull Rosehill X289
The show was judged by former Limousin breeder Neville Littleton.
Esk (QLD) Limousin Feature Show will be on 29 May with $4,000 prize money.

Blayney (NSW) Show
Ron and Chris Andrews went to Blayney Show as a warm up for Sydney and came home with three broad ribbons.
Junior and Champion Bull Clearday Park Yorbeebee
Junior and Champion Female Clearday Park Yuppie
Reserve Champion Female Clearday Park Yamba
Ron said judge and former Angus breeder Jack Woodbourn was very complimentary about the Limousins on show.

2006 ILC Conference
Full details on the ILC Conference and the pretour to France have been posted out today. We will need bookings and a deposit by 30th March to get the "early bird" price.


Yours in Limousin

Alex McDonald